Although I read everything I can on the topic of aural tuning I find that with a quality ETD understanding the math and physics, as you say, is not as important as it would be for the strictly aural tuner. Just as a modern automobile owner is able to drive from point A to point B without understanding the mechanical functioning of the engine of his car, I would be able to tune a piano using my Verituner even if I wasn't interested in the underlying principals of tuning. Chuck Understanding the mechanical functions of an engine is not important when driving from point A to point B, any more than knowing how an action works to know when a piano is out of tune. If you want to get from point A to point B, you need to know how to get there using a map or a GPS. Using a GPS will be fine, as long as there are no construction sites or accidents on the road you're traveling. But when there is an accident, or the GPS quits on you, or, what has happened on a number of occasions, for some reason the directions don't make sense, you had better know how to read a map, or have the ability to figure out an alternate route. That is how I compare using an ETD with tuning aurally. As long as the ETD gives you what you want, everything is fine. But when there's an "accident", you need to be able to rely on the "map", or your ability to find an alternate route. But it is encouraging to read that you are learning to tune aurally, so that you are able to use that map. Wim -----Original Message----- From: Chuck Behm <behmpiano at gmail.com> To: pianotech <pianotech at ptg.org> Sent: Sat, Feb 5, 2011 2:02 am Subject: [pianotech] Subject: understand the relationship of the heavenly bodies >But here is the big question, the one I asked Duaine. Let's say you hear an octave out of tune. (C4-C5). How do you decide which note to change? But more importantly, how do you know that the note you're changing is going to be in tune with the fifth below that, or the octave and fifth, or double octave? How do you know that changing the top note isn't going to throw off the temperament that you asked the ETD to put on the piano in the first place. Wim< That's a great question Wim. For me, once the temperament has been set, ordinarily I'm not going to change it. If a unison has slipped, I'll check to see if it's an outside string that is off, or the middle string. If the middle string has slipped in relationship to the other two, I'll reset with the Verituner. It will give me the same reading as before. To prevent the need for overall adjustment, I always recommend a pitchup on any piano over 15 cents flat, to get the tension close enough that the fine tuning is stable. The customer understands that less than optimal results will be achieved if the pitchup is not given. With a pitchup, followed by the tuning, the results ordinarily don't need further adjustment, unless it's a situation where one a string winds past an adjacent tuning pin and has slipped, as Susan referred to in the post about weird strings. If something is seriously off, I would use my wedges to quickly go from the beginning of the of the questionable section to the top, to take a reading on the center string with the Verituner. The readings will tell you what you need to know. Although I read everything I can on the topic of aural tuning I find that with a quality ETD understanding the math and physics, as you say, is not as important as it would be for the strictly aural tuner. Just as a modern automobile owner is able to drive from point A to point B without understanding the mechanical functioning of the engine of his car, I would be able to tune a piano using my Verituner even if I wasn't interested in the underlying principals of tuning. In my case, I am very interested in aural tuning. It's just that I trust my particular machine to give me more accurate data than what my overtaxed ears can discern. (Years of working with woodworking machines without earplugs [until recently] has taken its toll. The constant ringing I hear makes it really hard to focus on beats any more elusive than unisons.) For me, an ETD is a godsend. I'm sure your method for checking and adjusting your tuning is equally as effective to mine. The end result needs to be a piano that's well in tune with itself, no matter the method used. Thanks for the well thought out question, Wim. P.S. Hope you're keeping busy in Hawaii. I've got to hit the snow-covered roads in a couple of hours to do a day's worth of tuning divided up between 4 little towns. The fun never ends! Chuck -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20110205/1feb875e/attachment.htm>
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