Finishing where you started

[Phil Bondi]

This subject may or may not have been covered here before, but here goes..

I aural tune pianos by strip muting the entire piano. I then take a reading
from the SAT at A4 to determine how flat(usually) the piano is. Then I play
the piano for a few seconds, covering the entire keyboard to see if it has
fallen evenly. If it hasn't(let's say the top 2 octaves seem flatter than
the rest of the piano), then I will do a quick, no-listen 'raise' on just
the Left unisons from, usually, Octave 6 up...are you with me so far?

If the piano seems to have fallen evenly, I set A4 from the SAT, set my
temperment (F3-F4), and tune like I normally do. ... more later.

When I set A4, it is an offset number that I am actually setting to...in
other words, if A4 is at -8.2, I offset the machine first, then I set A4.

I hope this is clear so far.

As I said earlier, once I am done setting A4, I tune my F3-F4 temperment,
and from there, tune down to the first break. Once I reach the first break,
I then tune F#4 and up to the next break..

So now at this point, for the sake of arguement, I have B2 to C5 single
strings tuned.

I then procede down to the bass, tuning single strings. Once that is done, I
come back up and start tuning unisons until I reach C5.

Once I am at C5, I start tuning single strings till I reach C8. Then I start
back at C5 and tune my unisons till I reach the end.

whew!..I think so far I have explained my aural procedure correctly.

Here's the question:

Using this procedure, can someone tell me why, when I am all done and ready
to pack up, when I go to see where A4 is at, it is normally -1.5 to -2 cents
from A4?

I have been noticing this for awhile, and it has been bugging me..I'm
thinking there must be something wrong with the method that I use to aurally
tune a piano if A4 keeps coming up flat.

I noticed this on my first piano today..it was -8.4 at A4..the piano had
dropped very evenly, so I did the above procedure..when I got done, A4
measured -1.4.

ok..time to fight fire with fire!!

my next piano was a newer Wurlitzer Grand..this was its second tuning..A4
measured -4.8 when I started..so instead of off-setting from -4.8, I decided
to add 2.6 cents to the A4 number, bringing it to -7.4..THEN I off-sett and
set A4 and tuned as I usually do.

When I was done, A4 was dead-on the money.

My addition of 2.6 cents was pure luck..there was no calculating on my
part..i just knew that I had to start with a lower number to get it to
finish at A=440.

When I use the SAT to tune a piano(pitch-raises), my tuning procedure is
quite different. I do not use any temperment strips..rather, I use 2 rubber
mutes and tune unisons as I go..and every time I get done, no matter how
flat that piano was, it always ends up at A=440.

Am I doing something wrong with my aural procedure?

Not too old to learn,

StillaRook