Fairchild Method making FAC tuning

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

    Terry;  I've been doing this for years, but sometimes I will go ahead
and tune the notes to 440 before I read them,for instance; if the piano is
40 or more cents flat. I trust the numbers more if the tension is closer to
correct for that piano. I don't have a problem with the strings shifting, I
just bang on the notes to settle them real well before trying to read the
stretch numbers.
    I didn't know that Steve Fairchild came up with this, I saw a member of
our local chapter do this once. Just another benefit of being in the PTG.


Kevin E. Ramsey
ramsey@extremezone.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "pianolover 88" <pianolover88@hotmail.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2001 9:06 AM
Subject: Fairchild Method making FAC tuning


> Hello list,
>
> Thanks for all the replies regarding DC systems!
>
> Ok..next item: I was reading through some old issues of the Journal,
> this one from April '96, in which Steve Fairchild shows an
> interesting/alternate
> method of getting FAC numbers WITHOUT using your tuning hammer; just the
> SAT. His rational for not using the hammer to "tune" F, A & C is that
after
> the pitch is changed, the measuring becomes inaccurate. I have not found
> this to be true. I routinely use the standard method of measuring/storing
> FAC, even if the piano is 100 cents flat, and still get an accurate
tuning.
>
> Sample of Fairchild method:
>
> Getting the stretch # for F3
> 1: set machine to F5
> 2: play F3 and stop lights by pressing cents up or down
> 3: hold "shift" down and press "RST". Cents window should read 0.0.
> 4: Set machine to F6.
> 5: play F3 and stop lights by pressing cents up or down
> 6: write the number in the cents window down on paper. This is the stretch
> number for F3 to be entered later
>
> Same routine for A4 & C6.
>
> (The main difference is that normally you would use your tuning hammer to
> "tune" in step 2, skip step 3 then do step 4 & 5, then store the stretch
> number.)
>
> Have any SAT users tried his method, and if so, does it work better for
you
> than the standard method? Just wondering. thanks!
>
> Terry Peterson
> Precision Piano Service
> Torrance, CA
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