[pianotech] Tuning Fork Standard

[Paul T Williams]

Nice info;  I got the message 3 times...about how many times I hit my fork 
on my knee during setting pitch :>) I have a great John Walker fork I've 
had for 20 years. Steve Brady and I had to shave off a tiny bit on the 
ends of the tongs to get a perfect 440.....but it will vary a bit on the 
temperature of said fork.  It's perfect at 69.5 degrees.

Always check temperatures when tuning.  I've gotten very good as 
estimating the variances from 65-72 degrees and other than testing 
purposes, if it is around 1 cent +/- off, I don't really worry about it 
(concert wise).  Setting 442 is a different story. I have a very good 
sense of getting a second beat in my head, and will even watch the clock 
for 10-15 seconds to make sure my tempo is just, and then go from there. I 
don't have a 442 fork. Some eastern European folks like 442.  Fortunately, 
nobody has ever asked for wild stuff like 445 or 435....They'll be a time, 
I'm sure having been a CAUT for only 5 years.

Not one visiting or resident artist has ever checked my 440, but they'll 
be reassured to know it's dang close every time! Perfect every time; 
doubtful. Confidence in my estimations: priceless!

Paul




From:
Robert Scott <fixthatpiano at yahoo.com>
To:
pianotech at ptg.org
Date:
01/21/2011 02:08 PM
Subject:
[pianotech] Tuning Fork Standard




Susan, unfortunately it is not possible to send a reference tone over the 
Internet.
When you visit a website and that site plays a tone, it is actually using 
the crystal 
oscillator in your computer's sound card to play back the tone. The 
accuracy of 
that pitch is totally determined by the accuracy of your oscillator. Now 
some 
sound cards are better than others, and you might be lucky and get an 
accurate 
reference tone from your computer. But there is no way to know for sure 
without
comparing it to a known reference.


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