[pianotech] the big discussion

[Susan Kline]

The question being discussed was whether Jim Coleman's expertise as an 
aural
tuner played any role in the contest. Of course he knew the particular 
pianos
being used, and of course he had experience using his SAT on that 
particular
piano, and knew that it was a viable task which the SAT would do well. 
If the
model of piano chosen was one which he knew his SAT would not tune very 
well,
and he'd accepted that and used the pure machine function without 
alteration
for the contest, he'd have sold his machine short.

You can't dissect someone's "ETD tuner" from the aural tuning 
background, it's all
one person. It's not "cheating" to know from long experience that the SAT
will work fine for a contest, without tweaking. So of course he was a 
"hybrid"
tuner for the contest, and it's no reflection on his ethics at all. To set
up the contest using a "pure" ETD tuner who had never successfully tuned
a piano without an ETD would be a rigged contest favoring the aural side.

Perhaps other people can answer this better than me, but I find it hard to
believe that the people who originally invented ETDs, and then improved 
them,
intended for them to be used by people unable to tune a piano on their own.
Surely they were intended all along for "hybrid" tuners to use?

Susan


On 1/31/2011 11:15 AM, Mr. Mac's wrote:
> On Jan 31, 2011, at 12:59 PM, Susan Kline wrote:
>
>> The contest was between two completely honorable people, of course.
>>
>> However, do you think he would have accepted the contest if he had known
>> ahead of time that his SAT wouldn't be able to generate an excellent tuning on
>> the piano in question? It's not dishonest for him to know ahead of time
>> that the contest was between Virgil at his best and the SAT at its best.
>> They obviously didn't want to set up the test using matching spinets.
> Susan,
>
> I don't think anything about either of these two persons intentions
>     or what they might have known about beforehand.
>
> As I recall, actually being there in person, the two pianos were
>     Kawai grands of about 6' or less.
>
> And if I am not mistaken, Kawai grands, generally speaking,
>     have one of the best scale designs in the industry.
> That is why, according to a passing comment made by Jim Harvey, RPT,
>     in a class I attended once upon a time, that the name, K. Kawai, is used on the grands,
>     but only Kawai is used on the verticals. You or others can deduce what you want.
>
> Of course, I am more than willing to admit that I am no expert on these matters.
>
> In fact, I am even willing to admit that I am not an expert in anything.
>
> Honorable or not, these two dudes are beyond reproach.
>
> How is it customarily said?
>
> In my opinion,
>
> Keith
>
>
>