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<font size="+1">Geoff,<br>
<br>
A person's hearing can be a touchy subject and putting the problem on
the player's perception can sound like a tuner not taking
responsibility for his own poor workmanship. But the times I've run
into this kind of disagreement, it has been a hearing problem or
wrongly-programmed digital hearing aids. Recently the problem was that
the wearer was operating the hearing aid improperly. I recommended
consulting with a second audiologist who helped her to put things right
and now I have a very grateful customer (with a Bosie 7'4" :-)<br>
<br>
My approach has been to verify the tuning carefully, both digitally and
aurally as you did and, having passed all the tests, I can then only
certify the piano as tuned. The one time I tried to accommodate the
player, who wanted one low bass note retuned, I could see that they
wanted it far, far from in tune and retreated back to what I knew to be
in tune. It's best if you quietly hold to your standards and simply
suggest they get a second opinion. <br>
<br>
Is there an audiologist in the house?<br>
<br>
Tom Cole<br>
</font><br>
<br>
Geoff Sykes wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mid000d01c7cdb1$57676d90$6400a8c0@geoff2r3ofonmy"
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<div> <span>Greetings all --</span> </div>
<div> <span></span> </div>
<div> <span>This afternoon I did a repair tuning on a Yamaha C3. By
repair I mean that the owner of the piano felt that the tuning from the
previous tuner, two months ago, left a lot to be desired. Once I
checked it out I had to agree. Anyway, I tune the piano up and make it
all right again and the owner sits down and plays it a bit when I'm
done and complains that the treble, especially the area around sixth
octave, is sharp. OK, I pull out my trusty Reyburn Cybertuner and
double check the tuning, and it's right on. Just to make sure, I put
the ETD away and do aural checks all the way up from about F5.
Everything checks out good, but the owner still insists that it's
sharp. Since he's not complaining about every single treble note, but
just a half dozen or so, I strip mute the treble and work with him on
each note that he is unhappy with. Doing a number of checks, including
some of his, I get to a point where I just can't make the note any
flatter and still claim the piano is in tune. I'm bringing notes down
so flat that they are full of fast beats and the octave is just ruined,
and he's still complaining that they sound flat. By this time I've
disagreed with him enough that he's starting to, (finally), question
his own perception. I suggest we leave it where it is and when I come
back for the next tuning I will make a point of reducing the amount of
stretch in the treble to as close to nothing as I can make it. He says
OK.</span> </div>
<div> <span></span> </div>
<div> <span>Rather than go through this again, as well as learn from
the experience, I'm looking for ways to work with a customer who is
obviously hearing incorrectly but who I, nevertheless, want to satisfy.
Today's question: How do you defend a tuning that you know, and can
prove, is correct when the customer says it is not?</span> </div>
<div> <span></span> </div>
<div> <span>-- Geoff Sykes</span> </div>
<div> <span>-- Los Angeles</span> </div>
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