That is why I insist that you must be a good aural tuner as well as a good ETD tuner. Aural tuning by far is more accurate where as ETD gets you close. Dave Peake, RPT Portland, OR In a message dated 98-06-13 01:42:38 EDT, you write: << Now we are in the 1990's, with improvements in VTD coming more frequently. Has aural tuning become a dinosauer? We continue to advance electronically with our tuning aides, but can you still tune a piano if your ETD or VTD goes dead? How does a tuner know when the machine is malfunctioning? 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? Can you achieve the same accuracy both aurally & visually? Do you know when your machine is listening to the correct partial(s)? How often are the notes checked aurally? Does your machine read that an octave in the high treble is in tune but your ear tells you it is not? Ever move your VTD around and get different readings? Which reading is the correct one? Do you force your machine's temperament upon a piano whether it works or not? 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? How about a piano where A-440 is dead on, but the other notes are way flat? 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! And which is better, to measure all of the A's or all of the C's to calculate out "the best" tuning? Interesting, questions, and more questions ...
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