Tuning styles with octaves

[Elwood Doss, Jr.]

Don't your octaves sound a little lazy?
Elwood

Elwood Doss, Jr., RPT
Piano Technician/Technical Director
Department of Music
106 Fine Arts Building
University of Tennessee at Martin
Martin, TN  38238
731-587-1152
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bec and John" <bjsilva001@comcast.net>
To: "Pianotech" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 9:38 PM
Subject: Tuning styles with octaves


> Hello,
> 
> I am curious about people who do not tune octaves "perfectly". For 
> instance, tuning bass notes flat or sharp in smaller pianos in favour 
> of better partials.
> 
> My own taste and philosophy is to tune all octaves completely 
> beat-less. Even in the bass of small grands, if the note is off-tune in 
> favour of a potentially less offending partial that will bother me far 
> more than the partial. In the highest range, beats appear with the 
> smallest of imperfections and, to me, perfectly clean higher notes (at 
> least on a nice piano) are so pretty - even a very slow beat ruins it 
> for me.
> 
> So I was curious to hear people's explanations for stretching octaves. 
> I always figured it was to humour the person they are tuning for, 
> although I have gathered from postings on the list that some tuners 
> prefer it themselves.
> 
> When I was studying tuning I recall reading or hearing someone say that 
> if the octaves were tuned "perfectly" they'd be off tune at either end 
> of the piano - I found exactly the opposite! :)
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> - John
> 
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