I almost tuned ET!

[Kevin E. Ramsey RPT]

    Look guy, I've been hesitating to write you, but I re-read this post and
had to reply. You have a habit of being obnoxious in your entries to the
list. Look, I'm an RPT, and I scored 98% on the tuning exam. I know how to
tune, I do concert tunings every day, I know what a piano is supposed to
sound like. Maybe not by your definition, but by the rest of the world's.
Get off you high horse, bud. Yes, I've done historical tunings, and they are
different, but when I tune for a concert, not knowing what keys they will be
played in, I tune ET. Invariably, someone will come out, and play in G flat,
and it sounds beautiful. Also, I use the SAT 11. I use it as a tool,, not
trusting what it's trying to give me, but using it to more accurately give
me what I'm after. When I give an institute lecture on how I do this, I'll
personally invite you, and you can take all the cheap shots that you like.
I'll have answers for them all.
Kevin E. Ramsey, R.P.T.
Phoenix, Arizona
ramsey@extremezone.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Billbrpt@AOL.COM <Billbrpt@AOL.COM>
To: pianotech@ptg.org <pianotech@ptg.org>
Date: Tuesday, October 24, 2000 7:43 PM
Subject: I almost tuned ET!


>List, especially Conrad,
>
>My last tuning of the day turned out to be an old Knabe Grand that came
from
>Salt Lake City.  It was a job I did for Tim Farley's business.  He always
>wants HT type tuning, preferably 1/7 Comma Meantone but he trusts my
judgment
>and accepts EBVT.  I decided to listen to the temperament and to my
pleasant
>surprise, it was a passable ET!
>
>There was a note on the piano asking for it to be tuned at A-440 but no
>specified temperament.  The children were home and let me in and the man of
>the house was to be home shortly.  There was Bach's book of Goldberg
>Variations (all the music has only one sharp and in my opinion, this does
in
>no way require ET) on the music desk and under that, there was an old
tuning
>hammer and an A fork.
>
>I tested the A and it was on pitch.  I listened to the temperament and
>contrary to my usual finding, it was a nearly flawless ET with no Reverse
>Well tendencies.  I recorded it in my Exam program and having studied how
to
>do that D*** FAC Program, I put it in and tuned the F3-F4 octave.  I then
>read the results into the Reference page of the Exam program.  There were
but
>three small errors that gave the temperament as it was a score of 91.
>
>This was the first time in a real long time that I wasn't sure what to do.
I
>called Mr. Farley and told him the circumstances adding that I really
didn't
>know why the piano was being tuned since it was pretty darn good the way it
>was.  I asked if he thought I should go ahead with ET this time and he
said,
>"yes".  I hated spoiling an 11 year record of having NEVER tuned ET for
>anyone for any reason (except PTG Exams).  I dreaded listening to it
>afterwards but I thought perhaps *this* particular customer might be
shocked
>at a different temperament because maybe he knows how to tune the piano
>himself and didn't know anything about HT's.
>
>I had started tuning when he came home.  I talked to him for a while about
>the reasons Farley's technicians don't usually do ET.  He was interested
and
>had me start over doing the EBVT.  He gave me a $10 tip and as I left, I
>heard the strains of the 1st Prelude of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier Music
>coming from the house.
>
>Whew! I nearly spoiled a perfect record of 11 years of *unethical* tunings!
>
>Believe it, or STUFF it!
>
>Bill Bremmer RPT
>Madison, Wisconsin
>