<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; =
charset=iso-8859-1">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2604" name=GENERATOR>
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hello List, Richard Snelson and Julia =
of
Reading</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When is a tuning not a tuning? What =
constitutes a
"tuning"? When is A=440 more important than A=430 or A=445... or =
whatever. It is
not cheating, in my mind, to tune a piano "to its own pitch" if the =
client
hasn't the wherewithall to pay! One does one's best under all =
circumstances and
advises the client accordingly. Here in the UK we do not have those =
almighty
seasonal changes you people in the USofA have to contend =
with, and
the pianos seem to stay pretty well in tune - given that =
<EM>quality</EM> and
<EM>conditions</EM> always apply. All the pianos at the Opera House I =
tune for
are tuned once a week - it is a continuing problem that the pitch might =
move
over the course of time. But we concentrate on the worst offenders and =
simply
"touch up" the unisons etc. of the rest. It must be understood here =
that
there are only about three hours to go round all twenty-five =
pianos.
So rehearsal pianos are tuned in rotation three days a week during =
the
Season. One day is for the A=430 pianos and another for the A=440. =
(For the
A=415 operas the repetiteur is obliged to play an A=440 piano down a =
semi-tone.
Now <EM>that's</EM> quite a challenge! Sight reading at the drop =
of a hat
a semi-tone lower...!) The third three-hour day is spent on =
the
awkward pianos which can really move in pitch due to the doors to =
the
outside being left open etc. I know one of them will start the season at =
A=440
but by the end it will have risen to A=446+-. No one complains unless =
the
unisons go out or a piano goes dramatically out of tune. Pianos used =
with the
orchestra or for a stage rehearsal are tuned rigorously to =
A=440 on
the day of the rehearsal or performance. I have sometimes found the =
chorus using
an A=430 piano on a rehearsal stage - they just weren't aware it
was not at A=440! So... Unless you have perfect pitch (an awful =
complaint)
pitch does not seem to be of paramount importance ...... away from =
the
orchestra!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Regards</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Michael G.(UK)</FONT>----- Original =
Message -----
</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=rsnelson0984@mchsi.com =
href="mailto:rsnelson0984@mchsi.com">Richard
Oliver Snelson</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 18, 2005 =
3:00
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: One more tuning
question...</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Julia, </DIV>
<DIV>I would ask you this question. Let's assume you end your tuning =
with the
piano on A=440. Tomorrow the weather changes a bit and the humidity =
goes up.
Where is you tuning at the end of the day or the third day after you =
tuned? If
you are aware of season changes and how they will affect the =
piano it is
only good practice in my opinion to "float" the pitch in some cases. =
For
example leave it slightly low if you know it's going to go sharp in a =
few
weeks. Over all the customer ends up with a piano that's closer to =
A=440 for a
longer time. I'm sure there maybe a few customers, performers, even
tuners, that can tell the piano is not A=440, most can not =
without a
fork, tone, ETD. I weekly find fine artists playing with a 20 =
cent flat
or sharp piano and not having the least idea it sharp or =
flat. There is
no reason you can't explain what you are doing to the customer =
and
why it will keep the piano closer to 440. </DIV>
<DIV>The pianos that I tune on a two month basis I will end the =
tunings
at A=440 during the same season. Unless I'm tuning just =
before the
heat come on or summer and the air is about to start, then I will =
think of
allowing a small amount of pitch "Float". Rich</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Alpha88x@aol.com
href="mailto:Alpha88x@aol.com">Alpha88x@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 18, =
2005 8:36
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> One more tuning
question...</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT lang=0 =
face=Arial size=2
PTSIZE="10" FAMILY="SANSSERIF">Greetings,
=
<BR><BR>  =
;
Is one way of doing business for some tuners to just tune the piano =
"where
it is"? In other words, they check the A and if its close enough (or =
even if
its not close to 440 ) just tune the piano so that it is in tune =
with
=
itself???<BR><BR> &n=
bsp;
And even going further, If they have a regular client, such as a =
church, to
do the above mentioned thing, cleaning up unisons (so as to do a =
"bang-up"
tuning) and then, on every 4th tuning or so pull it back up to A440 =
or
alittle above, so they are set up to repeat the whole process, =
thereby
saving themselves some time on intermittent tunings, yet leaving the =
customer believing that they are receiving an A440 tuning each and =
every
time...when they aren't receiving a true tuning (as far as proper =
pitch
goes) each and every
=
time??<BR><BR>  =
;
Not that I would do such a thing in my practice. I do not condone it =
either.
I think it is dishonest. My question is do some tooners do this?? is =
it
possible? <BR> <BR><BR>Julia <BR>Reading,
PA<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>