close enough>??

[John M. Formsma]

This matches my experience, too. Lately, though, I've been doing a lot of
1-pass tunings when the piano is within 5-8 cents flat. What I do is
completely tune the middle section. After this, I'll tune the treble using a
strip, tuning each section after the middle strings are all tuned. Since the
treble is flat, I'll tune octaves sharp, trying to offset what I "feel" will
be the amount they will drop. When those treble unisons are tuned, usually
things fall about the right amount. There will be a few notes off, requiring
retuning (mostly shimming). Usually, things turn out OK. I think this gives
the customer a pretty good deal: no extra charge for a pitch raise, and it
sounds OK. It really doesn't take that much longer to tune that way--you
just keep moving and realize that the customer is not likely to be as
critical as a tuner would. After all, they could have it tuned more often
than every 3 years. :-)

John Formsma



> You have proved in the past that you are a brave man!  I think your
> procedures and analysis is correct here.  The brave part is declaring
> on this list that the piano doesn't have to be within 0.002 cents
> before you start to get good results.  Personally, I think one of the
> big differences is that you tune the unisons as you go.  I have
> always believed that strip muting the whole piano requires that it be
> much closer than if you do the unisons as you go.  I don't know all
> of the science involved in this phenomenon, and I don't have time to
> explain my conjecture, but I'm convinced that stripping the whole
> piano requires starting with a more in-tune piano.
>
> dave