I think a good way to understand how much RW shows up in the real world is to see how many tuners out there use and ETD as a tool. If 50% are using an ETD (eg.) then RW well will only show in a portion of the remaining 50%. I have heard tunings from 3 of the big name ETDs and none of them produce RW. Are we to assume that users of the machines deliberately tweak the tuning to end up with RW, or do we assume that the programming in the machines are all wrong? Neither seems likely to me.

I'd agree that this subject for the most part is a flogged dead horse.

Everybody has their pet peeves. Bill hasn't spouted off about his lately. Once in while is OK.

Bill:

Why are you the only one that notices RW so much? I mean, what would YOU think of ME if, as predictable as Old Faithful, I would spout off about how the sustain pedal is ALWAYS adjusted too shallow. And even say that it seems to misadjust itself always MORE shallow, never LESS shallow? Wouldn't you say it must just seem that way to me?

No offense Bill but, so what? It seems to me, it is because it receives attention and, it surely has.

After responding to Bill's post, I did a seller's evaluation on an Emerson 5'8", all original, SB cracks buzzing, loose tuning pins. Then off to tune a Kawai RX 6, then spent 11am to 4pm on a Lyon Healy grand. The customer needed this piano up and playable for a party Sat night. I attached the Lyre I had glued up last week, found the missing lyre rod in the bench, doped the loose tuning pins, cleaned the SB and action, tightened screws, did a partial reg to get it to play. Tuned - pins holding now. It's missing the treble section of damper upstop and the sost rod. Someone painted the plate, strings, and tuning pins. At least it's playable now. Once home, I stripped the felt off the damper heads from my Steinway A, cleaned and painted the heads. I love bringing work like that to the living room and doing it while watching TV. I can't say my wife shares that love, though!

Been practicing Sullivan's "The Lost Chord" for Church on Sunday. I happened to come across a version of it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vla0V2jrtYE Think I should try this rendition?

Ha ha Jeff, are you planning on tearing the piano apart like Jimmy did looking for the lost chord?

Why stop with the piano? Maybe some dowager has hidden it with the milk and egg money!

Spent the day tuning in a church. All of the pianos are the same brand. It's been a "Unitized Construction" sort of day. My ears are glad I'm done for the day!

Went to a typical appointment. Nice farmer lady (new customer) who said she wanted to try a 'new tuner' since she wasn't very happy with the last one - about a year ago. A small Kimball about 40 + years old. Piano was an absolute 'dogs dinner' as my English friend would say. Was anywhere from 150 - 200 cents flat across the scale! When I asked her about how far out it was, she said the last tuner didn't want to bring it up to pitch since he was afraid it wouldn't take the stress. (So how bad WAS is before?)

Since the pins seemed quite tight, I told her once brought to pitch, it should hold fairly well. Although with much new tension, another tuning would be good fairly soon. She said to 'go for it' and was not concerned if things went wrong.

Turns out, with a quick pitch raise followed by a tuning, it was actually reasonable. Teenage daughter sat down to play and said 'wow'. Makes one smile.

Told them I will followup in a few months for another tuning and then they should be in pretty good shape!

Don

This interesting phrase 'dogs dinner' is a bit deceptive. Someone dressed more smartly that they usually are will cause a friend to say, playfully, 'where are you going? all dressed up like a dogs' dinner!' the origin of this phrase is not known to me but we Brits do have a habit of drastically understating the case.

Dogs breakfast is in common useage to denote a right old mess.

To paraphrase G. B. Shaw, England and America are separated by a common language.

P. S. They migh also ask, 'are you looking for work or is it laundry day?'

England's english lanuguage is pleasantly colorful compared to the USA english. And I can't find an American who likes Marmite!

I had an interesting afternoon as my last appointment was in a nudist camp. I have to ask....when someone walks down the street butt naked.....Where do they put their smart phone?

I went to Año Nuevo State Park to see the elephant seals with my wife and one of her biologist friends. It was cold and drizzly, perfect weather for the seals.

LOL. Bob, that just ummmmmm "cracks" me up!

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!


I swear some of things you guys do/see are nuts!

It's one thing that makes this job interesting, Horowitzian. We see all kinds of people living all types of lifestyles. I would not judge any of it, but it sure is interesting!

I'm sure it gives a unique perspective on human behavior. I remember a tech on here relating a story about finding a bag of "oregano" between the soundboard and beams of a grand.

For Church??

Umm, interesting. I would have placed such a piece in a variety show, not a church service. But then again, we Lutherans do have a reputation for being an austere crowd... [Edit: although the portrayal in "Babette's feast" is grossly exaggerated, methinks.]

(Lovely film clip, by the way.)

Mark:

I had heard of The Lost Chord, mostly as a joke, through the years and had only heard it actually played once. Then my wife picked up an old music treasury book at a yard sale years ago. In the "sacred" section was The Lost Chord. It has great meaning for me, spiritually. It can happen that moments of Inspiration are rare and cannot be replicated. Then only memory of them and Eternal hope remains. Here's the words for those that are new to the piece:

Seated one day at the organ,
I was weary and ill at ease,
And my fingers wandered idly
Over the noisy keys.

I know not what I was playing,
Or what I was dreaming then;
But I struck one chord of music,
Like the sound of a great Amen.

It flooded the crimson twilight,
Like the close of an angel's psalm,
And it lay on my fevered spirit
With a touch of infinite calm.

It quieted pain and sorrow,
Like love overcoming strife;
It seemed the harmonious echo
From our discordant life.

It linked all perplexèd meanings
Into one perfect peace,
And trembled away into silence
As if it were loth to cease.

I have sought, but I seek it vainly,
That one lost chord divine,
Which came from the soul of the organ,
And entered into mine.

It may be that death's bright angel
Will speak in that chord again,
It may be that only in Heav'n
I shall hear that grand Amen.

I don't play in public much at all. (Need to do something about that...) So, out of nervousness, I made many mistakes that I had to recover from. I fine folks in the congregation did not notice, or perhaps were so fine as to not mention it. Having the words projected during the piece might have helped to distract them.

Many thanks, Jeff! I for one was new to the piece, and had no idea of this perspective - only Jimmy's rendition...

THAT explains a lot! LOL

While tuning a Whitney Spinet I thought about how delighted Bach or Mozart would have been with one despite what we might think of them.

Beat you today!

9 upright pianos at our local school. 6 U1's a Welmar and a Knight. The first 6 were a breeze, the last two hard. Then off to another town to tune a Steinway D and B together for a concert.

The B couldn't be transported, so it was an upright U3 vs D!

Best wishes...

I accidentally set a Reverse Well temperament on 5 pianos.

LLEW = reverse well

llew esrever does too.

My car goes into reverse well.