Moving from Uprights to Grands

[Michael Gamble]

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Hello Terry and Listers
The answer to this lies in the meetings of the PTA in the UK. Such =
things are discussed. I guess it is a rare occasion otherwise for tuners =
to meet each other. I am lucky in this respect working at Glyndebourne =
as I have a colleague there and we.... discuss things.... like Tuning =
Rates, what to do about that Kawai CA-4 etc. etc. etc. He's a MPTA =
though I am not - I get a lot of my info from the List (thanks!) :-) and =
from discussions with my colleague. The only time I have ever watched a =
tuner in action was when I was asked by a newly qualified tuner from the =
Furniture College, London, if I could monitor his tuning and comment. He =
used a felt strip and I cringed - yes... cringed.... as he poked the =
felt between the strings to lay the bearings. I am very glad ears were =
invented :-) Incidentally when he got to the top all h*ll broke loose. =
He - had - no - idea... how to get the top strings right - and that was =
after a three year course..... How do those postal courses work if =
there's no-one to monitor your results? I'm baffled. Yes... baffled. ;-)
Regards from a beautiful, hot, sunny day in Sussex where there's a =
"Hosepipe Ban!" now in force. Our reservoirs are running low.
Michael G.(UK) (baffled)
  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Farrell=20
  To: Pianotech=20
  Sent: Thursday, July 21, 2005 1:23 PM
  Subject: Re: Moving from Uprights to Grands


  "It has always been looked down upon in the profession here if a tuner =
still has to use a temperament strip..."

  What kind of an environment is it where other piano technicians watch =
what another piano technician does during a tuning? I don't think any =
tech has ever watched me tune a piano, and only once have I watched =
someone else tune a piano.

  Oh, maybe another tech saw me tune years ago when I was doing some =
floor tunings at a dealer.

  Terry Farrell
    ----- Original Message -----=20
    From: Byeway222@aol.com=20

    The whole business of strip muting for either the temperament octave =
or even into the further reaches of the piano has alway been =
controversial here in UK.  Probably like Michael I was trained very =
traditionally, to discard the strip mute quite early on and rely on =
one's ear for laying the temperament with just two wedges.  It has =
always been looked down upon in the profession here if a tuner still has =
to use a temperament strip, almost suggesting that his/her ear is not =
reliable enough to do without it.  The analogy being a baby's walking =
frame I suppose!   Because  of this early influence I can actually feel =
'ashamed' if I resort to using  a strip or rubber gang mute on a =
difficult piano. Do i need psychoanalysis?  However, I could actually =
argue pretty stongly in favour of using them with very small grands and =
uprights where inharmonicity is so pronounced that setting an acceptable =
temperament can take more than one pass, and using this aid would be =
quicker.  When this topic comes under discussion over here it is =
generally argued that the temperament is not exactly the same when you =
return to complete the unisons and that the whole excercise can be more =
time consuming.
    It would be interesting to know what proportion of tuners is 'mute =
free'
    Ric
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