Aural versus ETD tuning training

[Farrell]

I hide behind palm trees!

No, no, no! I used that phrase to indicate the situation where I get a call for a tuning from a new customer, make the appt., go to appt., and there (or sometimes when they first called) they mention that the piano was just tuned last week by so-and-so, but the pianist complained that it was still out of tune. I don't follow anyone. I don't have any idea what any other tech is doing in my area except for about a dozen of them the evening of the second Monday of most months at the PTG chapter meeting.

You have a good point when you indicate that it is difficult to evaluate another tech's tuning after a week or whatever time period. I have to agree with that. But on the other hand, when you check a piano that was tuned a week ago, that is a good piano, in a fairly stable environment, and is tuned regularly, and find that the pitch of most notes are pretty darn close to where you might set them except for every G being 20 cents flat - I think that you can start suspecting the quality of the initial tuning (and the piano held your tuning pretty well for six months thereafter). Especially when you start to see the same pattern for a particular tuner in several similar situations. And even with that, I'm not going to conclude anyone is a bad tuner, just that some things start to make sense.

Nothing too radical here.

Terry Farrell
  
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Ilvedson" <ilvey@sbcglobal.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 26, 2002 2:22 PM
Subject: Re: Aural versus ETD tuning training


> Just how do you go about following behind another technician?  Do 
> you wait outside their house and follow them to their customer's 
> piano, then ring the door afterwards to check out the piano?...;-]
> I'm not sure I ever have followed another piano technician close 
> enough to determine how well the piano was tuned.  How long does 
> that "perfect" tuning last anyway?  Couple hours?  Couple days?  
> 
> David I.
> 
> On 26 Dec 2002 at 7:50, Farrell wrote:
> 
> > Well put Ed. You wrote:
> > 
> > "Obscure occupations such as ours,(not everyone walks around every day
> > thinking about pianos),  view our knowledge as something of value, and
> > in the past, tended to keep it close, lest someone else begin stealing
> > our customers, grabbing our grands, whatever.  The machines make that
> > possible, as Jim's story of a newbie stepping and acquiring a veteran
> > tuner's business for himself."
> > 
> > I have followed behind several local aural-only older techs and ended
> > up with their client. I'm a machine (SAT/Verituner) kinda guy. After
> > listening to these pianos (some only a day or two after being tuned by
> > other tuner) I quickly realized that I got the job, not because a
> > machine is better than aural, but rather because either their skills
> > are fading, were never there, or they just don't care. The aural tuner
> > in the other post that tunes perfectly for the dealer, may also have
> > just slacked off a bit in some of those concert situations.
> > 
> > Now, how many local aural-only tuners have followed behind me getting
> > some of my client???? Not all of them have called back...............
> > 
> > IMHO however you can produce a fine tuning and make the customer happy
> > is the way to a long and happy career.
> > 
> > Terry Farrell