Hi List, I had the 'privilege' to tune 9 pianos this week at a local college. Most of them were quite sharp, usually in the 1/4step (+) range. After tuning the first and second ones, a few things started to become a little more apparent. 1) The bass sections seemed to be the most likely to stay where I put them. 2) The lower tenor sections seemed to be the most likely to be fartherest sharp and also the least likely to stay where I put them. 3) Oddly enough, the treble section seemed to be fairly stable as well. The section between the low tenor and about E5 tended to be a graduation between the two. So, in a situation like this, where I really didn't have time to do as much tuning as I'd have liked, what to do?? Here's what I did. I very quickly tuned through the center strings of the midsection, and very, very quickly through the bass, more or less to get an idea of how far I had to move those tuning pins to drop the pitch. Then, without listening at all, I took each of the remaining pins in the section, and very quickly gave each pin a move in similar size and direction as to what I had done the center strings. >From that point onward, I tuned as I would any other piano, from start to finish. The first one I did this on, I wasn't sure how it would turn out. But as I progressed through the last half dozen or so, it became very comfortable, and it was surprising to me to realize how close I was coming to the correct pitch on those pins I was just 'bumping by feel' ahead of time. And although the tunings were not what I would have liked them to have been, (anything less than concert level bothers me), they were quite good all things considered. I just wondered if anyone else uses or has used a similar method.? FWIW... Brian Trout Quarryville, PA btrout@desupernet.net
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