[pianotech] Respect

[Chuck Behm]

>The unadorned ETD tuning is not going to achieve quality - Susan Kline<

Susan - I have utmost respect for your point of view and your ability to
tactfully present your ideas, but I must take exception to this statement.

I believe that the level of tuning attainable using a high quality ETD is
remarkable. Granted you need to master hammer technique, but to flatly say
that a quality tuning is not possible without understanding aural tuning
flies in the face of reality.

The Veritune machine that I use performs calculations for each piano that I
tune that are far above what I could ever achieve aurally. To begin with,
it's measuring the vibration rate of each and every one of the first eight
partials of each string up to 100th of a cent. It then matches those
partials against the partials of the others strings and uses logarithms to
find the "sweet spot" where each string should be set.

To top that off, the machine records all of this date, so that the next time
the piano is tuned, it has the information at its fingertips, so to speak.

Could I do all those calculations and keep track of it all in my head? I
would be as likely to be able to recite pi out to 1000 places backwards from
memory! It just isn't going to happen!

I set the temperament of the piano using my Veritune machine, and tune the
unisons by ear to the temperament string. Being able to tune a piano
completely by ear, while a great talent to have, is not a prerequisite to
being able to do a great job of tuning.

Please don't misunderstand me on this, Susan. An aural tuning done well is a
beautiful thing - the tuner is an artist and the piano is her canvas. What
you do is an art form of the highest level.

But give those of us who use an ETD to tune the benefit of your respect. I
believe, after all, that simple respect is all that Duaine is looking for
here.   Chuck

P.S. Saying all of that, I would also say that if one is going to use an ETD
to tune, it needs to be top-of-the-line equipment. Going to Radio Shack and
buying a $20 guitar tuner isn't going to cut it.
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