WerkmeisterIII

[A440A@aol.com]

Jim writes: 
<< Does anyone have a clear, step by step procedure for tuning a
Werkmeister III aurally?  (on a harpsichord) I have put it on with a
Verituner and a SAT, but I'm trying to "wean" myself from ETDs for a
while.  >>

Greetings,
  This was just posted a few days ago on the tech list: 
 this is a plan for the Kirnberger, compliments of Carey Beebe: 

Here's how you go about setting Kirnberger III:
1. Tune your c'' (that's the c one octave above middle c'!) to 
a tuning fork, and tune middle c' in absolute perfect tune 
below it.
2. Now we want to determine the e' a perfect third above 
middle c': This will be a revelation if you have never heard 
a perfect third before--Your violinist friends are going to 
find it unbearably flat, but we want it in perfect tune. (Hint-
-if you split your interval over the octave, you will find it 
easier to hear because the speed of the beats is halved.)
3. Next, the hard part. Make all the fifths around the circle 
between C and E equally narrow and rough. We are 
dividing the comma among these four fifths, instead of the 
twelve of equal temperament, so they are going to be three 
times as out of tune as the equal tempered fifths we know 
and love on the piano. To tune a narrow fifth, first tune it 
perfectly, then lower the top note (or raise the bottom note) 
until you can't bear it any more. That's probably about a quarter of a comma! 
All your fifths C-G, G-D, D-A and A-E should sound equally rough. Don't move 
your c' or e'--you've already tuned them, and must keep that interval as the 
beautiful perfect third. (Actually, it wasn't that hard, was it?)
4. Tune all the fifths from the flat side of C around the circle of keys 
absolutely perfect. Stop about the Eb, and begin again working around the sharp 
side of E, tuning all those fifths absolutely perfect. (In theory, you'll 
end up with one fifth a little narrow, in fact very close to an equal 
tempered fifth, but in practice, they should all sound perfect.)
            When you are happy with your middle octave, you must bring the 
rest of your instrument into tune with what you have done. Tune down in octaves, 
and up in octaves.




Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html