Inventors wanted

[Peter Burns]

Greetings list and Phillip- you wrote " When is there
> going to be a battery powered tuning hammer?"
What a picture this conjures!  In answer to your question, hopefully never.
I can just see those T.V ads for "The All New Electric T- Hammer Piano
Tune-a-Rama" already, in between the ones for  "Head-Off"- Cut your own hair
in minutes- it's just like going to the salon!"  or  "Don't forget to pick
up your new "CraniOMatic" work bench- brain surgery anywhere, anyplace,
anytime!"    O.K, piano tuning's not exactly brain surgery, but it does
require a complex connection between human being and instrument- i.e being
able to hear the string and  feel the activity of the tuning pin and so on.
It puts me in mind of when the new Airbus A300 aircraft were introduced a
few years back; pilots hated it.  Instead of the traditional "stick" to
control the plane, through which an experienced pilot could "feel" what the
plane was doing, Airbus fitted a "joy stick" (same feel and principal as a
computer game joy stick) which took away all direct feeling as to what the
rudders, etc, were doing.  Receipe for disaster.  On a practical level too,
there's no battery in the world that could stand up to the possible hundreds
of times one makes minute adjustments during the course of tuning a piano-
at least not one you could take on the road with you!
Kind Regards to all
Peter (UK)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Philip J Ryan" <pryan2@the-beach.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2003 8:37 PM
Subject: Inventors wanted


> This being the holiday season, I see on TV the commercial for the "Salad
> Shooter," and the new Cheese Gizmo power cheese shredder.  I own a battery
> powered toothbrush and see ads for power nose-hair trimmers. >
> Seriously though,  I can envision a battery-powered tuning hammer that
> would nudge forward and/or  backward just a trifle when a trigger is
> pulled. Is such a thing feasible?  Or am I being pollyannaish?  How about
> interfacing this with a ETD?  Maybe to a Clapper device? (Grin)  Any
thoughts?
>
> Phil Ryan
>
>
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