Magnetic pick-up

[gordo@genie.geis.com]

Well, since you asked, Dave, I'll give you my side on using the magnetic
pick up.

When I first bought my SAT last Fall, I did not buy a mag pick up.  I felt
like the built in mic on the SAT would do the job.  And it did on about 99%
of the piano's I tuned.  (I tune around 8-9 a day, two Grands, 6 or 7
verticals)

Then I came to a new Kimball veritcal were the SAT was having a hard time
picking up the beats about the middle-upper part of the tenor.  So I called
Sanderson and had them send me a mag pick up.  I went back to the Kimball
and found the SAT did a better job than the mag pick up did.  All I had to
do was to move the SAT closer to the strings and it heard everything fine.

I have a good friend in Portland Oregon who sorta sold me on a mag, saying,
if you put the mag closer to the strings, it does a better job, even if you
have to move the mag several times during a tuning.  I have still found out
the SAT hears everything just as good if you move it closer to the strings
that are not sounding loud enough.  Personally, I'm glad I have a mag pick
up, but sometimes I think I'd be glader if I had the $75 back! (Grin)

So it's a matter of preference.  If you want to spend the money and realize
it works fine in some piano's and in others, so-so, then buy one.  Other-
wise, I'd just move the SAT closer to the string and realize it's doing as
good a job as a mag pick up does, in many cases.

The bottomline is, if you're floating in dough, buy one.  If you're hurting
financially, save your money for something else....like a computer! (Grin)

Gordo