SAT II Anybody? Aprentice Piano Tuner

[Jay/Deb Mercier]

HOWEVER,
When I get down to the low bass notes I am not sure what I should be
listening for.


Hello:  I'm also a young tuner (25) who has been tuning for 5 years now.
One of many problems I had and occasionally still have is tuning the bass
notes.  I find that every piano's bass sounds different.  I was taught to
listen for the the beats  of the higher octave and get them to equal
zero/second.  The first few years of doing that resulted in a close bass
tuning but overall not a great sound.  What I do now is tune to that
procedure, but also do  the following checks: I  play a fifth above the note
being tuned to check it, listening for the higher fifth octave.  From this,
about half of the time I have to lower the bass note a tish - that's when
it's about 4-5 beats per second smaller than it should be ( but not always.)
When I replay the octave, it sounds fine too.  AFter doing this, I realized
that I simply was not tuning the bass notes on the flat side - one area that
was not taught at piano tuning class.  Another check:  Are you also a
pianist?  If so, try listening to the piano subjectively instead of
objectively.  I give my ears a break for a minute or two, then play a piece
of music with bass octaves.  Ask yourself, "Does this actually sound good?"

Hope this helps,

Jay