ETDs & Non-Equal Temperaments

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Terry asks: 
>What procedures  <snip> do ETD users use when tuning non-equal temperaments 
to
>ensure a good tuning for the subject piano (check octaves and let it go
>at that?)? I know some often tune spinets with various non-ET temperaments
>and these especially need proper checks. 

Greetings, 
     Earlier, someone listed the four ways to use an ETD.  Based on my 
opinion that ET is a perfect standard from which to base further harmonic 
adventures,  I would offer a fifth, ie, tune your best aural ET tuning and 
record it into the machine, then don't be shy about refining your page it 
each time you use it, subjecting your tunings to your own critique. ( I 
guarantee that you will find things to change the first time you recreate 
your tuning!)   This cumulative refinement is what is denied the strictly 
machine or strictly aural tuner and  I submit it is the superior manner in 
which to use the technology.  
     Once you are comfortable with an ET for a given piano, as your ears tell 
you, then you can slam-dunk one of Owen Jorgensen's rows of numbers on top of 
the ET template and you get very nice results.  AT LEAST,  I THINK SO!  
   I temper to divide an octave. I know what kind of octave I like, and I 
don't alter it to suit a tempering scheme.  This is based on the simple fact 
that above the fifth octave, the tempering  matters very little.   All thirds 
are way past the point of distinguishable beats (Plomp & Levelt answered this 
with their research on critical bands).  Playing the first two measures of 
Debussy's "Clare de Lune" on a Victorian tuning demonstrates this principle. 
(we did this in Reno).  
     
>Aside from learning to tune these
>non-ET temperaments well by ear (which, of course would be the best way
>but hey, I'm only human) 

    Isuppose I would ask "Whadda ya mean by 'best'?".  Aural training 
certainly deepens ones identity with their work, no question about that,  but 
many don't  feel the need.  These are the techs that tune for a living and 
are looking for the most expeditious way of putting food on the table.  There 
is nothing wrong with this, we ARE working in a trade, so commercial 
considerations must influence what we do. 
    Another way to produce non-ET tunings is to simply take an FAC tuning off 
a piano and add the temperament alterations that you want.  This is what I 
did in Reno this year,(with only 45 minutes, I couldn't get arty with the 
job).  For any list members that were there and listened to the result,  I 
gladly invite your critique on the tuning.  There is no better way for any of 
us to progress than to peer review, and I got no thin skin to worry about.  
It sounded like I wanted it to sound, but I would really like to hear if 
others found something lacking.  ?????? 
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT