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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>Is it a good idea to make a note in one of the two
top octaves beatless with a note in one of the lower octaves and play that as a
double octave? </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=3>Marshall</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=tune4u@earthlink.net href="mailto:tune4u@earthlink.net">Alan
Barnard</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net, Pianotech List">joegarrett@earthlink.net,
Pianotech List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, May 04, 2006 9:32
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Tuning top octaves</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>If the hammer makes a good string ping, use it. If you get only a tiny,
confusing "pink" or a useless "thunk" then, oh, pluck it. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Someone mentioned playing arpeggios as a final test, that's good, too.
Play a big chord slowly upward, pause before you play the note you are
tuning, hear it "in your head" (some old-timers on the West Coast still use
their bladders), then sound the note and see if it is where you "imagined" it
to be.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The plucked tone, I believe, is actually the true pitch of the
string, i.e., the pitch it would "settle down to" after the hammer shock IF it
had any sustain, which it does not. So, yes, Joe is right. If you pluck, you
might have to tweak it up and test it with the other methods discussed so that
the hammer-played note is at pitch ... or get out your ETD.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Some other West-Coasters (Peter Clark, et al -- not sure who Al is) pluck
the lower, tune-to note of the octave while holding the edge of a mute or
something similar on the string, exactly in the middle, to produce it's second
partial. Then pluck and tune the top note of the octave and match the pitch
(Pitch! Not beats? Heresy, I'm sure). I don't know exactly how accurate this
method is, with the proviso Joe mentions here, but when you really can't find
your way, it's one more trick in hat. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>This can also be used on low bass notes (easy with a
grand) when things are all screwed up, e.g., major pitch raise, and the
strings are thuddy: Just put a finger, lightly, at the center of the
lower note string (experiment to find the center), play the note and compare
it to the octave-up note that you are (hopefully) more sure of.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If all else fails, relax and chill with a little medication ... maybe a
dose of the tuner's wonder drug: Damittol*</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>Alan Barnard</DIV>
<DIV>Salem, Missouri</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>*That's jest a joke, folk.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=joegarrett@earthlink.net
href="mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net">Joseph Garrett</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> 05/04/2006 8:43:44 PM </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Tuning top octaves</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=2>
<P>
<DIV>Alan said: "<FONT size=+0>Many times, plucking the string with a
fingernail makes it easier to hear</FONT>
<DIV><FONT size=+0>than striking it with the hammer."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Be aware, however, that plucking will produce a different
AND lower pitch than with being struck by a hammer.
(If'n ya don't believe that.....do it and measure it with an
ETD.)</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Joe Garrett, R.P.T. (Oregon)</DIV>
<DIV>Captain, Tool Police</DIV>
<DIV>Squares R I</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
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