<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Message</TITLE> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16481" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Geoff, some years ago I was tuning a brand new Steinway B for a professional oboe player and he said that C6 through F6 were all slightly sharp. As it turned out, that is the top of the oboe's usual "power" range and he had a very well developed sense of pitch based on that. I had to lower each note about one or two cents and he was then satisfied. It was still ok as far as the piano was concerned. Very curious affair. Strange to me that above F6, he did not seem to care. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Robin Blankenship</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=thetuner@ivories52.com href="mailto:thetuner@ivories52.com">Geoff Sykes</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> Tuesday, July 24, 2007 1:13 AM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Defending your tuning</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=203105604-24072007>Greetings all --</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=203105604-24072007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=203105604-24072007>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></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=203105604-24072007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=203105604-24072007>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></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=203105604-24072007></SPAN></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=203105604-24072007>-- Geoff Sykes</SPAN></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN class=203105604-24072007>-- Los Angeles</SPAN></FONT></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>