[CAUT] Piano tuners on different keys about technology

[David Love]

Sometimes you're right.  I won't say always.  But that's why I like the
combination of the two and why though the machines are very nice they
are not reliable enough to without listening, at least for me.  The
problem, I believe, lies in the fact that they are programmed to select
a certain partial (or in the case of the VT a certain balance of
partials).  But frequently, those need to be fudged a little.  This is
most obvious at the tenor break where inharmonicity spikes up and in
order to keep a good thirds progression, the notes often need to be
tuned a little flatter.  Once you jump to the upper end of the tenor
break, the inharmonicity often drops back down and you are fudging and
blending.  But it also happens in other spots.  

What I can say is that with respect to tuning, the only complaints I've
gotten, whether tuning aurally or electronically (at least that I knew
about) were when I got lazy and tuned strictly to the machine without
checking.     

David Love
davidlovepianos@comcast.net 

-----Original Message-----
From: caut-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf Of
Jeff Tanner
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2005 2:30 PM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Piano tuners on different keys about technology


On Monday, February 28, 2005, at 04:10 PM, David Love wrote:

>  I have gone away from the F3-F4 temperament
> because it is around F3 that smaller pianos have many of the scaling
> problems.

I agree.  But I'm not so sure that an aural tuning on really poorly 
scaled pianos always produces a better result considering the entire 
scale.  Sometimes I've caught myself going back through trying to 
aurally correct the bass and notice that it actually sounds best where 
the lights stop spinning.

Often, what I'll do on some pianos is use the FAC for F3 up to C8 and 
tune E3 to A0 either aurally or with the machine using the partial I 
wish to compare.  Sometimes on spinets I prefer the old F4 
calculations.  Works better in exactly the area you're referring to.

The machines sometimes produce results that don't fit OUR method of 
judging a tuning.  But listen to the entire scale of the piano before 
you pass judgment on the results.  Sometimes our ears are deceived.

Rarely : ) But sometimes.
JT

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