Defending your tuning

[Robin Blankenship]

Diane,

Hmmmm, this particular fellow was in his early 30's and playing in the local 
professional symphony, which is quite good. Knowing that the oboe, or other 
wind instruments are not likely to be playing sharper as one went higher 
(unless of course it was required for some reason such as playing with a 
piano, LOL), it seemed to me that the most plausible explanation for this 
particular case was that  the man's listening had become well trained by his 
playing oboe and that the piano was going to sound too sharp for him in that 
limited range because of inharmonicity related stretching.

Now, why that effect, if true, did not continue on up higher is beyond me. 
Except, that it suggests that your suggestion might be true.

I have also had a lot of difficult in distinighsing human conversation in a 
noisy environment, such as a party. I have no idea what the reason might be. 
Very interesting, though.

Thanks for your reply.

Robin
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Diane Hofstetter" <dianepianotuner at msn.com>
To: <pianotech at ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 12:57 PM
Subject: Re: Defending your tuning


> Robin,
>
> When we start to lose hearing, it can be anywhere in the frequency range. 
> Hair cells can be damaged in one area of the cochlea only.  A piano 
> analogy would be that if the strings on C6 through F6 broke, you could 
> play that piano. but not hear anything from C6-F6.
>
> A difference with hearing is that when hair cells in a certain range get 
> damaged, the neighboring hair cells try to take over the job.  But the 
> "neighbors" are tuned to different frequencies, so their responses are 
> "wrong".  The condition is called _Diplacusis_.  It is a false perception 
> of pitch.  Often happens to musicians when they lose hearing.
>
> Diane
>
>
>
> Diane Hofstetter
>
>
>
>
> ----Original Message Follows----
> From: "Robin Blankenship" <tunerdude at comcast.net>
> Reply-To: Pianotech List <pianotech at ptg.org>
> To: "Pianotech List" <pianotech at ptg.org>
> Subject: Re: Defending your tuning
> Date: Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:53:30 -0400
>
> MessageGeoff, some years ago I was tuning a brand new Steinway B for a 
> professional oboe player and he said that C6 through F6 were all slightly 
> sharp. As it turned out, that is the top of the oboe's usual "power" range 
> and he had a very well developed sense of pitch based on that. I had to 
> lower each note about one or two cents and he was then satisfied. It was 
> still ok as far as the piano was concerned. Very curious affair. Strange 
> to me that above F6, he did not seem to care.
>
> Robin Blankenship
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Geoff Sykes
>   To: Pianotech at Ptg. Org
>   Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 1:13 AM
>   Subject: Defending your tuning
>
>
>   Greetings all --
>
>   This afternoon I did a repair tuning on a Yamaha C3. By repair I mean 
> that the owner of the piano felt that the tuning from the previous tuner, 
> two months ago, left a lot to be desired. Once I checked it out I had to 
> agree. Anyway, I tune the piano up and make it all right again and the 
> owner sits down and plays it a bit when I'm done and complains that the 
> treble, especially the area around sixth octave, is sharp. OK, I pull out 
> my trusty Reyburn Cybertuner and double check the tuning, and it's right 
> on. Just to make sure, I put the ETD away and do aural checks all the way 
> up from about F5. Everything checks out good, but the owner still insists 
> that it's sharp. Since he's not complaining about every single treble 
> note, but just a half dozen or so, I strip mute the treble and work with 
> him on each note that he is unhappy with. Doing a number of checks, 
> including some of his, I get to a point where I just can't make the note 
> any flatter and still claim the piano is in tune. I'm bringing notes down 
> so flat that they are full of fast beats and the octave is just ruined, 
> and he's still complaining that they sound flat. By this time I've 
> disagreed with him enough that he's starting to, (finally), question his 
> own perception. I suggest we leave it where it is and when I come back for 
> the next tuning I will make a point of reducing the amount of stretch in 
> the treble to as close to nothing as I can make it. He says OK.
>
>   Rather than go through this again, as well as learn from the experience, 
> I'm looking for ways to work with a customer who is obviously hearing 
> incorrectly but who I, nevertheless, want to satisfy. Today's question: 
> How do you defend a tuning that you know, and can prove, is correct when 
> the customer says it is not?
>
>   -- Geoff Sykes
>   -- Los Angeles
>
>