'C' fork users only (inferior 'A' fork users need not apply)

[thepianoarts]

Bill,

Thanks for your reply.  One difference, in relation to using a 'C' as
opposed to 'A' fork, that keeps me from persuing the 'A' fork as a starting
place... The speed of the 3rds.  Yes, I am used to the slower 3rd. with the
'C' temperment. The 'A' fork folks start a big Mj. 6th. above where I start.
(Setting the C-3 to C-4 octave width, with the 3 rd. 10 th. test)

Anyone else?

Dan Reed

Dallas Chapter 





on 3/5/01 9:38 AM, Billbrpt@AOL.COM at Billbrpt@AOL.COM wrote:

> In a message dated 3/5/01 7:48:00 AM Central Standard Time,
> thepianoarts@home.com (thepianoarts) writes:
> 
> << Any "C" fork users care to exchange temperment checks and patterns etc?  I
> have been trying to evolve the 'Up three thirds, down a fifth, up two
> thirds" etc. temperment taught from the Aubrey Willis course 25 years ago.
> Anyone on the list using this pattern? BTW, after 25 years with the fork, I
> moved to the Sanderson Accu-fork. It has some advantages. Their beat-rater
> is also a nice tool for checking contigious thirds.
>>> 
> As Tom Cole did, I also learned from Bill Garlick RPT that it really
> shouldn't matter which starting note you use to tune Equal Temperament (ET).
> Since all intervals are tuned *equally* you may use virtually any note to
> start.  The late John Travis suggested in his book, "Let's Tune Up" that you
> could get your temperament to be "more equal" (sic) if you started on a black
> key such as F# or C#.
> 
> I often hear technicians talk about "different temperaments" when they are
> really only talking about one:  ET.  What they are really talking about are
> different temperament *sequences*, that is, the order in which the
> temperament octave is constructed.  This is often called "the Bearing Plan".
> 
> The sequence you mention, "up a 3rd, up a 3rd, down a 5th" was conceived by
> Oliver Faust and is one of the better ideas.  What is most important,
> however, is the diagnostic check afforded by the contiguous 3rds.  In order
> to tune a really good ET, you have to make lots of good *estimates* first,
> then verify and correct your intervals using the contiguous 3rds (the
> well-known 4:5 ratio) and other interval tests.  You can use Faust's idea
> starting with virtually any note, not just C or A.
> 
> There really is no one temperament sequence which is fool proof.
> Inharmonicity and irregular scale designs will also force some kind of
> distortion of the way the temperament may be expected to sound.  This is why
> the study of other kinds of temperaments than ET is important.  In the end,
> you'll want your piano to give the most pleasing harmony possible.  If you
> know that getting the temperament to be truly equal is not quite possible, at
> least in the way it is usually expected to come out, you'll want to know what
> is best to do to make a compromise.
> 
> Even with the best pianos using the best temperament sequence, you can expect
> that after tuning your first 13 notes, C3-C4, F3-F4, A3-A4 or any others, you
> will have to make slight corrections to get true equality by using the
> contiguous 3rds and other interval tests.
> 
> Many technicians seem to believe that making the 5ths be as pure as possible
> while ignoring the resultant irregularity of the 3rds would make the piano
> sound best.  Actually, quite the opposite is true.  The 3rd, 4th and 5th
> octaves of the piano is where all of the *harmony* occurs.  Widening 5ths
> (making them be closer to pure) and/or the octaves will cause all Rapidly
> Beating Intervals (RBI), the 3rds, 6ths, 10ths and 17ths to beat faster.
> 
> When choosing to compromise intervals in the low tenor, the bottom of the 3rd
> octave, it would be far better to make the octave less stretched and the 5ths
> sounding more tempered.  When a full chord is played, the tempering in the
> 5th virtually disappears.  It is very rare in a true musical context to have
> an open 5th with no 3rd.  Thus, the slightly impure sound of a tempered 5th
> which sounds dissatisfying to the technician who plays it outside of a
> musical context when tuning, ceases to be of any concern when actual music is
> played.
> 
> You can still get a true ET where contiguous 3rds and other interval checks
> are *proportionately* correct even on the "poorest", most irregularly scaled
> pianos.  Yes, this means that you really can tune an Acrosonic, Kimball,
> Wurlitzer spinet, etc., in ET and make it sound sweet and pleasant if you
> really understand your interval checks and how to make compromises.  A
> skilled technician who knows other kinds of temperaments can actually make
> these instruments have a sweet sound and largely avoid the kind of harshness
> that many people fear from the use of Historical Temperaments (HT).
> 
> Bill Bremmer RPT
> Madison, Wisconsin