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<DIV>Hi, Susan and Michael et al,</DIV>
<DIV>The whole business of strip muting for either the temperament octave or=
even into the further reaches of the piano has alway been controversial here=
in
UK. Probably like Michael I was trained very traditionally, =
to
discard the strip mute quite early on and rely on one's ear for laying the
temperament with just two wedges. It has always been looked down upon =
in
the profession here if a tuner still has to use a temperament strip, al=
most
suggesting that his/her ear is not reliable enough to do without it. T=
he
analogy being a baby's walking frame I suppose! Because of=
this early influence I can actually feel 'ashamed' if I resort to using =
; a
strip or rubber gang mute on a difficult piano. Do i need
psychoanalysis? However, I could actually argue pretty stongly in=
favour of using them with very small grands and uprights where inharmonicity=
is
so pronounced that setting an acceptable temperament can take more than one
pass, and using this aid would be quicker. When this topic comes under=
discussion over here it is generally argued that the temperament is not exac=
tly
the same when you return to complete the unisons and that the whole excercis=
e
can be more time consuming.</DIV>
<DIV>It would be interesting to know what proportion of tuners is 'mute
free'</DIV>
<DIV>Ric</DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>