re inventing the wheel again

[Robin Stevens]

I have been reading the digest for the last 6 months and I am amazed the
amount of crap I am reading from the "learner Tuners" re tuning scopes Etc.
Firstly I must state I am a self employed Piano Tuner of 42 years with a
very good business and a vast amount of experience in the REAL WORLD.
I am  very much in favour of using Scopes Etc. BUT I must stress you can not
base your tuning business on the results of viewing the results of a scope.
I would like to list what I think is the order of importance
1.  Practice tuning unisons by EAR until the three strings sound as one AND
DO NOT proceed until this is achieved.
2 Learn the basic principles of setting the scale or Bearings or what ever
you
Yanks call the foundation of your tunings.
Once that you are happy with your settings of the initial octave then
practice just copying what you have set through the range of the piano.
3. Learn to be very aware by EAR of "not nice sounding intervals"
At this stage of your learning you will be THAT FAR AHEAD of what the
average customer can hear it will surprise you.
I have tuned pianos orally  for 30 years, but the last 12 years I have used
a Yamaha PT100 for the following reasons.
    1 All piano tuners loose their upper frequency range with age.
    2 I tune 5 or six pianos a day and I find that using the scope where I
only listen to one note at a time
       is less tiring on the ear.
    3 Unless you master or have a basic feel for oral tuning you will for
ever be in the control of the designers of these super scopes which have
seemed to convince you that you need to upgrade at a frequency that would
make Bill Gates envious.
    4 Remember that the customer in the REAL WORLD  is calling you for one
of the following reasons.
            1 They have just received the piano from Grandma (has not been
tuned for the last 30 years)
            2 they have just moved the piano from across the room ( told it
must be tuned when moved)
            3 Sounds terrible ( putting the trip to the Rubbish tip off for
another year)
            4  Note or notes not working ( If you are not confident re
faulty or  non playing notes start to get
                worried because this is the main reason for them calling
you.
            5 Lastly there is a very small group of piano owners who follow
the Makers instructions and
               have them tuned regularly ( this group very well catered for
by the established Tuners)
Finally remember that all is not doom and gloom
             Remember what ever tuning result you present to your 1st or
100th customer,if you have the
             true love and devotion to this noble craft, your interest in
the Customers piano will not fail to be
             noticed.
 Customer skills are far more important (and pay more) than any desire to
tune to a accuracy of 10 decimal places
Robin stevens
South Australia