[pianotech] Old can of worms (was Re: tunelab vs verituner)

[Encore Pianos]

Allow me to clarify, because I think you misunderstood my remarks, at least
in part.  Probably my fault for not being exact enough with the language.  

 

I agree about the 60 cent flat piano not being in tune a week later and said
as much.  Whether you tune electronically or aurally, that will be true
either way, and a second visit is necessary if you are going to have a
stable piano as a result.  And the electronic tuning can steer you more
quickly through this kind of major pitch adjustment process.  When I am
doing a major pitch raising, I still do it most of the time aurally.  I like
to leave the piano in reasonably good tune so that when I come back I am
fine tuning rather than doing pitch adjusting again.  So sometimes that
means more pitch raises.  That is my general practice, and I do not claim it
is better or worse, only that it works well for me.  Is there room for me to
improve as a tuner?  Without a doubt.

 

I live in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire.  Northern New England is not
the friendliest environment for pianos.  I have some pianos that I can tune
in January at 40 cents flat and July at 30 cents sharp.  That's extreme, but
they are out there.  They sit on the edge of frozen lake in the winter with
the wood stove going in the same room, and at the edge of the summer sauna
during the dog days.  So it is likely that my environment is more extreme
than yours

 

I have tuned a few pianos that were 10 cents flat generally that did require
a third pass.  That's rare, but it does happen.  There are some pianos out
there that are inherently unstable.  Manufacturing flaws, who knows what it
is.  They tune outside of the "normal" ranges of fluctuation I have come to
expect after 38 years of tuning.  Most 10 centers are, as you say, a simple
chore. Most of my regularly tuned  pianos are 10 to 25 cents flat in January
unless they have supplemental humidity control.  Pitch raising is an
everyday thing for me, mostly.  

 

I do not claim to produce a superior tuning aurally.     

 

 

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Ed Foote
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2012 1:09 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org
Subject: Re: [pianotech] Old can of worms (was Re: tunelab vs verituner)

 

Will writes:

 But there are also plenty 
of pianos where the pitch will wander up or down in ways that are not 
predictable, and will do so no matter which method is used.  I can hear it 
happen aurally, and quantify it by the machine if I want to.  I make several

passes before fine tuning, and I also know some good ETD tuners who will
make 3 
passes on some of these beasts because their ear and the machine tells them
that 
is what it takes to get it right.  Sometimes the piano is 10 cents flat and 
misbehaves as described, sometimes it is 60 cents flat and acting this way.


Greetings,  

   Ok,  my logic button just got jammed.  I have never made three passes on
anything before fine tuning, and I don't understand why it could even be
necessary.  

     A piano that is 60 cents flat is not going to be in tune a week later,
at least, not any closer than you would leave it after one pitch raise and a
fine tuning.  Doing three passes and then fine tuning is wasting time and
effort.  If you happened to be in a recording studio with a 50 cent flat
piano, things are already weird.  In that case, a second prep pass might be
needed, but the piano is still going to be loose in a week.      A piano
that is only 10 cents flat overall, or even only in places, is a simple
chore.   The SAT will leave that piano within 1 cent of final in about 20
minutes.  I don't have any trouble tuning to broadcast standards from 1 cent
away in one pass.  

     I do think that many users of ETD's are simplistic in their pitch
raising. Setting it once each octave as the pitch raising progresses  from
top to bottom might  send the heedless  tuner astray.      I measure the
pitches across the piano before deciding what to do, and I do it with single
strings, loose unisons don't provide very dependable information. 

      I have seen Yamaha C3's that were 10 cents flat in the low tenor, but
by C5 were still at pitch. I wouldn't pitch raise more than the first couple
of those notes on a 2.5 cent offset before I began taking my offsets from a
fifth above where I am tuning.  This tapering in and out of correction
values is light years beyond my aural pitch raising skills, (and they were
pretty good).      Rare is the piano that is in tune with itself but  just
off pitch.  It is more often that there will be sections higher or lower
than others, and the careful use of the ETD will allow sufficient
compensation during the pitch raise to leave the piano ready for as fine a
tuning as one is capable of.     

 

          The machine is just a tool, a very sophisticated tool.  If used in
ignorance, it will produce poor results. Used in full awareness of what it
can do, it has proven to be an indispensable asset in producing accurate and
repeatable tunings with the least amount of time and stress.  Used as a
repository of our finest tuning on a given piano, the ETD allows users to
recreate that tuning later, and as we use it repeatedly, we can polish it
till it shines, allowing us a degree of refinement that the aural tuner
doesn't have access to.  Aurally, I had to re-invent the wheel every piano;
electronically, I have all that experience hard-wired, right there in my
hand. This allows me to spend my energy on unisons,where the machines do
poorly.

        I don't understand those that think they produce a superior tuning
using just their ears,as opposed to another tuner that is using his ears AND
a machine. There is room for everyone, but in my career, the economics of
the business sure favor using technology. 

Regards,

 

Ed Foote RPT
http://www.piano-tuners.org/edfoote/index.html


  

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