tuning lower notes

[Richard Brekne]

Get and read Rick Baldersins  "On Pitch". Available from the PTG home 
office for about 25 USD. The more you understand about string partials 
(overtones if you like) and how they fit together in the puzzle that is 
the tuned piano, the easier it will become to deal with such problems as 
you mention below... both practically and intellectually.

You are not really doing anything wrong Julia, you just havent got a 
full and clear picture of piano inharmonicity concerns yet.  And, just 
too get you started... you dont really hear the fundemental of the 
lowest notes.... and even if you did it wouldnt help you as an octave 
above doesnt contain a real coincident to the fundemental below. An 
"octave" doesnt have a fundemental... it has a series of coincident 
partials, only pair one of which can be truly just at any given point.

Cheers
RicB

Alpha88x@aol.com wrote:

> Greetings,
>
>               I find that tuning lower notes on some pianos (the wire 
> wound ones) I dont always get clean octaves. There seems to be, and 
> this is only on some pianos, these extra fast beats.  I try to block 
> out the faster beating frequency(ies) and tune using the (the 
> octave's) fundemental, and even when I get that low fundemental "in" 
> there's this annoying faster beating. I am tuning the bass mostly by 
> ear!  Am I doing something wrong, or is it just cheap wire wound 
> strings? What is causing this?
> It seems to only happen on the cheaper spinets and consoles, 
> occasionally an upright or grand will have this problem too, but not 
> as often.
>
> Julia,
> Reading, PA