Best Way to Tune A Piano Using Accutuner III?

[A440A@aol.com]

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