Tuning Devices for learning (was Tuning Devices)

[Barbara Richmond]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Love" <davidlovepianos@earthlink.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 29, 2004 1:10 PM
Subject: RE: Tuning Devices for learning (was Tuning Devices)


> I think it depends on how you use the tool.  Even the most sophisticated
> machines don't allow you to stop listening altogether--or they shouldn't.
> There are still many things that must be confirmed by ear, degree of
> stretch or style, smooth compromises of octaves and thirds in trouble
> areas of the piano, etc..

Speaking of using one's ears, I had the experience of being hired as staff
tech at a university and following a kindly gentleman who didn't know when
to quit--he was losing his hearing.   There were a number of interesting
things he did as he tried to compensate for his hearing loss, but I won't go
into all that.

The wildest and one of the first things I encountered was my being told by
the faculty that there was a note in the treble of one of the Ds on stage
that wouldn't stay in tune.  The first time I tuned it, I couldn't even get
the unison on that note to smooth out.  As soon as I looked at the wire I
knew what the problem was.  A string had been replaced and I could actually
*see* that the wrong size wire had been used!  In the size 15 area, size 13
had been used.  Of course, I don't have the ability to look at music wire
and tell what size it is, but I could see there were two different sizes.
That told me that the ETD had been doing all the listening!


Barbara Richmond, RPT
in from the garden
somewhere near Peoria, IL