<!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en"> <html> Friends, All this discussion about a tuneoff has caused my mind to follow another rabbit trail, and my question is this: Is a piano technician ethically bound to give each and every piano the very best tuning he can?  Here are some of my thoughts. To a certain degree the accuracy of the tuning can be determined by the use the piano will receive.  For example, if a fine piano is being serviced in the morning for a concert by a concert pianist in the evening for a paying audience, certainly the tuning should be its very best. But is the bar somewhat lower if a poor cheap 50-year-old spinet without a Dampp-Chaser and gobs of false beats is being tuned for a family with tin ears, how much does one consider economy of time, when I know that (1) the piano will sound no better if I spend 90 minutes tuning it than if I spend 45, (2) virtually no one will appreciate all my extra hairpulling effort anyway, and (3) by tomorrow my carefully applied tuning could easily be 4 cents off in the lowest non-wound strings? I am talking simple practicality.  Every now and then I wonder if, in an era when we can measure electronically down to hundredths of a cent, the only people who care about such accuracy is us, because it's our game.  Straighten me out if I'm wrong; I've been wrong once or twice before (yeah, at least that!).     ;-) To answer my original question, I would say the accuracy of the tuning must satisfy the client (assuming the piano itself is capable of that) and must meet at least a minimal professional standard. Regards, Clyde Hollinger, RPT Lititz, PA, USA</html>