tuning timing

[David Renaud]

The section requiring the most care is temperament, &
expansion of that temperament though out the midrange.
This foundation saves me time. The better this foundation is
the less time it takes me to do the rest. A poor tempermant, and
midsection leads me to difficulty producing smooth progressions
up and down the keyboard. This keeps me questioning and myself
slowing me down. So with an excellent foundation, the rest is very fast.

Unisons are  very important. I do unisons in the midrange
right away. The better they are the easier octaves to come will be.
This allows for repeated checks of midrange unisons over the
course of the tuning, with many chances to improve
on any faults with midrange stability.

I now find the bass and top two octaves relatively quick and easy. But
I suspect this is not due to improved hearing, but more because
the smoothness, stretch, and unisons in my midrange have improved.
So my measuring stick is clearer and easier to see/hear then it use to be..

I recommend students to focus extra time on unisons, and temperament.
So take extra time at the beginning on temperament, and throughout
on unisons. The rest may find its place naturally.

As for false sounding top octaves. I sometimes find reseating strings
in the top octave makes a dramatic difference in the stability
of the "centre" of the tone. Sometimes I feel that 5 min. of seating
strings allows me to tune the top in 5 min. . If I did not seat the
strings the same two octaves might have taken me a 15 min. fight.

May I also encourage you to make a first pass before tuning.
On regularly serviced instruments you may often find the low tenor
too flat in the winter, and too sharp in the summer. Tune that
octave once quickly before beginning the tuning, the end result
is saved time.

One more tip. I am beginning to double strip mute where possible.
The leakage has been driving me nuts lately. Perhaps I'm more
sensitive to it, or perhaps I'm stretching the life of my temperament
strips too much. I'm not sure. But this I know, double stripping
is making tuning noticeably easier, cleaner, and quicker for me.

                                                  Cheers
                                                  Dave Renaud
                                                  RPT
                                                  Canada



Charles Neuman wrote:

> I'm curious how long it takes you all to complete each part of the tuning
> process. I'm not as concerned with the overal time as with the proportion
> of time spent on each section. For example, setting the temperament,
> midrange, high treble, and bass.
>
> The high treble seems to eat up a lot of time. The unisons are harder for
> me there since the beats are more sensitive to hammer movement. By the
> time I get to the last octave, I'm ready to scream, and the notes start to
> sound like a metal spoon hitting a frypan. Perhaps a nice grand would have
> nicer sounding notes up there. It seems like a drag to spend so much time
> on notes that will rarely be played.
>
> Charles Neuman
> Plainview, NY