In a message dated 10/21/98 11:43:54 PM Central Daylight Time, tcole@cruzio.com writes: << > Obviously this is deeply incorrect. Would someone in the group be > willing to offer a short primer on general tuning procedure and > theory? Ronald, The difficulty in tuning pianos (besides manipulating the tuning pins in such a way as to create a _stable_ tuning) lies in the fact that each note does not produce even multiple harmonics of the fundamental frequency. Instead, the harmonics, or partials as they are called, are somewhat sharp of what you might expect... >> Tom, Your answer was downright superb! Ronald, please read Tom's answer, copy it and understand it thoroughly. It explains the reason why a Korg type electronic tuner, a Strobe Tuner or any of the other devices that are fine for tuning other instruments are practically useless for the piano. In short, they do not provide information that is sensitive enough (you need to measure at least 1/1000 of a half step, the above can barely distinguish 1/100th), nor do they provide any clue to the deviations from theoretical Equal Temperament (ET) that must be applied to virtually every note in order to "spread" the stretched out version of ET accurately over the piano's scale. There are really many ways to approach piano tuning. One thing for sure is that if you had all 88 notes of the piano adjusted to the frequencies that these kinds of Electronic Tuners imply is the "correct" value for all the notes, you would have a piano that might function but which would sound quite mediocre, at best. Many music professionals who are not piano tuners or technicians understand that the piano has to be "tuned to itself", so to speak and that it can never perfectly match any of the other instruments. The art in piano tuning is always in finding the very best compromise possible. Another axiom is that no matter how well a piano is tuned, it will always bear a certain irresovable conflict and so might always be regarded as "slightly out of tune". The modern Electronic Tuning Devices (ETD) that are designed exclusively for piano tuning are able to calculate a mathematical approximation of what the most skilled piano tuner-technicians can do by ear and consider to be the best compromise. They lend a remarkable degree of consistency to a job which can easily be subject to many outside influences. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC