Tuneoff challenge

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hey Ric:

Would you be up to a Tuneoff in Chicago this summer with me? I 
will be willing to wear earplugs and earmuffs and tune with the 
SAT III While you tune strictly aurally. If you beat me by as much
as 10% of the vote of the audience, I will pay your PTG dues for 
one year. If I beat you, you owe me nothing. We'll still be 
friends no matter what.

Based on what we learned from previous tuneoffs, we should limit 
ourselves to 1 or 1.5 hrs each. The pianos should be the same model, 
approx equal in voicing. This should be a double blind test in 
which in the first heat, You tune piano No. 1 and I tune piano no..2.
In the second heat, I tune piano no. 1 and you tune piano no.2. 
This will eliminate any advantage of one piano having a better 
tone than the other. The pianos chosen should be 6' or better in size.
They should be detuned according to the PTG Tuning Exam procedure 
before each heat in order that an advantage of the previous tuning 
can not be utilized. The identity as to who tuned which piano should
be kept a secret from the audience to avoid any favoritism of 
either the method of tuning or the personality of the Tuner.

For the audience's benefit, we could have someone play about four
identical selections on each piano twice, alternating as to which 
piano is played first. Better yet, we could have Diskclavier or 
PianoDisc recordings do the playing to make the playing more 
identical. Perhaps Yamaha, Kawai or Mason & Hamlin would be willing 
to sponsor such an event.

My prediction as in the first Tuneoff is that there will not be a 
dime's worth of difference (10% differential in the voting of the 
audience). I respect you as a good aural tuner from your 
experience in the San Francisco bay area, now in the Dakotas, and 
from our encounters in my home.

We could add another twist to this by having the tuning scored by 
the PTG Tuning Examiners.

Since you have done a lot of original study of the Historical 
Tunings recently, perhaps the following year we could do another 
Tuneoff
where you pick your favorite Historical temperament, Bill Bremmer does
his EBVT and I do the Coleman XI. I would not want this to become 
an ego trip, but an educational experience. Competitive, YES, but 
for bragging rights, NO. I commend Bill and Virgil for their last 
encounter, To this date I have not heard who WON, but I HAVE heard 
that it was very educational.

Of course, if there is enough interest shown in another Tuneoff, 
we should let the Institute Committee make their comments on it if 
this is to happen at all. They are the ones who would make any 
final decisions as to this happening at a Convention.

What do you the other readers say?

Jim Coleman, Sr.