[pianotech] The big discussion

John Formsma formsma at gmail.com
Sat Jan 29 20:05:46 MST 2011


On Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 8:01 PM, Ron Nossaman <rnossaman at cox.net> wrote:

> On 1/29/2011 7:42 PM, John Formsma wrote:
>
>  Have you also noticed that 3rds make pretty good unison checks? Minor
>> 3rds in the tenor/midrange, and major 3rds in other places.
>>
>
> I haven't tried thirds, but I will. Thanks.
> Ron N
>


Someone on the list might have mentioned it. I know my mentor talked about
M3rds as a unison check for the temperament region when I was learning to
tune aurally (back in 2000). But I've "noticed" it again, especially when
tuning the bass. On most pianos, I'll tune all the plain wire strings first,
then tune the bass to them (all open strings). Unison problems are pretty
evident in the m3-M6 test. That's where I got the idea for trying m3rds.

With good unisons, the 3rds are clear, assuming no falseness, severe
mismatching, or string leveling problems.

I don't often use the 3rd to test unisons, 'cause it's kinda frustrating to
hear tiny errors in unisons that might make it through the first check.
Note: they are already good unisons ... the kind that no one would really
question on the RPT exam.

Ever picking nits,

-- 
JF
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