<!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 6.00.2900.2912" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Greetings David,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I don't know about your analogy, but ETDs are tools that are remarkably accurate (and can make short work of big jobs), though the ear is always the final judge.  There will always be strong opinions about them--on both sides.  Having learned to tune aurally and years later purchasing an ETD, I can tell you that there are advantages and disadvantages to both methods.  The discussion has been had a billion times, I think.  </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Barbara Richmond, RPT</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>near Peoria, Illinois</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr 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=dlawson@davidlawsonspianos.com.au href="mailto:dlawson@davidlawsonspianos.com.au">David Lawson</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> Sunday, July 09, 2006 6:39 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Tuning</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>G'day to you all.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>As an oldie, and an aural tuner, and knowing very little about electronic tuning devices, I am amazed at the amount of reference there is to the later. Are there still people being taught aural tuning, or have those days gone? I find the ear to be the best way to judge what is required from a tuning of a particular piano. I may be wrong, however using an ETD seems to me to be similar to playing a digital keyboard, you get what they give you. Am I way off the beam, or just a little too old to judge?</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Love the banter.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>David Lawson  Wangaratta   Australia.</FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>