not perfect?

[Robert Bergantino]

To the List and to Antares:

What a nice,calm,collected and intelligent response!  A lot of wisdom is
presented here in an honest, yet personal, manner.  Much wisdom can be
attained from this offering.  I hope it is wide-read.

Bob Bergantino, RPT
Willoughby Hills, Ohio
----- Original Message -----
From: "antares" <antares@euronet.nl>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, October 18, 2002 6:32 PM
Subject: not perfect?


>
>
>
>
> > From: Don <pianotuna@accesscomm.ca>
> > Reply-To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
> > Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 14:30:53 -0600
> > To: Pianotech <pianotech@ptg.org>
> > Subject: Re: a different interpretation of 'tone', or 'color'.
> >
> > Hi Antares,
>
> Hi Don,
> >
> > I don't think I can agree that there are "perfect" anythings. Machine or
> > not we are still the frog on the log that can jump 1/2 to the end...on
any
> > jump. We just get closer and closer.
>
> This is hard to understand for me Don.
> For all the professional years behind me I have tried and tried very hard
to
> make the very best tunings.
> Time and again I heard my own work from the back row and felt ashamed of
> what I heard, and the next  morning at 8 we all start over again.
>
> Then I learned at the Yamaha Academy that, although I was not such a bad
> tuner, I still made many mistakes and that I was sososo.
> So again I learned, and was able to slowly correct my mistakes and slowly
> get better day after day and, as I said, course after course, just like
all
> the Yamaha students...
> ask them, and they will agree immediately.
>
> So finally, - one time - in my little life, after years of training, and
> with the help of the best teachers, and with LUCK, I was able to make this
> incredibly beautiful and perfect tuning. It was the last final exam tuning
> at the last Yamaha course.
> That last training had cost me my health. I was a nervous wreck, I had
lost
> many kilos, I could not sleep anymore and my wife (who was also in Japan
and
> met me every weekend) told me to quit immediately because I looked so bad.
> But I did not quit. Of course not! It was all or nothing.
>
> OK... so now years have gone by and I happen to have this marvelous ETD,
and
> I recognize immediately the very same tuning I made for my final exam at
the
> Yamaha academy.
> I use the checks and controls I have learned and it all fits, it is
> beautiful, no...it is perfect!
>
> And now you tell us that "we are still the frog on the log that can jump
1/2
> to the end...on any jump".
>
> What I do understand, I hope, is that we are talking about the same
tuning,
> called ET.
> Many wars have been fought here about different kinds of tunings.
> When I talk about the perfect tuning that rolls out of my ETD I mean ET.
> That ET is like a Chinese puzzle.... It is incredibly hard to make all the
> pieces by hand so that they fit perfectly, and...within a relatively short
> time (we have to eat, right?).
> That ET (and much more) we now can buy.
>
> Every ETD user is probably just as happy with his/her box as I am.
> Our tunings may vary slightly and maybe one is just a little better than
the
> other, but so what? Those tunings are very balanced and beautiful, and
then
> there comes a moment when an instrument is balanced too. It is in
excellent
> shape, it is right on pitch and we do not have to change a whole lot.
> So we like the moment, have an easy time and, when in the right mood (nice
> customer and a very good espresso), try to make the very best out of it.
>
> That's the moment when we are able to make the perfect tuning, as long as
we
> agree on the limitations of our ET.
>
> How come we should not be able to agree on this?
> OK, I understand that there are always nit pickers, but I have made it so
> clear now and.... I am not a nit picker, I just aim for the very best and
I
> know now that I will never be able to improve the ETD tuning we talk
about.
> It is like the highly trained chess player who tries to win from a
computer
> nobody can beat anymore.
>
>
> >The Verituner seems to be an excellent
> > tool. If it were "perfect" however, there would be no need for the end
user
> > to "customize" the tuning curves it produces. Tunelab Pro, RCT, and SAT
3
> > all offer customization as well. That means the technician must have
"good
> > taste".
>
> Sure, but that is, as you say, a matter of taste, so if you like a little
> customizing, you program that and you get what you want.
> I do not like to alter the VT tuning because this machine adapts itself to
> all the tones/characters of the piano.
> Yet, with the VT too there are ample possibilities to do 'something' with
> the tuning you want to make.
> And then, after you have programmed your tuning, it comes out the way you
> want it, and if you love it and than it is perfect. What more do we
> want......
>
> (On purpose I did not want to talk about the Verituner because I know that
> there are other ETD's which are very good as well and this is not a
contest
> between ETD's)
> >
> > I agree that tuning devices are wonderful tools. I *don't* agree that
> > learning to tune by "ear" to concert level should be a requirement
simply
> > because those tools are so very very refined. It should be a goal to
strive
> > towards.
>
> But I did not mean that we should learn to tune by ear to concert level.
All
> I meant was that it could be very practical if your box closes down (for
> what ever reason) that you are able to continue the 'story'.
> >
> > Perhaps all technicians should at least be competetant musicians as a
goal
> > as well. This would tend imho to improve our "taste".
>
> So I think that most tuners have a certain talent for music but were, for
> some reason, not able to develop that particular talent.
>
> > I'd love to have had the wonderful training you have received.
> > Unfortunately, not many of us get the opportunities you have had.
>
> I realize that and I AM very thankful as I know that it is very hard,
> generally speaking, to go to factories.
>
>
>
> friendly greetings
> from
>
> Antares,
>
> Amsterdam, Holland
>
> "where music is, no harm can be"
>
> visit my website at :  http://www.concertpianoservice.nl/
>
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