SAT III Question

[Kevin E. Ramsey]

    Hi, Terry.
    It seems that every time the Anderson's upgrade their program, they
increase the stretch that it calculates. This console probably has a very
high degree of inharmonicity, and that will give you too much stretch. I
haven't really had any chance to work with the new SAT III, but the way I
get around this with the SAT II, is to lower the values of the A and C
figures, until I get close to what I want.
    I also use a kind of "direct interval measurement" method where I can
pretty much ignore what the SAT tells me, and tune the way that I want it
tuned no matter what the machine is trying to tell me.
    From B2 down to the bottom, the SAT tunes f6/3 octaves, also. I find
that often spinets and some consoles will not accept that. As I go down into
the bass, I always check my double octaves, and if they're beating too much,
I know that I have to narrow them by bringing the bass up.
    Some spinets and consoles seem to want a whole lot stretch, in spite of
their higher FAC numbers; some sound best when they have just about no
artificial stretch at all. And remember, the SAT tunes 4/2 here, 6/3 there,
and some pianos just don't fit into that assumption of piano scales.
    In any case, good thing you were using your ears and brain; some lesser
tuners don't.


Kevin E. Ramsey
ramsey@extremezone.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Farrell" <mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 6:22 PM
Subject: SAT III Question


> Every once in a while (it happened the other day on a Knabe console about
> 15 - 30 years old) I'll tune a piano that seems to defy the SAT. I do the
> FAC in the normal manner, but when I start tuning and checking octaves, I
> find that the calculated octave stretch above A4 is way too much. I find I
> need to enter a Double Octave Beat (DOB) factor of up to -2.0 to settle
the
> calculated tuning down enough for my tastes. This is after measuring the
"A"
> and "C" values several times - and even notes next to them. Anyone have a
> thought on why this might occur?
>
> Terry Farrell
> Piano Tuning & Service
> Tampa, Florida
> mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com
>