Piano Technicians Guild A440 Resolution

[Billbrpt@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-02-08 01:23:22 EST, you write:

<< we all can agree that there always must be a tolerance when
 >there is a given standard.>>
 
<< Quite frankly, Bill,  (snip) you speak your mind, but your mind doesn't
speak for my mind when you say, "we can all agree...">>
  
    This must mean then that you have a "0 tolerance" at all times where pitch
is concerned.  Frankly, this is unrealistic.

   And frankly as well, it is unrealistic to believe that virtually everyone
who tunes pianos, RPT's and otherwise, with the exception of a few hair-
brained fanatics (as many here seem to think) all tune ET's.  What ever the
errors or deviations are in those temperaments are small and insignificant;
they don't rellay affect the sound of the music.  While the latter may be so
in some cases, I know for certain that there is a significant tendancy in the
tuning profession to believe in ET and its acceptance as a standard and to
actually render quite another kind of temperament on the piano.

    It seems so contradictory to me to have people on this List saying in one
post that the very smallest infractions of standards are important and raise
issues of ethics and in the next post, there is lots of elbow room.  As long
as you never talk to your customers about any alternatives they might be
interested in, they'll never know anything about them.  As long as you never
study any HT's, never listen carefully to any music played in different
temperaments, you'll never understand anything about it.  So, the "real world"
as you express it, remains locked within the limitations that you set for
yourself. 
    Yes, your customers are satisfied.  So were mine before I offered HT's, by
and large, although I did have a few customers who were dissatisfied with my
ET even though it was done to the highest standard.  They like my tunings now.
There are people who don't call me because they know I won't do an ET.  When
people call me and say "I want ET", I tell them, "Sorry, I never tune in ET".
You win some, you lose some.  Yes, I could offer to do both ET's and HT's, I
used to, but there was an incident with a Steinway customer who, after all of
my careful explanations said, "No fancy tunings, just the regular."  That
remark turned me off to ET forever.  I let that customer go.  He wasn't worth
the trouble for other reasons too.  It is quite easy for me to justify in my
mind the refusal to tune in a way in which I do not believe.  
    If you see only conflict as a reason to never open your mind to the
endless possibilities of the HT's, then that is your right and your privilege.
You may rest in comfort with the idea that seems to summarize the resistance
to the practice of HT's:  "What you don't know won't hurt you or anyone else.
What you do know will only get you into trouble"

Bill Bremmer RPT
Madison, Wisconsin