The Bad News, piano players using machines may take work away.

[Richard Moody]

I too would like to echo the sentiment of the piano tuner wishing the
piano owner/player to have an interest in tuning even to owning a
tuning hammer.  What ever interests the  player in tuning will only
have him/her thinking of having the piano tuned more often by a
professional.    The serious player really should have their personal
piano tuned at least 4 times a year.  I agree with Tom, let them
borrow or rent (GASP) an ETD and attempt a tuning.  Then wonder why it
sounds  worse than it did before 3 days later.  The ability to tune
means nothing without the ability to set the pins and strings .  That
takes practice and experience and no machine can duplicate that.
    Also I would like to add that when tuning (performance level) by a
good machine (if TuneLab is a good machine which I think it is) it
takes me more time to get the "screen to freeze" than it takes to get
the beats right AND I don't have the confidence that I set the string
with a visual tuning compared with an aural tuning.  With the machine
I still need to check the beats so that is the extra time, and if I
have to make changes I loose even more time.      ---ric



----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Cole <tcole@cruzio.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2001 2:45 PM
Subject: Re: The Bad News


> LHSBAND440@AOL.COM wrote:
> > The bad news is that this is soon to be the future of the piano
tuning
> > industry.  With ETD's becoming more and more accurate, the common
piano
> > player will be able to tune a piano to the same accuracy of a good
piano
> > tuner.
>
> Leo,
>
> It is my wish that every piano owner, with the slightest inkling
they
> could accomplish the feat, would buy an ETD and attempt their own
> tuning. Let them borrow for free an SAT, hammer and mutes. When they
> call for me to fix the mess they've made, they'll gladly pay my
tuning
> fee and will have gained a greater respect for what I do.
>
> Just yesterday someone came up, saw my computer and said, "Well,
that
> certainly makes the job easier!". Offering him the tuning hammer, I
> replied, "Here, you want to try your hand at it?" He said, "Oh, no,
I'd
> probably break a string."
>
> Judging by the above and similar encounters I've had, and the number
of
> phone calls I've gotten requesting to buy a tuning hammer (still in
the
> single digits), I would hazard a guess that my job security is
holding
> quite well, thanks. The advantages that ETDs offer amount to better
> tools in the technicians tool box. I don't see where they are of
much
> use to the unskilled.
>
> Tom Cole