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<DIV>Hello Terry and Listers</DIV>
<DIV>The answer to this lies in the meetings of the PTA in the UK. Such =
things
are discussed. I guess it is a rare occasion otherwise for tuners to =
meet each
other. I am lucky in this respect working at Glyndebourne as I have a =
colleague
there and we.... discuss things.... like Tuning Rates, what to do about =
that
Kawai CA-4 etc. etc. etc. He's a MPTA though I am not - I get a lot of =
my info
from the List (thanks!) :-) and from discussions with my colleague. The =
only
time I have ever watched a tuner in action was when I was asked by a =
newly
qualified tuner from the Furniture College, London, if I could monitor =
his
tuning and comment. He used a felt strip and I cringed - yes... =
<EM>cringed....
</EM>as he poked the felt between the strings to lay the bearings. I am =
very
glad ears were invented :-) Incidentally when he got to the top all h*ll =
broke
loose. He - had - no - idea... how to get the top strings right - =
and that
was after a three year course..... How <EM>do</EM> those postal courses =
work if
there's no-one to monitor your results? I'm baffled. Yes... <EM>baffled. =
;-)</EM></DIV>
<DIV>Regards from a beautiful, hot, sunny day in Sussex where there's a
"Hosepipe Ban!" now in force. Our reservoirs are running low.</DIV>
<DIV>Michael G.(UK) (<EM>baffled)</EM></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: =
black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
href="mailto:mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com">Farrell</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A =
title=pianotech@ptg.org
href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">Pianotech</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, July 21, 2005 =
1:23
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Moving from =
Uprights to
Grands</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>"It has always been looked down upon in the profession =
here if a
tuner still has to use a temperament strip..."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>What kind of an environment is it where other piano technicians =
watch
what another piano technician does during a tuning? I don't think any =
tech has
ever watched me tune a piano, and only once have I watched someone =
else tune a
piano.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Oh, maybe another tech saw me tune years ago when I was doing =
some floor
tunings at a dealer.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Terry Farrell</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=Byeway222@aol.com
href="mailto:Byeway222@aol.com">Byeway222@aol.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT id=role_document face=Arial color=#000000 =
size=2>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,
almost suggesting that his/her ear is not reliable enough to do =
without
it. The 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 exactly the same when you return to complete the =
unisons
and that the whole excercise can be more time consuming.</DIV>
<DIV>It would be interesting to know what proportion of tuners is =
'mute
free'</DIV>
<DIV>Ric</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></BODY></HTML>