<html> <head> <meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; = charset=us-ascii"> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10 (filtered)"> <style>  </style> </head> <body lang=EN-AU link=blue vlink=purple> <div class=Section1> Hello there Nicholas   >I joined the list a few weeks = ago. I'm not a professional tuner or >technician, but a hobby pianist = with a desire to learn the basics of > tuning.   I joined the = list today myself and should really leave it to my betters to offer you their invaluable = advice.   > Do you have any suggestions = for books discussing piano tuning from > the bottom up? I'm sort of = looking for a "tuning for dummies", as > well as a more advanced book discussing tuning, intonation and > mechanical = action.   That said = I’ll jump in at the deep end….  I too am a hobbyist. My interest stems = from fairly recently being given as a gift a lovely looking 1875 Ernst Kaps built = grand piano from Dresden, Germany, which has been sitting in an old farm house = ballroom in Australia for the last 80 years. My local big city piano store, from = whom I'd rented and bought pianos since I was 7 years old, suggested that tuning = the Kaps would be "far too difficult for the lay person to contemplate and = not even bother getting started." I took exception to that, raided the = library in Canberra = and discovered a wonderful 1906 publication written by an American who's = name was J.Cree Fisher. I seem to recall that this has the imaginative title of = "Piano Tuning" (followed by a sub-heading which I've forgotten), however, = despite its age I found it easy enough to follow. Perhaps it's thorough, = self-conscious, quasi-scientific manner leant it an old world charm that kept in harmony = with the ugly beast providence had sought me out to tame. Another helpful = tome was by another American named Arthur Reblitz entitled "Piano Servicing, = Tuning & Rebuilding" issued by The Vestal Press, New York USA in = c.1976. There are no doubt other views and more books than are available in Australian regional centres and this forum is the most likely place to learn what = those books written since 1906 and 1976 respectively might be. =   > What digital devices are = available for computer-assisted tuning? > (I read your discussion of the = Verituner - it looks really > interesting.) Do you think = that such a device would be useful when > learning = tuning?   I found those = two books, together with the Korg OT12 to confirm pitch (and to set it just a notch = higher than perfect) gave me the chance to transform what was an awful = sounding, humourless machine into something which has a richness in its bass = strings approximating the sounds encountered, to borrow from modern music, the = 2nd to 3rd minute of “Sit down, stand up” on = Radiohead’s new album “Hail to the thief” (track two). [Not a bad album = if you like that sorta thing like]. For those not in the know, this is an agreeable = thing to the author’s ear.    </fo= nt> Yet machines = such as the Verituner and the Korg OT12 to confirm pitch are probably useful to get you = quickly from A to B, but it won’t teach you to tune. Reckon one still needs to = follow the path evenly to spread the tension as the plate-maker and = scale-draughter intended over a few drunken nights when they created the piano = you’ll probably end up wrecking. And, although being a mere jack-of-all-trades = I’m very easily satisfied with the confirmation of the results, the = digitiser’s not taught me any more than being able to accurately read a gauge and = adjust tensions accordingly. All depends on what you what to know = “how” to tune for. This is a matter entirely for you. If you wish to = tune your own instruments in a hurry, and, you’re your only client, go for = it. It’s great fun. There’s probably hundreds of machines and programs to investigate. Go and break some strings and enjoy. There’s nothing = more invigorating than seeing a healthy F-string from the fourth octave = flying across two rooms unexpectedly into your wife’s tulips as = she’s placing their vase on the table as lunch is about to be served. We got = married a mere 173 days ago and the arc of that string as it left the hitch pin = and headed north is the closest thing that’s brought us even near an argument.   > A friend of mine suggested that with a digital = tuning device it > would be possible to "save" the state = of the piano (all the > frequencies, or string states) to the device and = then restore it > almost exactly as it were months later. Is this = really possible? I > guess there must be something more to it, = otherwise there would  be a > lot more digital tuning devices = around.   Hmmm… = sounds very much out of my league but entirely possible. I’d love to know too. = My garden variety tuner (photo attached on aforementioned c. 1875 Kaps = – ser.#4496) just doesn’t have that that capability. Wish it did. It’d be = like a “before and after” photo.  </fo= nt> <img width=448 height=336 src="cid:image001.jpg@01C32490.72777DB0" = alt="Bedak_snap(61).jpg">  </fo= nt> All the best of = luck with it Nicholas.  </fo= nt> Hope = there’s plenty of others on this list more sensible than I am to steer you in the right direction.  </fo= nt> Cheers = =   = Simon Bedak Level 12 20-26 O'Connell = Street Sydney NSW Australia<= /font> Ph  : (02) 9221 = 9500 Fax: (02) 9221 = 5277 Mo : 0407 408 092   <img width=134 height=101 = src="cid:image002.jpg@01C32490.72777DB0" alt="Bedak_snap(32).jpg">   </div> </body> </html>