----- Original Message ----- From: "David" <dmntn@charter.net> To: <pianotech@ptg.org> Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 10:55 AM Subject: Tuning Devices > I have recently started learning to tune pianos. I am interested in tuning devices that will assist me in learning to tune and when I start tuning for pay. I have heard and read about numerous brands and types. These include the Accu-Tuner, Peterson AutoStrobe, Reyburn > CyberTuner, and Sabine Tuners to mention a few. I am currently using a Seiko ST 767 Chromatic Tuner which I get the impression may not be very accurate for pianos, works great for my guitar. Any input would be appreciated. > > Thanks > David McCausland If you want to be a "real" piano tuner and understand what you're doing and why, and still be able to tune a piano when your electonic device's battery dies or you forget to charge it, or the customer doesn't trust tuners who use a "scope," but mainly for the practice of learning to hear beats, their speeds, what a beatless unison sounds like, what "false beats" sound like, what a "good" octave sounds like, what a stretched octave sounds like, what a pure, or just, interval, as opposed to a stretched or narrowed interval sounds like, I recommend learning to tune FIRST BY EAR ALONE, then consider an electronic tuning aid after you know what you're doing. Otherwise the chances of its becoming a crutch and your not developing your ear are far greater, in my opinion. If you join PTG and want to pass the tuning exam, you have to set a temperament and tune some octaves and unisons by ear anyhow, I believe. Guitar tuners are not accurate enough for pianos and don't have the ability to read the piano's inharmonicity and calculate a tuning tailored to a specific piano. That's why they're so much less expensive. --David Nereson, RPT
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