2022 our 25th year online!

Welcome to the Piano World Piano Forums
Over 3 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments.
Over 100,000 members from around the world.
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers (it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

SEARCH
Piano Forums & Piano World
(ad)
Who's Online Now
43 members (1200s, busa, clothearednincompo, 36251, Davidnewmind, Dfrankjazz, brdwyguy, benkeys, Burkhard, 5 invisible), 1,135 guests, and 257 robots.
Key: Admin, Global Mod, Mod
Previous Thread
Next Thread
Print Thread
Hop To
Page 7 of 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,571
R
rXd Offline
2000 Post Club Member
Offline
2000 Post Club Member
R
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,571
Alfredo,
What was all that about? To take one word and create a specious argument is a cheap debating trick and gives me a huge clue. Are you deliberately misunderstanding?. Have you ever been an employer? There are whole philosophies concerning the servant that you, surprisingly, appear to have no knowledge of other than at an extremely simplistic level.

Note the addition of the word "master" is yours. It is possible to serve without having a master as you seem to understand it. Serving and being subservient are not the same. If I serve you a drink do you automatically assume that you are my master?. Would I voluntarily spend any time with such a person? Would you?

I know that others understand what I'm saying with no difficulty so I will not be drawn any further on any of this.

I must ask if you tune professionally? Do you have any association with the piano industry? Manufacturers? Large dealers?
If so, we probably have a mutual friend in the business. that would help.

I'm sure you'll understand that I need to know who you are if I'm to trust, respect, or respond to any of your requests.

I regilarly dine and sup with colleagues in the profession that I have met on this forum and there are more I correspond with that I would enjoy the company of if we lived closer. Many in the heart of the profession have guessed my identity correctly.

What concerts have you been to in London? BBC broadcasts heard?
You may have already unwittingly heard my tuning.

A respected colleague has already explained to you my preference for the cloak of invisibility who prefers the power of the written word. Yet still you push to meet and, by your own admission, part of your agenda is to argue. Such a meeting is not to my taste. As I have said, I have nothing to sell, lose, explain, etc. If you read closely you will see I simply offer my experience, take it or leave it. The assumptions that you make say a lot about you.

I am a very private person. The first thing is for you to fully respect this. What you are asking of me is what our American friends call too pushy.


Amanda Reckonwith
Concert & Recording tuner-tech, London, England.
"in theory, practice and theory are the same thing. In practice, they're not." - Lawrence P. 'Yogi' Berra.


Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,404
A
1000 Post Club Member
Offline
1000 Post Club Member
A
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 1,404

Hi rxd,

At the opposite, I was trying to depart from banalities, trying to focus on those "certain parameters" you mention, but please do not take it personal, I just like discussing concepts and different opinions, leave clichés aside.

Yes, I do prepare pianos professionally and I am proposing you to talk about and share our approach and tunings at a professional level, not really about the last one_hour_tuning.

Oh, perhaps you are not interested in my invitation... nothing wrong with that :-)

Regards, a.c.
.



alfredo
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,713
3000 Post Club Member
Online Shocked
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,713
Originally Posted by rxd
Nobody ever asks for deviations from the standard product. The most common exception, perhaps the only one today, is visiting orchestras requesting the standard product but at 442 in which case a whole different piano or set of pianos is sent in. Rarely is the pitch of a stable piano changed and changed back for only one or two concerts and rehearsals.
This is an international forum and yet we never hear from those professional tuners serving symphony orchestras in other countries. It would be fascinating to hear from the tuners themselves what is common elsewhere.


Hello,rxd.
WHY 442?
Or are they, these super tuners are forced to pull up in a favor of violins and trombones?
We would all like to hear their verdict here. Are when however happen it's ?
I'm afraid that frequent lifting pitch for 442 and above may adversely affect the expensive concert grand piano. Or am I wrong?

Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 752
M
Mwm Offline
500 Post Club Member
Offline
500 Post Club Member
M
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 752
As an aside to all this discussion, if one uses a C fork when setting a given temperament, A will float.

Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,764
1000 Post Club Member
Offline
1000 Post Club Member
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 1,764
Originally Posted by Mwm
As an aside to all this discussion, if one uses a C fork when setting a given temperament, A will float.


A should not float noticeably when tuning in ET in most cases.

