<html xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" = xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" = xmlns:st1="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" = xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"> <head> <META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; = charset=Windows-1252"> <meta name=ProgId content=Word.Document> <meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 10"> <meta name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 10"> <link rel=File-List href="cid:filelist.xml@01C34940.8EDBA600"> <o:SmartTagType = namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="State"/> <o:SmartTagType = namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"/> <o:SmartTagType = namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/>  <style>  </style>  </head> <body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple = style='tab-interval:.5in'> <div class=Section1> Dear LIST:<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> I could really use some advice on this one! Also, any technical opinions from not ETD users would = help.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> THE PIANO: Kawai UTC-7 studio in like-new condition. = This piano has a remarkable scale design: I measured inharmonicity at C1, C2, = C3, C4, C5, and C6; used TuneLab to calculate a curve based on 6:3 bass and = 4:1 treble. Came out right on, very “flat” variances at the extremes, i.e., no observable deviation from the optimal curve. Switched the = display to 4:2 and the bass and treble deviation curves absolutely disappeared in = the middle of the piano. And I mean exactly flat, every note on the curve at = 4:2. Wow.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> THE SITUATION: Our church piano has been tuned for = many years by a tuner who stays in a motel and tunes in this area every six = months. He is not a Guild tuner so he will not see this. I was once called to meet = him at the church and let him in. I stayed to chat while he tuned, nice guy. He = uses Braid-White, C fork, 4ths and 5ths, strictly aural. No problem. In fact, = this piano ought to be an aural tuning dream! He does no strip muting and = tunes with just one split mute, i.e., left string, center string, then right = string. So he tunes his C4 and the C4 unison, then off he goes on his temperament, = tuning the unisons as he goes. He never visited the same string twice for any = reason and did the whole piano in about 40 minutes. <o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The piano sounded pretty good when he left, though I = didn’t measure it or really test it in any way. I was, at the time, the church = pianist and noticed no problems except that his tunings didn’t seem to = “hold” very well or very long. On the other hand, we all know what the dramatic climate swings in churches do to pianos so I wasn’t about to blame the tuner.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> MY ACTIONS: Lately, it had gotten so sour that no one = could stand it. So, with permission, I tuned it as a donation of service, and = happy to do so. Friday, I used calculated overpulls to pitch-correct it = because A4 was about 6 cents flat, as was, roughly, the whole center of the piano. = The bass was flat of my calculated curve by 10-12 cents and more. A1 was = over 50 cents flat of the curve which already had an offset of about 17 cents. = The high treble tended flat and the last few notes were very off, A7 to C8 was = sharp a bunch. Saturday, I returned and fine-tuned the piano. It is dead-on = pitch and sounds great, very sweet. (I’m bragging on the piano, not on = me.)<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> YIKES: Today at church the custodian told me that she = let the tuner in on Thursday (the day before I = worked on the piano) and he was here “30 or 40 minutes banging away on the piano.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> MY THEORY: I think this fellow can take a = nearly-in-tune piano and make it sound “okay” to most people in less than an hour. I suspect that he isn’t setting the pins terribly well, nor really settling the string, either. And, in this case, it is clear that the = piano was too far off for a one-pass tuning in the first place. Also, I think he = is sloppy in tuning the lower bass—the only check I saw him using was listening to the double octave—and I think he is just guessing at the high treble (maybe losing some hearing?). He is so “confident” in his work that he really doesn’t do checks at all: When I watched him, = he finished at C8, diddled out a few little tune phrases on the piano = (about 20 seconds worth), packed up, and left. No checks of = 3rd-10th-17th, no running 3rds, 5ths, 10ths, or 17ths, no Maj 6th-Min = 3rd, nothing. Just his 4ths and 5ths for the temperament, then single octaves = up and down with a couple of double octaves in the = bass.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> THE DILEMMA: If I knew what I know and were a plumber = or an accountant, I would sure speak up. But as a tuner, SHOULD I speak up? = How on earth can I do it without sounding like a self-serving idiot carping = about a competitor?<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Alan R. Barnard<o:p></o:p> <st1:place><st1:City>Salem</span= ></st1:City>, <st1:State>MO</= font></st1:State></st1:place><o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> </div> </body> </html> --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.495 / Virus Database: 294 - Release Date: 6/30/2003