List, David Pitsch posed some questions. I felt like addressing these questions. David, I trust when using the initials ETD, VTD, you are referring to electronic tuning device and visual tuning device. If not, please clarify. >...Now we are in the 1990's, with improvements in VTD coming more >frequently. Has aural tuning become a dinosaur? No. >We continue to >advance electronically with our tuning aides, but can you still tune a >piano if your ETD or VTD goes dead? Yes, but I would prefer to tune with my back up ETD or VTD. >How does a tuner know when the machine is malfunctioning? The same way a driver of their personal car knows it isn't running correctly. >Does your ETD >pick up the wrong partial in the bass, and you end up tuning the note a >third lower than it should be? Ever put your tuning lever on the wrong tuning pin? Can't happen if you're paying attention! >Can you achieve the same accuracy both >aurally & visually? No. >Do you know when your machine is listening to the >correct partial(s)? Yes. >How often are the notes checked aurally? As often as necessary. >Does your >machine read that an octave in the high treble is in tune but your ear >tells you it is not? Yes. >Ever move your VTD around and get different >readings? Yes. >Which reading is the correct one? The one I decide. >Do you force your >machine's temperament upon a piano whether it works or not? Depends on who's standards a/o what standards you are using. >Are you >listening to the feedback the piano gives and tune each and every note >customized to the piano, the very best it can be? Maybe not the best it can be, but the best I choose to make it be. >How about a piano >where A-440 is dead on, but the other notes are way flat? Eh? >Don't be >surprised that your violin teacher has a tuning hammer and keeps A-440 >in tune. Or maybe the last tuner set all of his A's OK, but was so far >off on his temperament some fifths were beating wide instead of narrow. >If you only measured the A's on this piano, what a shock when you begin >to tune! Why would anyone *only* measure the As' to determine the out-of-tuneness of a piano? Shock? Surprise? >And which is better, to measure all of the A's or all of the >C's to calculate out "the best" tuning? If you are making reference to the Reyburn CyberTuner, using the software as has been developed would be the best way to calculate "the best" tuning. If you're not, what are you talking about? Sincerely, Keith A. McGavern kam544@ionet.net Registered Piano Technician Oklahoma Chapter 731 Piano Technicians Guild USA
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