pitch fork?

[Bob Simmons]

Phil's comments made me want to share about the undesireable situation I
have to tune in, for one of the institutions I take care of. They always
want the pianos serviced during the quarter break, because the
instruments are tied up during the year. The problem is that the air or
heater may or may not be on while I'm there, and I have no contol over
that. The humidity changes in the practice rooms is extreme. I learned
this the first year I tuned there. I came in in the fall (just as the
weather was starting to cool and heaters had not come on) and heroically
lowered the pitch on the practice room pianos any where from 19 to 30
cents. For aural tuners, that's about 5 - 7 bps. I just figured the
previous technician had messed up. I was wrong. A few weeks later, after
the heaters kicked in, I returned to find the pianos from 19 to 30 TOO LOW!
This is impossible. I decided the only way to keep from getting
complaints on these practice rooms, was to make sure that I complained
louder than anyone else. So for the last 4 years, I've been making sure
to fuss about how the pianos in the practice rooms are not holding their
tunings, to anyone who would listen. That Psychology 101 course sure
comes in handy.

So, in those cases, I think I could use a pitch pipe or my imagination
for a reference, with no significant loss. But, normally I've used
everything, from tuning forks, electonic forks (seemed convenient because
of "no-hands" feature, but a problem when needing to compare the beat
rate of interval with the instrument--it wouldn't shut-up with no hands),
and am now using the Accutuner, with which I'm very pleased.

Bob Simmons
Cal. State San Bernardino