SAT Use

[Joe & Penny Goss]

Bill,
Since returning from the convention and V Smith's class on the last day, I
have been tuning the first note of all double bass strings just as the
little red dots will stop with a leaning toward the sharp and not flat
side. All treble strings I have been tuning slightly sharp in the
temperament range, checking to be sure that the 5th is pure and the octave
no more than a beat. Above the temperament the target seems to get higher
requiring more stretch..........
This seems to put the note where it should be after tuning all unison
strings, but not always, as the need for more stretch usually starts in
octave 6.
The result has so far been fantastic.  The piano's sound seems to be more
alive.

----------
> From: Maxpiano@AOL.COM
> To: pianotech@ptg.org
> Subject: SAT Use
> Date: Wednesday, August 11, 1999 9:19 PM
> 
> List -
> 
> I've been using an SAT since February (SAT III since June) after tuning 
> aurally about 45 years.  I have a few questions that I don't recall being

> discussed on this list in the years I have been on (but then, I miss a
lot 
> because I don't have time to keep up with reading all the posts).
> 
> >From the start, the SAT showed me something I had only marginally been
aware 
> of in tuning aurally, and that is that many strings change in pitch as
the 
> tone decays.  This seems particularly noticeable from about F5 on up, and
is 
> usually a drop in pitch.  Some strings, however, go up in pitch.
> 
> What is the cause of this change?  Is it a change in the plane in which
the 
> strings vibrate?
> 
> Where should one try to stop the lights, on the attack or the decay?  At
this 
> point I set them if possible in the middle, where the attack is sharp and
the 
> decay flat.  The results please me as well as any aural tuning I have
done.
> 
> I would also be interested in knowing how many of you SAT users normally
try 
> to stop the lights consistently in octaves 6 and 7.  I find myself
settling 
> for increasing motion as I approach the top.  At this point I am
satisfied if 
> it sounds as good as or better than I would do by ear.
> 
> My purchase of the SAT was spurred on by the promise of working faster
(and 
> earning more).  I have been using it consistently now fir 6 months except
for 
> rare occasions when I had to revert to aural tuning because things were
not 
> going well.   However, to this point I see no measurable increase in
speed.  
> I think it relieves me of some stress, and it is really a help on pitch 
> raises.  I can record the exact amount of offset on non-standard pitch 
> tunings.  I think what is happening is that I am getting more picky.  And
I 
> am very well satisfied with the results I am getting. 
> 
> Finally, do most of you visual tuners mute the whole piano or tune
unisons as 
> you go along?  A friend loaned me a Coleman/Diefebaugh tape made perhaps
1980 
> promoting muting the whole piano (as well as the SAT over the SOT),
stating 
> that tuning one string of a unison and going over the whole piano, then
one 
> outside string over the whole piano, and finally the third, would lead to

> more stable tuning.  The thesis was that this would better allow the
strings 
> to move over the bridge without rolling it.  However, in the SAT manual,
Dr. 
> Sanderson recommends tuning unisons as one goes along.  Dr. Jim Coleman,
what 
> is your position now?  
> 
> Bill Maxim 
>