Report on Yamaha GB-1 - switching course

[Phil Bondi]

Alan Barnard wrote:

>
> I did some experimenting and found that it is one of those pianos that 
> could really benefit from a good aural tuning,

Alan, I'm gonna switch gears here for a moment because of your thought 
about putting an aural tuning on this piano..

This is the type of piano that would benefit from a temperament I have 
been using for awhile, but have not published because of my lack of time 
in conversing with respected techs regarding a possibility in similarity:

Alan, I don't know where your temperament octave is, but including the 
troublesome tenor break in the temperament is what my temperament is all 
about - helping smooth out this area while including it in the overall 
mix - not just fixing it as you go.

My temperament is a "2-octave" temperament from B2 to C5. It is based 
off of the F3-F4 Temperament that is universally accepted in our 
community, but I added the other notes to include the tenor break and to 
include a built-in stretch in the temperament.

I call my temperament The 2-Octave Temperament, and its intent is to use 
the P12 throughout the setting of its bearing. My F3-F4 temperament was 
based on 4ths and 5ths and test with 3rds-6ths. My modification still 
includes these steps, but when adding the notes outside of F3-F4, you're 
listening for a pure 12th when setting that note.

I have found this modification to the F3-F4 does alot of good for these 
types of scales - and also, the better the scale, the sweeter the 
results. The end result of setting this type of temperament, I will 
admit, is literally pulling hairs..but I hear the results as sweet, 
smooth, and an evenness in its stretch since you're building in the 
stretch when setting the temperament.

As soon as I have time to converse with people like Jim Coleman Sr.and 
Al Sanderson, I won't know if their already published temperaments are 
similar to mine and it's not worth publishing - but until then, I will 
thank Dr.Bill Ballard and Rick Brekne for the continued support and 
understanding in what I am attempting to achieve...a P12 aural 
temperament including the Tenor Break in the mix of setting the temperament.

My apologies for getting off course here, but Alan's comment gave me an 
opportunity to talk about what I have using to help these types of 
scales sound better.

-Phil Bondi(Fl)