On Thu, Jan 1, 2009 at 8:55 PM, John Formsma <formsma at gmail.com> wrote: > With frequent list discussions about the benefits of ETDs in pitch raises, > I thought it might be helpful to give a "real-life" account of an aural > pitch raise procedure I've been using. I generally do the following > whenever the piano is around 1/2 step or more flat. > It works just like so many other things we must learn to do: "rough in, > refine, repeat as necessary." For pitch raises around 1/2 step, two or > three (usually three) quick passes are done to produce a quite good tuning. > A followup fine tuning is recommended in a month or so, at the customer's > discretion. > > The morning of 12/23/08 brought a Wurlitzer spinet that was right at 1/2 > step flat, except in the bass where it was 70-80 cents flat. Here's how it > went: > > 9:02 a.m walk in the door, greet and meet customer and piano. Check > pinblock screws, remove paper clip, dime, and 6 pennies from the top of the > keysticks <g> > 9:19 a.m. finished the first pitch raise, and ready for round two > 9:36 a.m. finished the second pitch raise, also having noted a couple > problems with the action, and now ready for the knockout round > 10:09 a.m., finished with the final unison pass, adjusted the sustain > pedal, invoiced, and now playing a tune > 10:17 a.m., in the car, having finished the customer chat, and received the > check > > > The end result has been pretty darn good in most cases. Quite close to a > fine tuning, but perhaps enough off in places that I wouldn't want to call > it a very fine tuning. (Certainly more than good enough for a Wurlie > spinet, as it was in this case.) Then the piano will go through the changes > that happen with a major PR, and will be ready for a fine tuning the next > time, whether it's a month later or six months later. > > For those struggling with tuning speed, I can certainly relate. I well > remember learning to tune aurally in 2000, and thinking I'd never "get it." > Then, after I was getting it, wondering if I'd ever tune faster. There was > good encouragement from the list, and there were also good classes at > conventions. I pressed on, and am now doing some things that I thought > would NEVER be possible for me. Perhaps the biggest thing that has helped > with tuning speed is learning to do those one or two super-fast, very rough > pitch raises before the final pass. It forces all your senses to come > together to do a seemingly impossible task. But as you do it more and more, > you'll find that you listen faster and better. And then all of a sudden, > things are clicking along at a very high rate of speed, and you find you can > keep up! > > The point of this writing is not to begin another argument about ETDs vs. > aural tuning. ETDs are very helpful with pitch raises. Not having to > deal with previously tuned notes changing as you tune is indeed a great > help. And it might be nice to sometimes take a break from intervals and > octaves, and worry only with unisons. But, as it is, this procedure is not > too terribly taxing, and it is quite workable. And maybe in another 10 years > I can say it goes a bit faster. After all, it ain't anywhere close to Steve > Fairchild's record yet. <G> > > -- > JF > I have for almost 40 years now, as I was taught in class, raised pitch 1/2 tone or more similar to the method outlined by Ron Nossaman. I then schedule the 2nd tuning for 3 or 4 weeks from that date which is also what was taught by the instructor of my class, I have, to date, rarely encountered any complaints or extended discussion about why. I have also found those customers are the ones who then continue having their pianos tuned regularly. Mike -- I intend to live forever. So far, so good. Steven Wright Michael Magness Magness Piano Service 608-786-4404 www.IFixPianos.com email mike at ifixpianos.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech_ptg.org/attachments/20090102/dc297a23/attachment-0001.html>
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