Hello Don, it's a bit difficult to clearly explain. Each tuner I work with have his own way of tuning the unisons, some with a very stable ringing very soon, others with a definite move of pitch during the attack, others with a percussive attack and a string leaning a bit in the unison in the intention to add brilliance (always at the detriment of warmness and plenitude). We all tune the pitch a little after the attack, the so-called "bloom" I believe , even if on modern pianos with tensioned hammers the bloom can be very immediate. What we regulate then is the strong ness and clearness of the attack, and the way the sound open or die after that. The way the higher partials stabilize gives a pitch move (sometime of nearly 2cts on some pianos) As we all work the sound by the tuning of a 2 strings unisons against the tuning of the 2 remaining strings, but there are generally only 3 strings for a plain wire note (;>), that allows for a lot of possibilities around the good spot. I have a colleague who tunes one doublet lending high and the remaining lending low, in a way the 2 doublets gives a warmer an longer stable sound, another tune the middle string low and the external strings as the target pitch to reach, having a sound with a simple move and more purity, The move in the unison is what makes the piano sing, it add life without the necessity to use the sustain pedal. How to do that ? First I found a touch that correspond to the voicing of the piano, so the hammers are giving much energy to the strings. I try to tune the projected sound as if I was hearing if at some distance of the piano. I try not to listen at all to the attack sound (or only when play very softly for final polishing), as it is tiring and not the most important thing. I tune the note so the sound is the longer, and the hammers love to rebound on the strings. The nicer sound is at the same time the stable one and it is only when all is settled that it appears, so the holding is less a concern than you can think. I believe we need some masking effect to hear correctly while tuning, that is why it is sometime easy to tune in a noisy environment, because then you focus to the important part and not on disturbing details. A common test is that it is possible to play legato very easily, if I play scales or trills any harshness will appear and ask for correction. As a principe I try to stick to what had always been told , let the piano tells you when he likes it ! Make an experiment : tune the unisons with the sustain pedal engaged (half engaged if you prefer), play not too strong, but listen to the moment the sound opens the stronger and the purer. You will be surprised that it is possible to have perfect unisons with the whole piano sounding. It is particularly true in the treble, as good unisons there are notes with a long ringing time, you can hear the good spot fairly well there, and the freeness of the bridge with all that strings ringing help to settle the string faster. May be it is unfair for the ears, it is possible, but that works well for me if ears too tired (and that allows for special attack sounds too !). There is a second point, about Verituner this one. The VT listen to all the partials together and display the pitch differently than others EDT because of that. I would not surprised to have a different display with 2 or 3 strings than with one only, this is more noticeable than on the 1 partial display tuners. All my best to my dear colleagues. Isaac OLEG P.S. While tuning (unison) and watching an EDT it is very easy to obtain a sound that is too closed and less lively, only because we try to stabilize more than necessary that damned spinner. > -----Message d'origine----- > De : owner-pianotech@ptg.org [mailto:owner-pianotech@ptg.org]De la part > de Don > Envoye : samedi 23 mars 2002 21:31 > A : pianotech@ptg.org > Objet : RE: Muting high treble > > > Hi Isaac, > > Quite right! I should have said pitch change rather than drop. > > I am not sure what you mean by "the way the unison is done". Could you > elaborate? > > At 08:30 PM 3/23/02 +0100, you wrote: > > > > > >On some pianos the coupling effect put the unisson sharp after 1 second > >ringing. the EDT will read an unison sharper than the one string alone > >sounding, because you have to wait to have a clear pattern. > > > >That can depend of the way the unisons are done too. > > > Regards, > Don Rose, B.Mus., A.M.U.S., A.MUS., R.M.T., R.P.T. > > mailto:pianotuna@accesscomm.ca > http://us.geocities.com/drpt1948/ > > 3004 Grant Rd. > REGINA, SK > S4S 5G7 > 306-352-3620 or 1-888-29t-uner
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