<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1400" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY>
<DIV><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=2>The biggest problem I see in tuning for players of melodic, as opposed to harmonic, instruments is finding the balance between maintaining good harmonic intervals and good sounding melodic intervals. As melodic intervals tend to want to be tuned sharper than harmonic intervals the problem often manifests itself by complaints about inadequate stretch in the upper octaves. When I know that I am tuning for someone with that kind of requirement, I am careful that the 12ths leaving the temperament octave are at least perfect and that the 2:1 octaves are wide without being offensive. I don't like to compromise the progression of thirds, nor make them so wide that they don't sound consonant, but the fifths and octaves might need to be a bit wider. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="MS Sans Serif" size=2>As far as expectations about tuning stability goes, that's another story. I recently tuned a piano for a woman who had not tuned the piano in at least 40 years. Someone had told her that it needed tuning. The piano was a full semitone flat and barely approached relative recognizability. After several passes to get the piano to pitch and the tuning stable, hammer filing, fitting and voicing (it was a fairly nice little Mason Hamlin), she sat down to play it for awhile and then turned to me and said, "you know, it just doesn't sound right". It all depends on what you're used to. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>David Love</DIV>
<DIV><A href="mailto:davidlovepianos@earthlink.net">davidlovepianos@earthlink.net</A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt Arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=Piannaman@aol.com href="mailto:Piannaman@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> 7/30/2004 9:21:16 PM </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Tuning for violinists</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV><FONT size=2><FONT face=arial,helvetica><FONT size=2 PTSIZE="10">Hello tuners, tooners, and tunas, <BR><BR>I don't know about the resta y'all, but I'm beginning to get a distaste for tuning pianos for violinists. A couple of recent jobs have kind of soured me to the process of trying to get piano tuning to fit into a string player's idea of perfection....:-( <BR><BR>Job number 1: Last job before my vacation in early July. New Kawai k-25 upright, nice little piano. Never tuned in store, 15-20 cents #, sitting next to a window in an area where the fog blows over the hill from the Pacific Ocean. Purchased for little girl. Dad, now a golfer in his spare time, grew up playing violin. Inflated sense of aural ability. I told him that the piano would go out of tune quickly because it's new, and because of where it's sitting. He seemed to understand, at least until I got the phone call where he complained about certain intervals sounding "off." I explained that blah, blah, weather, blah blah, new pianos need frequent tuning, blah blah, break in period, blah blah. He still wants me to come check the tuning. No doubt that I'll find it in pretty nasty shape... <BR><BR>Job # 2: Nice G-2 Yamaha(5'7" grand), about 7-8 years old. Not in horrible tune when I arrived, though it had gone 3 cents or so flat overall, with a few real zingers in the upper end. The family was cooking in the kitchen, maybe 12 feet from the piano, and whatever they were making was putting huge amounts of H20 in the atmosphere. After I was done tuning, my hygrometer registered 70 percent humidity in the house. <BR><BR>Anyway, he didn't seem unhappy with my work, but I definitely felt on the spot. He did fess up to being extremely picky, though he lightened up a bit when I removed the action(never been done before to that piano!) and explained a bit about regulation and voicing(desperately needed to even out the tone). He said he'd play the piano for awhile and decide how he liked the tuning. <BR><BR>That's my whine for the week. Some weeks are just nice to escape from with a shred of dignity. <BR><BR>Thanks for reading, <BR><BR>Dave Stahl</FONT> </FONT></FONT></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>