Duplex Tuning - mysteries and realities?

Ron Nossaman nossaman@SOUTHWIND.NET
Sun, 14 Jun 1998 23:12:25 -0500 (CDT)


>In summary, can we assume from your comments that:
>
>1) DUPLEX adds "colour" to the tone of any piano ?
*Noise, character, 'tension', soul. Yep, that's it. 

>2) DUPLEX "tuning" is mostly garbage ?
*Theory aside, in the real world, yes. You've read Del's post by now.

>3) Except for the adjustment of downbearing, Duplex "wedges" serve no
>significant purpose?
*Not so. They do add to the total sound, especially in the problematic areas
of the scale inherent in traditional soundboard design - like the 'killer'
octave.

>4) It is/maybe desirable to "mute" the duplex strings during tuning ?
*It depends on the piano. I tend to feel that a tuner should listen to the
piano 'as it's going to sound' (I.E. neat) as he/she tunes it. Consequently,
I mute duplexes during tuning only when I can't deal with the noise any
other way. 

 Ron 



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