John,
The unisons should be as good as the piano allows for concerts and
homes. This is not hard if one comprehends the pianos' limitations and does
not become stressed attempting to exceed them. About 50% of false beats can
be fixed with a quick push on the string to seat it into the speaking length
bridge pin notch with a brass rod or even a hammer shank This is much better
use of time and energy than tuning, retuning, and retuning, for cleaner unisons
than the piano allows.
I hazard a guess that about 25% of "ETD perfect" unisons can be made to
sound better by retuning them aurally. Play a slow chromatic scale lightly to
check for consistency of sound. Consistency is what musicians hear, and unisons
are what they are most aware of.
-Mike Jorgensen
A staunch unisonist, (I finish them as I go).
"Woodrow, John (Parramatta)" wrote:
> List,
> Situation: A home tuning, on an average quality upright, aiming to be
> completed in 1 hour. Piano tuned every 12 months.
>
> We probably mostly agree that the goal should be to tune razor sharp perfect
> unisons. I say mostly because I have seen it mentioned here than some
> believe that unisons should not be razor sharp but have some 'depth'.
> Anyhow, leaving that debate to one side, for the home tuning situation
> described, I am interested in what others consider to be a definition of
> acceptable unisons.
>
> Do you consider anything less than perfect unisons unacceptable, or do you
> consider that while perfection is the goal, the situation, cost and time
> dictates that something less than concert level perfection is acceptable
> from a customer perspective. If less than perfect is acceptable, how would
> you define that standard?
>
> This is not a customer problem, just evaluating my own standards.
> Appreciate opinions.
>
> Regards,
> John Woodrow ICPTG
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