In a message dated 10/3/00 2:32:28 PM Central Daylight Time, ilvey@jps.net (David Ilvedson) writes: << I simply reject someone who uses a tuning fork as an ear tuner. So many times I come behind "fork tuners" or "tuners with folks" who have left the treble extremely flat or the entire piano below pitch. >> This is more of the "baloney" that I used to write about which does not belong on this List: a personal and judgmental opinion represented as some sort of "truth" by someone who really ought to know better. Tuning the treble flat has absolutely *nothing* to do with using a fork nor do these kinds of results bear any relationship to whether the piano was tuned aurally or electronically. It is unfortunate that someone who is a concert tuner and RPT would say this, however, because other more impressionable people might be confused by it and some might even believe it. There is another List which specializes in this kind of remark. They only accept "professionals", so they say. I have seen plenty of aural tuners who tune the treble excessively sharp and I have seen tuners who use ETD's and end up with the treble all too flat. The "which is better, aural or electronic?" argument is as old as the hills and twice as dusty. The answer to that question is unequivocally, neither method is superior to the other. A technician's skill *cannot* be prejudged based upon whether he/she uses either method or a combination of the two. The results are what is important. The conclusion that "fork tuners tune flat" is just as erroneous and invalid as saying something like, "All tuners who take a shower in the morning tune flat. I know this to be true because I have asked every tuner who tunes flat if they took a shower in the morning and they all answered, 'yes'." Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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