Tune Off and ETDs

[John Musselwhite]

At 05:22 PM 1/16/97 -0700, Jim Sr. wrote:

>A novice is a novice whether he tunes by ear or uses equipment.

At the very least, an understanding of the available "equipment" helps the
novice to be less dangerous. In addition to helping them hear what they are
supposed to be hearing, an ETD can also help them understand why they can't
do a good aural tuning on some pianos.

I vividly recall the piano my father used as a practice tuning piano for me
when I first started tuning (without an ETD). I struggled with it for a week
until he tried to tune it and couldn't do a decent job either and then put
me on a new Kawai instead. I had the opportunity to check that beast's FAC
numbers a few years back and they were in the range of 20, 8 and 5, which
explains even my father's frustration with it. I learned a valuable lesson
early on, and when I saw the "Tuner's Prayer" it reminded me of that
incident. For those who missed it:

Lord grant me serenity to tune the pianos that can be tuned,
The patience to accept the pianos that can not;
And the wisdom to know the difference.

What modern ETDs like the SAT and Reyburn Cyber Tuner have done (at the risk
of being slightly blasphemous) is grant us that wisdom to know the
difference and actually analyse it scientifically. As well, there is some
ability to improve on pianos that cannot be well-tuned by ear without overly
trying our patience.

Serenity is up to the individual, but personally speaking if the FAC comes
up looking reasonable and it's close to pitch I just set A4, put away the
device, sit back with a smile on my face and enjoy the tuning. To those
listening it may be "dinner music for people who aren't very hungry" (thank
you Spike Jones!), but to me it's a pleasant break from the drudgery of
tuning the often-seen intractable instruments mentioned above.

I did one of these "serene" tunings the other day... it measured 5.5, 5.7,
5.9 and not a wild string, recalcitrant pin or harsh note on the whole
instrument. It was so "serene" it was almost boring and although I took
great pleasure in tuning it I was glad to get back to one that fought back a
little.  B-})

>When are we going to stop the WAR? I've seen plenty of novices on

<sigh>  The "WAR" is actually over IMO. All that's left are a few holdouts
on each "side" discussing philosophy and neglecting the reality - which is
as it has always been: A tool is only useful in the hands of those who know
how to use it. If I may paraphrase Gertrude Stein, a tool is a tool is a
tool. I'm eternally grateful that those who know how to use these tools care
to share that knowledge with us.

Who "won" this war (such as it was)? Ultimately everybody did... whether a
person uses that particular tool or not. Although it began because of early
attempts at using science to attack the "problem" of piano tuning it ended
up an imaginary war after all because ultimately a tool is just a tool and
there is still a lot more to piano "service" than just a fine tuning. Even
the most average "tuner" will be thought of as a genius if the five-year-old
pedal squeek that other tuners had missed is gone when they leave.

>sides.  Let's give it a rest.  OR would you care to take up my challenge
>for a Tuneoff?  The next scheduled Tuneoff is at Orlando, Florida
>at the Convention this summer. Virgil Smith and I will go at it again.
>This time we will have 2 pianos apiece and plenty of expert judges.

The review of the last Tuneoff in the latest journal was wonderful and your
efforts are greatly appreciated! It will be interesting to see the reactions
of the most vocal anti-ETD tuners if and when they take part in future events.

>Electronically Yours,

<grin>

                        John

"A piano is a piano is a piano." - Gertrude Steinway

John Musselwhite, RPT
Calgary, Alberta Canada
musselj@cadvision.com