Tuning for violinists

[Dave Nereson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Piannaman@aol.com>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Friday, July 30, 2004 10:21 PM
Subject: Tuning for violinists


> Hello tuners, tooners, and tunas,
>
> I don't know about the resta y'all, but I'm beginning to get a distaste
for
> tuning pianos for violinists.  A couple of recent jobs have kind of soured
me
> to the process of trying to get piano tuning to fit into a string player's
idea
> of perfection....:-(
  > Thanks for reading,
> Dave Stahl
>

        Unless they're Sarah Chang or Itzahk Perlman or somebody, just tune
it like you'd tune for anybody else.   When they play with any other
piano -- at the school, the recital hall, their teacher's studio,
whatever -- they have to accept the tuning that's on that particular piano.
And if it's reasonably in tune, they DO accept it 'cause they have to, and
it sounds fine and everybody's happy, because after all, they're NOT
Paganini and NOT in Carnegie Hall.  It's probably only at home where they
realize they have some say in how the piano's tuned that they get the prima
donna complex and decide that they have some innate ability to discern how
much the octaves were stretched or what kind of temperament was used (if
they even know there are different kinds).
    If the hammers are chewed up and it needs regulating and they have no
humidity control, tell them you can get it to sound only so good until these
other problems are taken care of.  I have to tell lots of customers that
tuning alone does not fix all ills and like any other instrument, except
maybe an ocarina, from time to time pianos need other maintenance than just
tuning.
          --David Nereson, RPT