machines or not? what?

[antares@euronet.nl]

On zaterdag, jun 21, 2003, at 09:24 Europe/Amsterdam, Tony Caught wrote:

> Hi André
>
> Don't blame Alan for those comments, they are mine. I am at the moment
> trying to understand why so many people who use these machines recon 
> that
> they are so good. To tune a piano from A0 to C8 by machine and say its 
> tuned
> is to me just unbelievable. Who is kidding who ?
> So OK, Verituner is one that I have no experience with and from what 
> has
> been said by you and others has led me to believe that it is not a 
> machine,
> its a visual extension of your ear.
> My lease is due to expire on my computer and because of that I have to
> decide wether I want to buy a Verituner and do my bookwork manually or 
> still
> tune by ear with an assist from the machine to help relieve the stress.
>
> Look After,
>
> Tony

Hi Tony,

It certainly was not my intention to blame anybody, it is/was just a 
discussion. In my enthusiasm for my 'box' I may have used 'strong 
words', but I was absolutely sincere. Indeed, these days there are 
ETD's that will give you a tuning that is so perfect that it is very 
difficult, not to say almost impossible, for a normal human being to 
produce that very same result. So nobody is kidding nobody and an 
experienced tuner will immediately acknowledge when a perfect tuning is 
a perfect tuning.
Whys should I say this if it is not true?
To get this 'easy' and perfect tuning one needs obviously to go to the 
top of the range ETD's but one stern condition remains :
If a tuner does not have a solid tuning technique, even the very best 
ETD will prove worthless.
I have learned through hardship and long years of trial and error to 
tune as solid as a rock. That is worth a whole lot and making a tuning 
with a perfect ETD becomes the proverbial peace of cake.
People who criticize  the very best ETD's have either no 'right' 
experience with them or just don't know what a - really - fabulous 
tuning sounds like.
Again I will say here that actually one time in my life I was able to 
make an absolutely faultless tuning (checked electronically) for which 
I received the necessary highest mark (YPTA-Hamamatsu). That was 
possible  after a full Month of intense training and intense luck too 
as it was my very last tuning in Japan.
I have afterwards never been able to reproduce that same result as it 
is almost impossible. It requires daily training on the highest level 
and we just can not maintain that quality day in day out.
I have found that a perfect ETD can do this for you and without all the 
stress involved.
Believe me Tony, those machines are there right now and especially 
middle aged and older tuners can profit immensely from this development 
and can maybe even prolong their lives because of the happy 
professional change that these ETD's can bring.
I know from experience that , especially in some European countries, 
conservatism is still high. In Holland too, many older tuners were more 
than skeptical and sometimes right out negative.
The truth came out during our tuning tests here. Many tuners failed the 
test and we were more or less shocked by the low professional level. 
Many of those tuners now have done their tuning test with a positive 
result and also many of them have bought a good ETD because they saw 
that after having tuned aurally all those years, their new ETD gave 
them a huge mental and professional break.

I hope you understand what I am saying. I have never written anything 
against aural tuning as I am one myself. I am just one of the tuners 
who ventured out and found that indeed there are new and very good 
options.

friendly greetings,

Antares,
The Netherlands

see my web site : www.concertpianoservice.nl
and : www.grandpiano.nl