Ben, The problem is that you can't tune an untuned piano. 10 - 15 cents needs a pitch adjustment. You have to first "tune it", quickly get it into the ballpark, then only with it being very close to in tune can you expect to get a stable tuning with whatever method you choose. Follow up with a second pass. Use the temperament strip for setting the temperament, clean up the unisons, then proceed toward the extremities using single muting. Tom Cole Ben Gac wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I would to get your feedback on what you all this is the most stable > and efficient way to tune. I've been trying many, many different ways > over the past couple of months and asking other technicians that I > come across why they tune the way that they do. I've been searching > for the optimal way that an aural tuner can tune fast and stably. > > I've gathered that many technicians feel that tuning each string in > the piano as you go is the most stable way to tune a piano, leaving > out the strip mute altogether. ETD users can particularly be the most > efficient with this method of tuning, but I've come across some > problems with it as an aural tuner: > - First of all, if the piano is any more than about 10-15 cents out of > tune or if the unisons sound twangy, it's all but impossible to use > test notes, or at least three times as hard (three strings to adjust). > - Second, one must be EXACTLY correct when one tunes a note (hard for > the tweakers who like to go back and adjust), with either little room > for error, or else time gets consumed very fast going back over what > one has already tuned. > - I've also found that if I use this method that my unisons go out of > tune as I continue to tune the piano as the tension gets displaced > across the soundboard and plate, and I have to go back and re-tune > them. It's more frustrating than with a mute, because three strings > must be adjusted. > The main reason it seems that this is some technicians' preferred > method is because tuning each string as one tunes up the piano is the > most stable because it adds tension to the piano immediately, unlike a > strip mute, which ends up adding tension later and can leave the > octaves less stretched... > > Strip muting, however, does have its advantages: > - It's very easy to use when setting one's temperament, and one can > use test notes as easily as ever with only one adjustment to make if a > note is too far gone to hear a proper beat rate. > - Mistakes, when heard, can be adjusted quickly and effectively across > the entire keyboard (if all my Es are off, it's not too hard to fix > them if they're strip muted) > > But strip muting also has its disadvantages > - Not as much tension is added to piano as early on, and in many cases > can wreak havoc on a perfectly single string tuned keyboard > - Unisons can go out of tune just as quickly and need adjustment, > especially once the whole piano has been "tuned" > - It could be argued that the strip deflects strings slightly and that > the pitch will change when the strip is removed. > > I've seen some aural technicians use various kinds of "hybrid" > methods, including using a strip only for the temperament, and also > tuning two out of three strings in the unisons and leaving every other > crease in the strip in place until tuning everything out later (as I > believe Virgil Smith first pointed out: two strings vibrating in sync > actually resonate lower than one string resonating alone). > > Currently I've been been trying to use a method that incorporates the > best of both worlds: I strip mute the whole piano. I tune my > temperament, then work my way down to bottom of the bass. I tune out > the unisons because it seems to me (whether it's true or not) that the > bass section would be the least affected by future changes in tension > on the piano, due to it being cross strung as well as the thicker bass > strings. Then I tune the unisons out up through my temperament. I > tune single strings (the temperament strip is already in place) for an > octave using all my checks, then tune out those unisons. I repeat > that procedure all the way to the top of the piano, then check my > unisons across the piano and fix the offenders. Last, I do a few > consecutive thirds checks to make sure that everything expands equally > across the keyboard. If the piano is in good condition, I can usually > this in under an hour. > > My questions for you all: > - What are your reactions to what I've written (am I off my rocker, or > what?) > - How do YOU tune, and why? > - Can some of you scaling and rebuilding gurus tell me in a little > detail which sections of the piano are most prone to tension change, > and why? > - What do you think is the most efficient and stable way an aural > tuner can tune a piano (ie, give his/her clients the best service for > an optimal amount of time)? > - And lastly--How much does this all really matter? If the piano is > already far enough out of tune that any of the aforementioned > disadvantages actually make a difference, is it really going to be > noticeable when one tunes with a strip versus just one or two wedge > mutes? And if we REALLY want a finished product, shouldn't we just > make two passes? > > > Thanks for bearing with my long email and questions... > > -Ben > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20080819/7a1ca6a3/attachment.html
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