[pianotech] i'll take a pass

[David Ilvedson]

Well, aren't you special...

David Ilvedson, RPT
Pacifica, CA  94044

----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Tom Sivak" <tvaktvak at sbcglobal.net>
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Received: 8/20/2009 7:24:25 PM
Subject: [pianotech] i'll take a pass


>There was a recent thread about pitch raises, discussing how many cents flat a 
>piano needed to be before a pitch raise was required, and the like. I wanted to 
>comment on this thread but thought it would be better to wait a few weeks because 
>I didn't want to comment on a specific post in the thread, but rather, just make a 
>general comment in response.
>I was surprised at the emphasis put on the Number of Passes That Needed To Be 
>Done, with someone claiming they did a 100 cents pitch raise and tuning in one pass. 
> (No one can tell me that was a good tuning.)   Others had decided exactly how may 
>cents flat a piano needed to be before it got that extra pass called a "pitch raise". 
> Five cents?  Extra pass for pitch raise.  Four cents?  One pass does it.
>When I sit down at a piano, I tune it until I, personally, am happy with the way it 
>sounds.  It may take one pass.  It may take two passes.  It may take three full 
>passes.  It just depends on the piano.  Am I happy having to go back over 
>everything that third time?  Well, no.  
>But I'm not happy with myself if I leave it with a couple of unisons that are already 
>wandering, or octaves that have drifted to questionable widths.  
>The client may not know the difference, but I do.  
>And even if they don't know, the tuning will last longer if it's more perfectly executed 
>in the first place.   If you have unisons with a slow roll, it takes less time for them to 
>go "HonkyTonk" on you than a unison that is perfect.   It only makes sense.  

>So even if the client cannot appreciate the difference, in the interest of providing a 
>tuning that is as stable as I can possibly make it, I feel it is my obligation to get the 
>tuning as close as I can before leaving, no matter how far off it was in the first 
>place.  Even if I have to stay there a little longer. 
>Now, I'm not saying that I achieve perfection, far from it.  All I'm saying is that I 
>never think about how many passes I have to do.  Never.  I sit down and tune the 
>thing until I feel OK about walking out the door. 
>Tom SivakChicago