Duplex tuning times

[Ron Overs]

Dave,

You wrote;

>Someone might have already asked this question and I missed it, but
>at the risk of repetition, How long does it take to tune a piano for
>a concert and also do the massaging of the duplex lengths and
>speaking lengths to tune the duplex area?  It seems to me that this
>could easily double the time spent, consequently doubling the cost to
>the customer.  This for a benefit that the protagonists claim is
>small, and the antagonists claim doesn't exist. 
>
>Am I missing something here?

No one has asked as far as I know. Yes it does take longer to tune a 
piano when the rear duplexes are tuned - and I do mean tuned here, 
and not just tapping the duplex blocks around to create a bit of back 
scale havoc. However, it doesn't take quite so long as you might 
imagine, since only the top two string sections have a tuned rear 
duplex. We braid off the back scales for the other sections. 
Furthermore, you tend to get quite a few a 'freebies' when tuning the 
backs. Since the hammers are not striking the duplexes, they will 
therefore tend to be a bit more tuning stable than the speaking 
lengths in many cases where the climate is controlled.

Since the claimed benefits are small as you say, I couldn't image a 
situation where for every tuning the duplexes would be tuned. At this 
time, we only do it for selected recording and concert pianos. Since 
these pianos are kept in good condition, and are housed in venues 
where the temperature and humidity is controlled, tuning stability is 
not a problem. Therefore, in these cases it is possible to tune both 
the duplexes and speaking lengths without going too far overboard.

To be frank Dave, I still regard this stuff as pretty marginal also. 
But we do marginal things don't we when trying to push the boundaries 
of 'what's achievable'. Today's experimentation will occasionally 
become tomorrow's default standard.

Regards,

Ron O
-- 
Overs Pianos
Sydney Australia
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Web site: http://www.overspianos.com.au
Email:     mailto:ron@overspianos.com.au
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