tuning

[John M. Formsma]

>I suggest strictly aural tuners at least consider working with a ETD
>occasionally to "see" what they are missing...
>
>Because of the recent price increases, I am going to have to do with my old
>flamesuit...so be nice
>
>David Ilvedson, RPT

[John Formsma] 
Yeah, been there, done that. It works, and yields acceptable to excellent
results in most cases. There are some pianos which certain ETDs just don't
do well. I've used the SAT II and the Verituner, and I don't have experience
with RCT, which is probably as good or better since it measures within a
wider range before it calculates its tuning curve.

Now, lemme tell you 'bout some fun I had yesterday. It was a Wurlitzer
console that just is (was, now) a bear to get a decent tuning from. (It's
the scale that has 5-6 wound bichords in the low tenor, with the first
trichord being F#3.) In January I spent 3 hours on it because I was working
with the Verituner trying to determine if I would sell it. I tried this and
that, modifying things, changing octave styles, etc. Nothing worked well.
The VT and traditional aural tuning theory put the F3-A3 3rd around 7 bps.
That made the 5ths slightly wide around F3 (not beating noticeably) and pure
at F4. That made things worse going out of the temperament. It was just not
sounding very good. Finally, I decided to just use the temperament that the
VT had done and tune it by ear - the heck with it.

Well, yesterday, I was determined to put my thinking cap on and figure out
how to get this thing done...at least better. Began with a 2 octave
temperament to get the proper beat speed of the contigous 3rds within the
two octave temperament. Now the F3-A3 third is around 5 bps. Everything
starts to fall right into place. Ahhh...this is looking better. Things went
great up to the treble, but in the bass some of the fifths were beating 1
bps. OK, I can live with that - much, much better than double octaves at 2
bps.  Overall, the tuning sounded the best it had in the 7 years I've been
doing it.

Time for reality check. I know it's likely nobody will ever tell the
difference from this tuning versus the last 14. But it's still nice to know
you can figure it out using principles that have been established by years
of hard-working, dedicated aural tuners. It does a ton for the confidence of
this fella who had become unconfident after the recent use of a Verituner.
Feels really nice. 

Thanks to all you folks who have passed down aural principles through the
Journal and mentoring. You have made my job so much easier by putting into
writing how to do it.

JF