Muteless tuning

[Michel Lachance]

Hi everyone,

In a PTG convention in Qu=E9bec city few years ago I met a Piano Technician
from France who claimed he never used mutes when tuning.  I didn't have the
chance though to talk in details with him about the technique but this must
be quite an achievement.  When the pitch of a tricord is quite off, I
usually do not use the mutes as I can easily discriminate the specific
string I am bringing up to pitch.  In an aural pitch raise for example, I
can tune a quite honnest octave as the tuned string comes out quite
distinctly from the others.  But when the pitches of the strings are very
close to each other, I only hear a blurr and cannot go without mutes.

I have a picture in a magazine showing Franz Mohr tuning a grand piano (did
he ever tune an upright?).  He does not seem to use any mutes.  Is it his
usual habit or was it for the sake of a quick shot?

Has anyone ever heard of, or used such a technique?

Michel Lachance, RPT