tuning forks and beat rates

[Brian Henselman]

>> I learned to use a middle C fork
>>(thick aluminum Kitching) and then set the temperament from F to F. Is
that
>>method out of fashion these days?
>>|| ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || |||
>>   JASON KANTER * PIANO TUNING
>>425 562 4129  *  fax 425 562 4132
>>     jkanter@rollingball.com
>>              * * *

    Nope, I use a C fork, and the F to F temperament octave as well.  In
fact, I prefer this temperament octave when pitch-raising a large grand
piano.
    Because most larger grands have a smaller bass note count (i.e. 20 bass
notes), using Middle C instead of A-400 puts my temperament octave closer to
the center of the tenor section.  If I use A-440, I only have two more
pitches (A# and B) before I'm in the alto section.  In that I'm an
"old-fashioned" aural tuner, when pulling up pitch, I'd prefer to do it one
section at a time by stategically over-shooting the pitch, creating a
temporary "stretched" temperament, and pulling up my unisons in the tenor
section (F2 to B5), and then re-muting and re-establish a real ET
temperament in the tenor section before moving on to another section
(preferably the bass).
    Although most technicians probably use A-440 forks, I don't think that
it is necessary to insure that A-440 is perfectly at pitch.  Because I am so
comfortable using a C fork, and because ET puts A @ A-440 anyway, and
because I'm very familiar with how the pitch floats or drops in each section
during a pitch alteration (as in I'm not right at the upper edge of the
tenor section), I prefer my F to F temperament most probably because I'm
just stubborn and that's just the way I was taught.
    BTW, since most junky little spinets have an enormous bass note count
(almost up to middle C), I imagine that a genuine A-440 fork and an A to A,
or a D to D temperament octave would be preferable during an aural pitch
alteration.  However, I've become so accustomed to compensating for the
relative closeness of the bass section (i.e I don't over-shoot my middle C
initial pitch as much during pitch raising, and I stretch my upper tenor
octaves more outside of my temperament octave), that I haven't needed an
A-440 fork.
    Cheers,
    Brian Henselman, RPT