<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <HTML> <HEAD> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> <META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 6.5.7036.0"> <TITLE></TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY>  We had been invited to dinner the other evening, at which dinner was a fellow piano technician who made the following comment, "There is no reasonable justification for any tuner not to use an ETD in the 21st Century."   It's Labor Day,and since there are no pianos to tune and my body isn't laboring, suddenly a couple troublesome brain cells began to stir up trouble………..     Strange thing is, this guy has TWO master of music degrees, the second a double piano/piano technology degree obtained on full scholarship at a rather prestigous university at which his eldest son was at the same time on full scholarship as a violin performance major. His wife, a concert level pianist, chosen best music teacher in the city a couple years ago, youngest son at 20 making it as a concert pianist………..       So, one can either assume, according to this very opinionated toooner that the art of tuning is dead, or that science has managed to enable some of us lesser persons to approach artful tunings. This hit me recently at a church at which the pianist was very unhappy, and asked me to tell her why she hated a perfectly (seemingly) good Steinway piano.  Basically the tuning was awful………….  I used my Tunelab to redo it, and she suddenly was happy.  I was slated to tune a month later and the former tuner had heard about it, and retuned it.  I checked it with my "gold standard", and BEHOLD it was dead on at every point.   Pianist said to me, "I know he has an ETD, but has refused to use it heretofore. He must have brought it out."    Indeed…………………………. That brings me to a second point (hop in here Diane Hofstetter)………   The gentleman is elderly, and it was obvious from my experience that he, an aural tuner, was relying on diminished hearing.   Since I am using hearing aids I have some experience with this.   Not only was the thing way out of tune, it was very much too bright, but the elderly gentleman tuner said, "NO!  It sounds just perfect."   Technology is available to not only make the lives of tuners easier, but in many cases enable some us to continue meaningful careers when otherwise we would be losing customers left and right.        This is almost a plea to find a COMPETENT audiological specialist and get hearing checked.   Diane now can sell hearing aids, and will likely be selling wares at conventions, and she knows the special needs of our niche. MOST audiologist do NOT- as was the case with mine until I showed her specifically what our special needs are.   She has now also enabled a lady whose voice sounded just awful, to discover that she is actually a rather talented dramatic soprano, but could not sing because of a life long hearing defect. That, again thanks to Gloria Nemeroff, has largely been eradicated (limited only by the lesser level of her previously chosen hearing aids).  les bartlett </BODY> </HTML>