[pianotech] Piano not in tune with keyboard

[Diane Hofstetter]

 Patrick Draine said:



Hmmm,And what makes you think a synthesizer would be "in-tune" with aproperly tuned piano? Oh, the A-440 *should* be dead-on (assuming notemperature and relative humidity shifts -- which very seldom is the case).The synth may be producing tones with zero inharmonicity -- unlike youracoustic piano. Even if it is set for a "piano module" which utilizes "realpiano" samples, they're usually manipulated to some degree, and probablymuch less stretched than the piano you tuned.Good luck!
 
 
 
Starting in 1990, my husband said we should have some quality control measures in our business.  So we started measuring and graphing every piano tuning before we tuned the piano, and then again on all repeat visits.  This has given us valuable information about tuning and helped in communicating with our clients.
 
One day, at a large Christian conference center, I was asked to tune the Baldwin SD-10 to the two keyboards (a Korg and a Kurzweil) for the concert that evening. So I asked the performer to set the keyboards up the way they would be used, then measured the tunings on each of the keyboards, showed the graphs to the player and asked which keyboard I should tune the piano to.  The tunings on each of the keyboards was different enough to flunk the tuning exam with a very bAd score and they certainly did not match each other.  She readily agreed for me to tune the piano so it sounded it's best.
 
We also worked with a friend to create some new piano modules for keyboards.  We were amazed, when we had to go tune the first edition.  We had to use an EMU 4, with an accuracy of +/- 4 cents! On subsequent tunings of the program, we used an Alesis with an accuracy of +/- 2 cents.
 
So, your piano tuning could well be better than the tuning on their new keyboard.  Of course, depending on their climate control, the piano could vary widely over the course of a month, or even a day.  For the  SD-10 to be at pitch at concert time, if I had to tune it in the afternoon, I had to tune it 4 cents flat.  (Very old auditorium, poor insulation, leaky windows, even the DamppChaser couldn't keep up.)
 
 
Diane Hofstetter