This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment Hi List, I thought I'd relate my first Tunelab 'experiment' used for real time = tuning. =20 I had an SF-10 (Baldwin 7' grand) that I had to tune yesterday. It's in = a theatre setting. They are having a particular show right now that = required that it be tuned weekly, so I had tuned it aurally the last two = weeks. The first week, I spent some time and put on as nice a tuning as = I thought I could (within a two hour time slot). The second week, it = sounded so good to me, that I did little more than touch up the unisons. = When I was just walking out the door, the stage manager stopped me and = wanted to talk about a few notes that they had noticed that "didn't = sound quite right". Well, of course I stopped and listened. They = pointed out a couple of notes in the bass section, playing quadruple = octaves (all four notes), letting them ring for 4 or 5 seconds. The = comment was "there was too much movement in there for a piano that's = just been tuned." They promptly disappeared into the black, never to be = seen again. I tried to 'adjust' the bass a bit more, trying to stretch = out the octaves a bit more in hopes that what they were hearing was the = higher partials clashing. (I have a tendency not to stretch the bass = out very much compared to other tuners.) The double octaves were = actually quite clean, being slightly wide. I fussed with it for about = another half hour, trying to put it somewhere that sounded good, and = ended up pretty much giving up in frustration. (The areas of complaint = are at the breaks between plain wire and wound wire on the long bridge, = but much more noticeably, at the break between long and bass bridges. = The first 4 or 5 notes on the bass bridge are next to impossible to find = a comfortable spot for.) So yesterday morning, I show up with my laptop, Tunelab, and several = hours to spend. I figured it would be worth a little extra time as a = learning experience for me. First thing I did was to just run my hands over the keyboard and listen. = Dang, I've heard concert tunings that didn't sound that good, and I = hadn't started yet. Next I put in my mute strips and fired up the = computer. I checked the pitch. Dead on. Well, I'm not so familiar = with things, so it took a while to get all the inharmonicity readings I = needed and run the Calcul8 program, but eventually, I figured it out. =20 I tuned, and tweaked, and tuned and tweaked in the middle register. I = wanted that sucker perfect!! Well, I had to argue with Tunelab a bit = here and there. Once it reached the octaves in the wound strings on the = long bridge, I think about E3?, it wanted to stretch them to the point = where the beats in the octaves really bothered me. So we haggled a bit = there. And as I tuned on up from the midsection, I noticed that the = beat rates increased, but not as fast as I would have liked. I didn't = argue too much at this point, as I knew I'd be coming back to check on = it later. Then I proceeded to tune down the scale through the bass section. It = was using more stretch than I normally do, but not huge differences. So, now that I've covered the piano pretty much from end to end, now I = listen to the overall. Sounds nice, except it sounds Flat!! in the top = end. The bass is not where I like it the best, but it sounds good with = those big chords. I pull out the temperament strips up through the midsection, leaving the = top two sections in place. The bass wasn't a big surprise. I had to = lower the pitch on some of them by almost a beat, but most weren't that = bad. =20 The real surprise for me came in the midsection, up through the = temperament area. I played up through the area without the mute strips = in (mind, I haven't tuned the unisons yet.) I couldn't believe it. = Many of the unisons were completely still, with perhaps 2 dozen strings = giving me a slight wwwwwwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww. That was = a surprise. I expected much worse. The next thing I did, was to try to recalculate Tunelab with more = stretch for the top end. Eventually, I just gave in and tuned about the = top two octaves to what sounded right to me. =20 When I was done, I thought it sounded nice, but I wasn't really as = impressed as I'd hoped I would be. =20 It would appear that electronic tuning can make things very even, but = I'm finding out that it won't do much for a bad scale design. (This = thing has had the wound strings replaced at least once, and perhaps = more. I don't know all of the history, so it might not be Baldwin's = fault...) In all honesty, I liked my original tuning better. But I'm = used to hearing that too. If any of you have suggestions as to what I might have done right or = wrong, feel free to send them along. This electronic tuning is pretty = new to me after a 20 year hiatus from the Peterson Strobotuner. Thanks for the input. Sorry if I've been a bit long winded. I hope you're all having a nice weekend. It's sunny and cool here, with = just a gentle breeze. Best wishes, Brian Trout Quarryville, PA btrout@desupernet.net ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/8c/c6/7b/a1/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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