>List, > > I've decided to seriously try and get my *boss* to let me buy an SAT. >What I need is as much ammunition as possible as to ways that it would >benefit the university/School of Music, as well as ways it would help me >to do my job better/quicker/easier. Avery, I bought a SAT several years ago with my own money. At that time the school of music here at Ohio University couldn't even give me a budget for parts. Things are much better now and I am trying to convince them to upgrade me to a cyber-tooner. Anyway, the SAT allows me to tune very fast when needed. Getting into classrooms and faculty studios sometimes takes a court order and a hand gun. If I have to I can be in and out in a very short time and leave a tuning thats not too hard on the ears. Our building was built in the late sixties when the word "climate control" was coined and the results here are anything but. We have constant humidity and temp. fluctuations of the extreme variety. With the SAT it is a snap to measure just how much the pitch has wandered and calculate exactly where I want to put it. Meaning, in the summer when pianos go up to twenty cents sharp, and A440 isn't critical, I can take a quick average and tune the piano high. Six months later when the piano, even after having left it sharp, falls to twenty or thirty below, pitch raising is quick and painless. (In the fall when we get a cold snap and the heat cranks up you can stand in a hall and almost hear the soundboards crack) Needless to say when that happens I have 119 pianos go out of tune over night and a bunch of surly musicians on my hands. (Is there any other kind?) I have all of my frequent tunings stored in memory. Recital halls and auditoriums are also hard to get time reserved in and the SAT helps me here again. I have tuned right thru sound checks and warm ups without pulling out too much hair. Harpsichord tuning is a breeze. The heat from stage lights make our harpsichords drop in pitch faster than a cat falls off the sixth floor balcony. (Yes, they land on their feet) Depending on how long the instrument has to sit on the stage before they perform the token baroque number, I will estimate (guess) how much it will fall and tune it high to take up the slack. I hope this helps. Chris Purdy -Christopher D. Purdy R.P.T. School of Music Ohio University Athens OH -purdy@oak.cats.ohiou.edu (614) 593-1656 fax# (614) 593-1429
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