SAT QUESTION

[Delwin D Fandrich]

CheetoLD@aol.com wrote:

> List,
>    was just wondering...Does the SAT really tune better than aural tuning? I
> bet both sides have strong opinions. ;-)
>
> Caleb

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Actually, the SAT cannot tune a piano at all. Neither can the RCT. Both are simply tools in the
hands of people of varying levels of skill, knowledge and experience and dedication to their work.

In the hands of some, it is intended to be a shortcut to glory. A quick and easy way to bypass the
training and work and experience necessary to perfect a skill. Neither the SAT nor the RCT can do
this. Neither could the old Conn strobes, the later Yamaha scopes, etc. Hence the bad reputation
developed by those who tried to use them to shortcut the path toward professional competence. Today,
I seem to hear about just as many "bad" SAT tuners as I used to hear about "bad" strobe tuners. Not
much has changed. The increased competence of the tool does not seem to have improved the competence
of the worker seeking a shortcut.

I also also hear about, and personally know, many good tuners using both the SAT and the new RCT. In
these hands these tools are used to further develop and utilize already fairly well refined skills.
For this purpose, both are excellent devices. I've not known many already good tuners who have not
felt that their tunings improved after they started using an electronic tuning aid. This also has
been true since the Conn strobe days, but in professional hands each new generation of tool has
brought with it new opportunities and new skills.

In my own experience, I started using a Yamaha PT-4 after I had been tuning aurally for about ten
years. Once I learned how to use it to my advantage, it helped me keep my tunings more consistent
and more precise. I'm sure that my accuracy in the high treble and the low bass improved. Later I
switched to the SAT and found another improvement in the level of work I did. It was, again, a
better tool in spite of its quirky circular readout and cumbersome shape. But, perhaps the most
striking advantage of all of these devices -- at least for me -- was the reduction in the stress
level that I felt as I tuned. I have never been, primarily, a tuner. I have always been more
comfortable in the shop tearing something apart or sitting in front of my computer making little
lines go different places and do different things. Tuning was always a chore and using an electronic
aid made it much less so.

It is still my opinion, after observing more -- never mind how many more -- than 25 years worth of
tuners come and go, that the most consistently excellent tuners I have known are those who learned
and practiced the art aurally first and who then learned to supplement and advance their skills with
the aid of a tool somewhat more sophisticated than just the tuning hammer. We are now blessed with
two such tools: the SAT and, more recently, the RCT.

-- ddf