In a message dated 3/3/99 9:39:28 PM Central Standard Time, jformsma@dixie- net.com writes: << I have not been on the Pianotech list for all that long, but my dad and I talked about you before he died--how that you were an advocate of non-equal temps. Since you mentioned the Acrosonic in your post Sunday, I thought I'd share the following with you. Today I tuned two Acrosonics. One I tuned with the SAT using the standard FAC tuning. The other I tuned aurally using the temperament developed by Fairchild as described in the SAT manual (The "Piano Teacher's Delight"). It was my first time to tune to a non-equal temp. I noticed a pleasing difference in the two pianos, which surprised me somewhat. The equal temp piano sounded like most of the other spinets I've tuned--not too great. However, in the one tuned with the Fairchild temp, it seemed as if the lower bass was much more rich in the more "common" keys (C, D, G, etc.). There was some noticeable oddities in some of the keys, but not really all that bad. Since this was my first time to tune this way, I told the owner that she could play it for a month this way, and if she decided she did not like it, I'd retune it to equal temp at no charge. You are onto something, methinks. If I may inquire.... What procedure do you use for tuning the non-equal temps? Is it described in some literature, or is it something that you came up with on your own, or what? Do you have a way to use the SAT to tune all spinets and cheap consoles that are used primarily to play songs in C, F, Bb, etc.? I am interested in giving the customer the best sound that the piano can have, and ET may not be for each piano. (We all seem to admit that it doesn't work for spinets.) Any info will be appreciated. Many thanks, John Formsma This was a proper question to post on the List since it is of general interest to piano technicians. You have hit upon something which is becoming increasingly obvious to growing numbers of technicians. That which is considered the ideal, the standard, the way tuning is approached for the PTG RPT Exam, may not always be the very best way in all instances. There are really an infinite number of ways to deviate from what many consider to be the norm to produce a much more musically appealing tuning. This does not mean that the norm is bad or substandard, it only places what should usually be expected as a professionally done piano tuning at the lowest common denominator. Steve Fairchild came up with the very same idea that Antonio Francesco Vallotti did in the 18th Century. I really think it is the best introductory Historical Temperament for contemporary technicians to try. Professor Owen Jorgensen RPT and Ed Foote recommend the Thomas Young #1 and I do not mean to say they are wrong. Either one will produce a similar sound. There is even a Valloti-Young temperament which is a compromise that really makes very little difference in the outcome. The reason I like the Vallotti is that it can be tuned from an A fork and it is a very easy pattern to remember: All 5ths between black keys and between a black and white key are pure. All others are tempered twice as much as they would be in ET. The Vallotti-Young compromise trades the 5th FC for the 5th BF#. This facilitates tuning from a C Fork. If you tune from an A fork, your overall pitch will be closer to standard than if you tune to a C fork. If you tune the Thomas Young #1 or the Vallotti-Young temperament, you'll have to adjust the pitch of your C a bit higher to make your A really be 440 and for the rest of the notes to be as close to theoretical Standard Pitch as possible. This kind of temperament is useful for virtually all music, not just for music played in the simple keys. Yet if that is a particular advantage in a certain situation, then there is no reason not to use it. Do not accept anyone's accusation that it would be unethical to tune an Acrosonic this way whether or not you disclose that information. That is your prerogative. If you or your customer feel that the remote keys are too harsh, there is also a Victorian like compromise of this same idea that Michael Kimbell RPT came up with a number of years ago. He called it the "Rough & Ready" Temperament. You simply divide all the Vallotti values in half. The pure 5ths become tempered by half the amount of ET and the tempered 5ths just slightly more than in ET. This will tone down the remote keys but diminish the gentle quality of the home keys. Sometimes, maybe most of the time, only a slight contrast will yield the best results. You have to find what works for you. The Equal-Beating Victorian Temperament that I typically use is an adaptation of the Rameau-Rousseau-Hall 18th Century Modified Meantone temperament. Although it seems simple and natural for me to tune, I don't know of anyone I have ever tried to teach it to who could ever do it. So, I would recommend that you stick with something that works for you for the time being. An important consideration is your octaves, particularly in the Acrosonic. Since your 3rds will not be even but very much affect the harmony your piano will have, you need to familiarize yourself with the Cycle of 5ths and the kind of beat speed you should expect from each 3rd, slow, medium or fast so that you can manipulate 4ths, 5ths and octaves into something that sounds musically appealing. This is where the SAT can help you. After you determine by ear what the best compromise is, you make a programmed tuning and use it thereafter. You always need to check such a tuning aurally but it will give you the best foundation possible. This kind of customized manipulation of the scale cannot in any way be achieved using deviations of an FAC program. When you do this kind of work, you go beyond the lowest common denominator of what is usually expected. You conquer and make work for you that which all the others condemn as a "poor scale" which "cannot" be properly tuned. I took the "Road Less Traveled" a good ten years ago and I haven't thought about returning to the junction of the lowest common denominator ever since. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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