OUCH! -Reply

[Tom Myler]

----------
> From: Susan Kline <skline@proaxis.com>
> To: pianotech@byu.edu
> Subject: Re: OUCH! -Reply
> Date: Friday, March 21, 1997 6:17 AM
>
> Leslie --
>
> Being a quiet tuner, apparently with good stability but always hoping for
> more, I am permanently interested in any ideas along this line. Did the
> person you watched offer any description of how it was done? Could you
> describe what you saw being done?

Susan,

Custom fitted earplugs have been great for me, although I find the 15db
filters make fine tuning difficult to impossible. I intend to get 10db
filters when they become available.   I use the 15's for all of my rough
work, and fine work where possible.   (I've always had some hypersensitvity
to certain frequencies, and after 24 years of tuning the damage is
accumulating.)

I have never believed that "pounding" is necessary for a solid tuning.
The occasional difficult piano (one that must be beaten into submission)
presents itself, but I find that as a rule loud "test blows" can be
extremely brief, with no apparent loss of stability.

I would be interested in Jim Coleman Sr.'s thoughts on this.   At the
recent California Convention, I noticed his technique as he tuned a Kawai
grand in preparation for his class.   He would tune the string, then give
it a sharp, fairly loud,  but *very* brief test blow, instantly followed by
a much softer sustained blow for further refinement tuning.   I don't know
if this is his standard procedure; I wasn't about to interrupt his tuning
to ask questions.


Myler, Tom

"Perhaps the greatest wisdom is the knowledge
of one's own ignorance"

                                 John Steinbeck