[pianotech] A432 Tuning Fork

[Susan Kline]

Hi, James

Don't fiddle around with trying to get it accurate -- return it to 
Schaff with a note explaining that it isn't accurately tuned to 440.

On the other hand, what are "all electronic instruments"? I lot of 
little tuning boxes for guitar, flute, etc., are quite far off. Have you 
checked it against other forks? If you are testing it with amateur-level 
electronic sources, you might try finding a tuner who uses an ETD 
(electronic tuning device) and check it against that instead.

I've ordered a number of John Walker tuning forks (generally A=440) and 
not had a bad one yet.

As for the room temperature and so on, my kit lives in the car, so the 
fork is always cold. I warm it with my hands to somewhere near room 
temperature, (which, please note, is a lot cooler than the human body). 
Then I lay it down on the piano. I consider that what I'm getting for 
A440 this way, is very, very close. ("Close enough to make no never 
mind", as people used to say -- and, solely in my opinion, ought to say 
more often!)

Of course for your tuning exam you want to be sure your pitch source is 
accurate. I used my normal fork for mine, and got 100% (on THAT section, 
<groan>). The large aluminum fork is pretty vulnerable to changing 
temperatures. A Deagan-style fork might be a better choice. There's 
nothing wrong with having two forks, either ...

Susan Kline

On 1/19/2011 8:04 AM, James Sasso wrote:
> Hello Everyone;
> I just bought a John Walker tuning fork from Schaff in preparation for 
> my tuning exam. All electronic instruments indicate this fork is 6-8 
> cents flat at room temperature.  I'd like to get some feedback as to 
> options. My other forks average average to within 2 cents of C5 and A4 
> but the A4 one is aluminum. I was thinking of keeping and filing the 
> John Walker fork, but wouldn't 6-8 cents require an awful lot of 
> filing and mutilation of the fork? Another option would be to return 
> the current one and ask Schaff to send one closer to A440. A final 
> option I've considered is to purchase a Sanderson Accu-fork ($165 
> Pianotek). Any comments would be appreciated.
> Thanks,
> Jim