[pianotech] Historic temperaments and modern scaling

[Andrew Anderson]

I have wondered if designers do take the tuning into consideration.

Different scales work over different inharmonicity and that affects  
interval size or stretch (the kind that happens without your trying).   
In fact you will find a lot of difference in scale design between  
different modern piano makers, especially if you get to tune European  
makes.

I put a rather aggressive well temperament on a modern baby grand and  
the first thing pianists noticed was how the tone had really cleared  
up and have much louder it was.  There was a lot of consonance at C  
major.  Of-course playing out into the more remote keys was rather  
interesting, to say the least.  Ultimately it was decided that this  
temperament was workable for Baroque (preferable), Classical (good)  
and early Romantic (borderline) but that is was entirely unacceptable  
for the impressionists.  Debussy didn't sound luscious, it ground out  
rather edgily.

When I changed it back for a recital involving late French composers  
people were disappointed with how dull the piano became.  ET is in  
fact equally dissonant and when going there from a temperament close  
to Modified Meantone the difference is quite obvious.

Andrew Anderson,
Artisan Piano

On Jul 25, 2010, at 3:35 PM, KeyKat88 at aol.com wrote:

> Greetings,
>
>        Does anyone have any thoughts on tuning a historic  
> temperament on a modern scaled pianos? When historic temps are tuned  
> in a modern piano, is it the string's nodes that cause a difference  
> in the sound of the tuning as compared to an older scale design?
>
>        Inside old uprights I see things such as: 1888 patented  
> scale. It's a reminder to me that a historic tuning will probably  
> sound better on this one than a newer piano. What temperaments are  
> best on old uprights like this? Certainly not a Valotti, this temp  
> would be too old. Right? What temperaments were being tuned say c.  
> 1900?
>
>       Have Yamahas and Steinways been rescaled for E.T.?...or have  
> these makers kept the old scaling for those that prefer historic  
> tunings?
>
> Julia
> PA

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