question for aural tuners

[Michael Magness]

On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 3:09 AM, Willem Blees <wimblees at aol.com> wrote:

> Jon
>
> A lot has to do with the quality of the piano. For good quality grands, I
> use the checks you do, or the two octave and a 7th. On less quality grands
> and most vertical pianos, I mostly listen to octaves and double octaves.
>
> Willem (Wim) Blees, RPT
> Piano Tuner/Technician
> Honolulu, HI
> 808-349-2943
> www.bleespiano.com
> Author of
> The Business of Piano Tuning
> available from Potter Press
> www.pianotuning.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Golding <jgmdpiano at gmail.com>
> To: pianotech at ptg.org
> Sent: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 4:07 pm
> Subject: question for aural tuners
>
>  When tuning the last octave of the piano's bass section I would like to
> know people's opinions on how they get the best results. For me, I find this
> a tricky area to get consistently good results. Some bass strings sound dead
> whereas others are harsh sounding and some have lots of overtones. As well,
> each piano seems to have a different amount of stretch to take into
> consideration.  When tuning the last octave I usually check using the Maj
> 17th against the Maj 10th for approximate equal beating. When I play the
> octaves together harmonically I find that this leaves the last octave
> sounding too high to my ear. Any comments or suggestions? Any single partial
> for this area which could be helpful?
> Thanks, Jon
>  ------------------------------
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Hi Jon,
I have to agree with Willem that the quality will dictate which method works
best, I have also discovered since I began using them that earplugs (20db)
help cut down on some of the "garbage" allowing me to hear more easily what
I trained myself for over 35 years to find among that "garbage". I use the
maj 17th as a final check "walking" up the keyboard and listening for that
smooth progression of beat rates. When I find one that is faster or slower I
check it for tune and begin again.

Mike

-- 
Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch
excellence.
Vince Lombardi

Michael Magness
Magness Piano Service
608-786-4404
www.IFixPianos.com
email mike at ifixpianos.com
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