Yamaha PTII

[Farrell]

In my humble opinion, this is a clear example of the fact that among piano
owners (considering the whole group) VERY very few (my guesstimate would be
less than 1%) have any significant ability to tell whether a piano is well
tuned or not. I would guess that if one has good hammer technique, tunes
good unisons, and takes the time to set the string pitches accurately
according to the Yamaha PT machine, you will get very very few complaints.

I use a SAT III, and I believe I use it reasonably well. I have used it
(well, a SAT II previously) for three years now and have never had a
complaint. So I guess that would be the result in the real world of
Acrosonics and Cable-Nelson uprights: Use a great machine properly with good
hammer technique and great care and get no complaints, OR use an inferior
machine properly with good hammer technique and great care and get two
complaints in two years. I believe there is a world of difference in the
resulting tunings between a machine like the SAT that can truely produce a
great custom tuning for a given piano and a machine like the Yamaha that has
several pre-set tunings that may or may not fit the piano well. BUT not many
piano owners can tell!

My guess is that if we were both hi-end concert technicians, the SAT tech
would be in great demand, and the Yamaha PT tech would have a poor
reputation (tech skill equal). Sad but true, IMHO.

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: <d.l.ezell@att.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Cc: "Tony Caught" <caute@optusnet.com.au>; <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, April 09, 2001 8:26 PM
Subject: Re:Yamaha PTII


> Do any of you guys use a Yamaha Piano Tuning Scope?
> I've used one for over 2 years now and have had only 2
> complaints about my tuning.
> One lady piano player at a church (where the piano
> hadn't been tuned in 4 years) told my sister to tell me
> that I tuned the Piano too sharp.
> So when I retuned it I used the flat temperment setting
> on the Yamaha Piano Scope and she was satisfied with it
> then.
>  On another occasion I had a complaint that the upper
> octaves were a little off(I was using the stretch tuning
> of the scope on that one, set for a Spinet size Piano)
> but to my ear they sounded fine.
> Any comments would be appreciated.