CTE-Master Tuning

[Avery Todd]

Fred,

I think what people are talking about is that with humidity changes, the
piano can change, thereby affecting the FAC numbers, thereby affecting
the "Master Tuning", in this case. This has been being talked about
lately on the pianotech list about the climate changes changing the FAC
numbers somewhat.

I suppose it's "possible" for the SAT to drift, I don't really know. I
just noticed that I didn't have the smooth progression of thirds in the
temperament that I always strive for. That's what got me started checking
things.

Thanks for the post.

Avery

>This notion that the SAT "adjusts" tunings without being told to is, I
>think, apocryphal. It is not an "active" machine. What's in memory is
>simply in memory. The calculating function only happens when you
>activate it, with some difficulty (sequences of key pushes that are
>unlikely to happen by accident).
>	I guess it might be possible that some electronic/media corruption
>could happen over time. If that should be the case, there's an easy way
>to check whether the numbers in the memory have changed. You should have
>a hard copy of the master tuning somewhere. Scroll through what's
>recorded on the SAT and see if the numbers are the same as the hard
>copy.
>	With respect to making any changes in a master tuning, definitely do it
>by committee.
>Fred Sturm
>University of New Mexico
>
>Dennis Johnson wrote:
>>
>>  I remember listening to a discussion with Sanderson about the fact that
>>  sometimes the SAT can make small adjustments to a particular memory
>>  over time if it is not used regularly. Something about the machine
>>  calculating what it perceives to be a "correction", based relatively on
>>  the other numbers. For whatever the reason, we are not recommended to use
>>  master tunings we store in memory for long periods. They should be redone
>>  every year even if using the same piano. Just copy it, fix it, then record
>>  it again.
>>
>>  ______________________
>>  ______________________
>>
>>  Dennis Johnson
>>  Piano Technician
>>  St. Olaf College
>>  Northfield, MN. 55057
>>  (507) 646-3587 shop
>>  (507) 646-3527 fax
>>  (612) 529-6123 home