Robert asks: << For those of you who use an Accutuner III, which way would you recommend using it to achieve a fine tuning? I have heard several different and conflicting opinions, and I am wondering what to make of it. >> The machine is just a tool. How you use it depends on what the conditions are and the results you need. In some applications, its decisions will far surpass the requirements. In others, the SAT is just a guide to give you information while you make decisions. If there is no overall pitch changes to be handled, I don't think it matters what sequence you tune the notes. I have gone top to bottom and seen no apprecialble difference from going up from A0 to C88. In major pitch raises, I usually begin at the bass break with the pitch raise function set from maybe four or five notes higher, (those last few notes at the break can often be a lot farther off than the piano in general). I let the pitch raise function sample the A's (every octave) as I go straight to the top, unisons as I go. Then I do a fast raise in the bass, then I tune it, often in the same pattern, and often using the pitch raise function again to make some last-pass partial-cent corrections for lingering flatness or sharpened over exuberance. If a piano is near pitch and tuned often, like stage or studio pianos, then it pays to refine the machine tuning by ear, and save the results. YOu can use then machine to give you repeated access to your previous tuning, on a given piano, while you tweak your results by aural judgment until you have refined a tuning for that model. Save this and you will have a fine pattern to use for pitch raises, other temperaments, etc. If the piano is raised or lowered more than 10 cents, it is going to be unstable for at least a week, often more. No machine will overcome that. If the piano has a poor scale, the SAT will simply guide you down a middle path, and you will have to prevent cumulative error from occuring by aural skills. You will have to depart from the dial and make a compromise on a per situation basis. This is a good reason to learn to tune before picking up a machine, I don't know of any other way to consistantly leave the most reasonably, harmonious result than to listen to everything. The machine will only give you a perfect tuning if you have a perfect piano. Well scaled pianos, tuned often, is where the machine really shines, it rides along as you go up the scale cleaning up unisons. It is power steering that smooths over the bumps , such as stagehands working nearby, lights being changed, malevolent HVAC stystems stalking your stability and serenity at the same time. It gets neither flustered nor flu, no fatigue too great to overcome with simple 120V AC. Just don't forget that when it tells you something, sometimes it is wrong and it is the conscientious tech's job to know when. Regards, Ed Foote RPT http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html
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