[pianotech] SAT IV extended

[David Love]

When doing aural tunings on small pianos I also find that I want to use a
narrower octave.  Typically the 4:2 style octave extends much farther down
into the bass section whereas on other pianos I might get to a 6:3 octave
fairly soon after leaving the temperament.  In fact, on very small spinets
my temperament octave might be something between a 2:1 and a 4:2.  Tuning a
sequence of contiguous thirds over two octaves (which is my aural
temperament style) I always find that the F3A3 third is set a bit slower
than on a larger piano in order to make the entire two octave sequence come
together and the measured double octave sound clean or at least quiet.  When
measured or checked it is clearly on the narrower side when compared with a
full sized instrument.  With the SAT the measurement at F3 is really a guide
for the bass not for the mid range so since I tend to tune those pianos with
sharper basses (at least the high bass) a wide setting that accompanies a
high number at F3 just doesn't work that well and you pretty much have to
ignore it and either tune by ear or measure direct intervals (which is
really what aural tuning is).  Otherwise, you end up with octaves that are
simply beating way too fast and the double octaves just sound off.  In the
low bass on a small spinet it's a best of the worst judgment call anyway and
on a small grand I'm always trying to find something that's not
offensive--better scaling definitely helps in that area.  The SAT also does
offer a double octave stretch setting which allows you to simply narrow the
entire range of the curve and pull everything in a bit tighter.  However,
since different sections of the piano often call for different amounts of
stretch adjustment it's an on the fly call anyway.  

Bottom line, and I know we've been through this a thousand times on the
list, you have to check what you do aurally no matter how sophisticated the
machine is.  They simply can't deal with the scale variations and bumps
reliably.  That's a bit of a digression from your question.

David Love
www.davidlovepianos.com


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ron Nossaman
Sent: Sunday, December 27, 2009 8:56 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] SAT IV extended

David Love wrote:
>Generally the smaller pianos, ironically, tune
> narrower, not wider.  The settings, for example, on the Verituner for
small
> pianos will give you a tuning curve that is narrower.  

How does this compare with aural?
Ron N