David Renaud wrote: > > Here's a new, interesting experience. > When tuning for "Semiprofessional" concerts > perhaps I should always be there till the concert starts??? > > I tune for a rather good community choral group, that > has done some recording, and has a regular concert series. > They own a C7 that I rebuilt for them last year. > > This weekend they have two concerts, tuned the piano > on Friday morning, the room was very cold, and the instrument, > was bang on A440( I have been tuning it once a month since > it was restrung). Cleaned up the tuning, did a little regulation. > > This morning I get a call to re-tune for tonight's concert, > because the piano was "15 cents flat and sounded terrible". > > They had in 7 brass players who have been playing for > two years, grade school 7-8 to play with the choir. The school > music teacher tuned them "exactly" to his machine at 440. > and when they played with the piano it sounded extremely > flat. He assures me the machine was calibrated to 440. > He then checked the piano with the machine, it reported > the piano 15 cents flat. > I've checked my two forks they are both OK. > I know I can set pitch, when I passed RPT exam, not > only did I have 100% on pitch, the deviation was 0.0-part luck. > I've quite a bit of experience tuning for concerts with > orchestra, choir etc., and have never had a pitch problem. > > Seeing as I did not even raise the pitch is is unlikely it > slipped. The outdoor temperature during the day dropped > radically, and the church did not heat the room. so between > the tuning and the tuning and the concert room temp. > had dropped allot and was still cold, but in the process of > warming up as they "tuned". The cold temp.-hunidity > would have sent the low tenor area sharp not flat, and dropped > it back down as it warmed up. > > I spoke with the music teacher, who tells me that his > woodwinds at his school are always very flat, > but the brass are fine. > > I suspect his cheap machine is about 15 cents off. > will find out today. > > Question---- In your experience, how far off, how often > do you find cheaper machines incorrect as > far as defining A440? How much variation > have you seen? Have you run into similar > situations? If I confirm my suspicions, how > do you tell a music teacher tactfully that > he has been trying to force his woodwinds > 15 cents sharp for several years?. > > Should we get danger pay for concert tuning mixed > amateur groups?? > HA HA. > > Looking forward to your > responses > > Dave Renaud > RPT One of my customers had an inexpensive guitar tuner. So I played A440 and found out that the machine would sometimes read the pitch correctly and sometimes it would not. It is a useless piece of test equipment for pianos. So here are a couple of toughts: You checked your forks? Against what? I suspect that they are fine. But, this is what the customer might ask you. Perhaps someone has an accutuner that you could borrow. Check your forks, then check the piano. The accutuners self calibrate to A440...they are extremely accurate. Dr. Sanderson or his son Paul could give you a brief explianation of the calibration process. The units maintain their accuracy in all kinds of environments. If everything checks out, test the customer's machine and see if you get consistant readings. If readings are consistant, then you might suggest he send the unit back for calibration. When I was an engineer, we sent all test equipment to a calibration lab once a year. What if the readings are not consistant? Tell the customer that the machine in not a reliable piece of test equipment. This should be obvious to him. -- Frank Cahill Associate Member Northern Va
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