I happen to strongly agree with the previous post, doing a pitch raise is almost required for every tuning that's over a 3 -cent error.? As on Aural tuner, I find doing?multiple passes quite useful for stability and understanding stretch variables?prior to the final tuning.?there are shortcuts I use if the offset is less than 10 cents.? For example,?I will only tune the middle sections avoiding the copper-wound strings and maybe?the top octave.? I know it?takes a little more time but the final result is worth it. Bruce Pennington -----Original Message----- From: John Formsma <formsma at gmail.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sat, Aug 1, 2009 6:08 pm Subject: Re: [pianotech] Pitch raise criteria As an aural tuner, my criteria: For concert tunings, if it's more than 2-3 cents, it really needs a pitch raise. Otherwise, you'll be constantly wrestling with it. Even at 2 cents difference, I make judgments as to where I think the piano will end up as unisons are tuned. For example, I might tune the middle string of an octave intentionally sharp so that it will drop to the right place as everything else is tuned. For non-concert tunings, I can usually make things work if it's within 8 cents. ?But it really depends on the customer. If they are wanting accuracy over cost, and are willing to pay for a pitch correction, it will certainly result in a better tuning. If the customer is willing to settle for less accuracy to save money, I'll do the best I can in one pass. Perhaps an ETD will result in a better end result with a single pass, tuning unisons as you go. But even with an ETD, two passes are better. With either method, your own experience will become your best teacher. As you observe how many different pianos react to pitch corrections, you'll get better at predicting that reaction. And you'll know what you are capable of.?It's a guessing game, but you get better at it the more you do it. It's also kind of fun, in a sick tuner sort of way. :-) -- JF On Sat, Aug 1, 2009 at 6:27 PM, Rob McCall <rob at mccallpiano.com> wrote: Greetings list, I just tuned a Samick JS-118 upright yesterday that hadn't been tuned in 7 years (It had 1 tuning right after they bought it brand new and that was it!). ?It was flat by about 73 cents below the break, and about 45 cents flat above the break. ?Pretty consistent throughout. ?All in all, it turned out very well after a pitch raise and then a fine tune. My question to all of you... ?What do you use as your criteria for charging extra for pitch raises? ?When is it a "pitch raise" to you? This particular piano was pretty clear cut, but do you have a point of no return? ?20-25 cents? Less or more? I use a SAT IV along with some aural checks to back the machine up... I'm still earning my wings in this industry and I'm trying to get an idea of what is considered normal (if there is such a thing!). Thanks in advance. Regards, Rob McCall Murrieta, CA -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20090801/dde1ba2b/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC