<!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 6.00.6001.18000" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>I think it is more to do with the environment, not having changed.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial>If the humidity changes, you can have the best technique in the world, and the piano pitch will have changed.</FONT></STRONG></DIV> <DIV>John M. Ross<BR>Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada<BR><A href="mailto:jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca">jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca</A></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=AlliedPianoCraft@hotmail.com href="mailto:AlliedPianoCraft@hotmail.com">AlliedPianoCraft</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=pianotech@ptg.org href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech List</A> </DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 20, 2008 6:22 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: for those on the fence about hearing protection..</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>I have been tuning since 1964. I value my ears and I have never used firm blows.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Today I tuned 3 pianos. One was for a church that I last tuned in December 07. The other was for a musician, that I last tuned in November 07 and the last was a player piano that I tuned in March of 07. None of these are equipped with a DC.<STRONG> Not one of them was more than 6 cent off in either direction</STRONG>.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>I am not bragging here. I'm just trying to make a point. I think It's all in hammer technique. IMHO firm blows are overrated and lead to hearing loss.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial>Al Guecia</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial></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=erwinspiano@aol.com href="mailto:erwinspiano@aol.com">erwinspiano@aol.com</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> Thursday, March 20, 2008 4:38 PM</DIV> <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: for those on the fence about hearing protection..</DIV> <DIV><BR></DIV> <DIV>IMO Firm blows are a must for stable tunings but more importantly really good hammer technique. Good techique requires fewer firm blows.</DIV> <DIV>  Dale Erwin<BR><BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: Diane Hofstetter <<A href="mailto:dianepianotuner@msn.com">dianepianotuner@msn.com</A>><BR>To: <A href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</A><BR>Sent: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:59 am<BR>Subject: for those on the fence about hearing protection..<BR><BR></DIV> <DIV id=AOLMsgPart_0_116e0dbb-9ea4-41e8-b791-3b3658dbedab style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; MARGIN: 0px; COLOR: #000; FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, Sans-Serif; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #fff"><PRE style="FONT-SIZE: 9pt"><TT> It's good this topic has come up. It's one we have collectively been taught and now collectively need to objectively examine. I taught a class in hearing protection and did hearing tests at a piano tuning school last fall. Part of the class included measuring how loud they were tuning. When I asked the instructor to demonstrate tuning blows, he asked "should I do it like I teach them, or like they DO?" I said "both". So he proceeded to tune, using an average blow of 95dB. Then he demonstrated his students' blows. They measured 85dB. Afterwards, when I tested the students' hearing individually, they confessed to me that it hurt their ears to tune as loud as the instructor wanted them to. So I started wondering whether it is actually necessary to use extremely loud test blows, or whether it is PTG folklore? How many of us have actually done objective studies? Now we have ETD's we have the ability to measure our results down to thousandths of a cent. We can go back immediately after a tuning. the next day, the next week, and measure whether it is holding or not. In the 1990's my husband, who had previously been involved in quality control, devised a graph and we started measuring every tuning on the piano before we tuned it. This allowed us to have a picture of the results of our previous tunings. It gave us information on the seasonal tuning changes--helped sell Damppchasers. It helped us selll pitch raises. It gave information on the changes in pitch in the conference center concert instruments so we knew what time to tune to have the piano at pitch. It gave us information on our tuning stability. When I went back to school, more than full time to study hearing, I stopped tuning for a year and a half. One day I opened a little used dresser drawer, and gasped! It was filled with devices I used to use to try to stop the pain in my left fingers, wrist, arm, shoulder.......... The worst part is that those pianos I hurt myself on three years ago are no longer in tune, but I have residual pain. Diane for those on the fence about hearing protection.. Ron Nossaman rnossaman at cox.net < > Sorry I don't use a "trusty etd" I instead use my "trusty god given > ears" and I haven't experienced what you describe. > > Mike I tune aurally, and I sure have, which is why I let up on the pounding. Ron N Diane Hofstetter </TT></PRE></DIV> <DIV class=aol_ad_footer id=u8CA58E17EA54FAB-13A4-4AD><FONT style="FONT: 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF; COLOR: black"> <HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px"> Planning your summer road trip? Check out <A title=http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000015 href="http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000015" target=_blank>AOL Travel Guides</A>.</FONT> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>