For many years, I used a C-fork to set the temperament by ear. I got in the habit of checking A against an A-fork as a last step... just curious. On almost all the pianos I tuned, except for the old Baldwin "Classic" baby grands and several others, A4 was either beatless against the fork, or rarely had the slowest detectable roll.


Joe Gumbosky
Piano Tuning & Repair
www.morethanpianos.com
(semi-retired)

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -Marcus Aurelius
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,571
R
rXd Offline
2000 Post Club Member
Offline
2000 Post Club Member
R
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,571
Originally Posted by Maximillyan
Originally Posted by rxd
Nobody ever asks for deviations from the standard product. The most common exception, perhaps the only one today, is visiting orchestras requesting the standard product but at 442 in which case a whole different piano or set of pianos is sent in. Rarely is the pitch of a stable piano changed and changed back for only one or two concerts and rehearsals.
This is an international forum and yet we never hear from those professional tuners serving symphony orchestras in other countries. It would be fascinating to hear from the tuners themselves what is common elsewhere.


Hello,rxd.
WHY 442?
Or are they, these super tuners are forced to pull up in a favor of violins and trombones?
We would all like to hear their verdict here. Are when however happen it's ?
I'm afraid that frequent lifting pitch for 442 and above may adversely affect the expensive concert grand piano. Or am I wrong?

Hi. Max,
Over the past few generations, pitch has settled somewhat with the result that most of Europe uses 442 with some individual orchestras even higher. Gt Britain and America use 440 with pockets of 442.

Why? There is a tendency among musicians to prefer to be above pitch than below. Some venues, particularly open air ones feel more comfortable at a higher pitch. It can all become like a dog chasing its own tail but it all seems settled now. With the result that when a european orchestra visits lower pitch countries, they can't adapt so we supply pianos and tuned percussion at their pitch. When 440 based orchestras tour, we can adapt more readily upwards.

For pianos to be changed in pitch, we demand 2-3 tunings up and 3-4 tunings back down. I can hear tooners out there asking why, because they jerk the pitch of pianos around all the time with no observable ill effects. A piano can do some peculiar things when a room is full and then return to normal by the next morning sounding all innocent as though nothing had ever happened. Only tuners with experience of intermission check overs and attending concerts will know this and catch them red handed on the act. Different pianos and different rooms behave differently. The more stable the piano is, the less it is likely to wander when we least want it to.

Where is your nearest concert hall that attracts major artists or supports an orchestra? What is the standard pitch there?

Joe, we talked about sharp trebles, I often find this only a few weeks or even days after I have tuned a piano. I can tune it electronically and check it later and the hi treble has drifted. We accept drifting flat as 'normal' but they drift sharp just as often ( more often, it seems to me) when the rest of the piano has remained in tune. I have not observed this much movement in the lowest bass, I suspect that is years of tuners not bothering with them or genuinely hearing them there. The partials run extremely sharp on those strings and, depending on where the ear is focused.

Where the ear focuses has a lot to do with our perception. Perhaps some hear these notes much the same as we see things with peripheral vision, in that while we see them, they are not in the same focus as the are when we stare straight at them. Maybe hearing is the same in its own way.

Last edited by rxd; 09/14/13 01:32 AM.

Amanda Reckonwith
Concert & Recording tuner-tech, London, England.
"in theory, practice and theory are the same thing. In practice, they're not." - Lawrence P. 'Yogi' Berra.


Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 9,230
O
9000 Post Club Member
Offline
9000 Post Club Member
O
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 9,230
Hi RXD SIr, I am looking for good recordings, made in here, for your curiosity.

You may not find them particularely different, but I dont know.

I see no reason why we should the tune the high treble very differently from one tuner to the other.

why do they raise sometime ? may be the moisture of the air raised, may be something else.
may be the tuner is not aware of the amount of torque he leave in the pin, and the pin move.





Professional of the profession.
Foo Foo specialist
I wish to add some kind and sensitive phrase but nothing comes to mind.!
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,082

Silver Supporter until December 19, 2014
2000 Post Club Member
Offline

Silver Supporter until December 19, 2014
2000 Post Club Member
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 2,082
Very true. A440-441 is never a problem. Even A442 won't raise an eyebrow. However,if the piano drifts even few cents below A440 the orchestra - especially the brass and woodwinds - will complain. For the concert stage I always tuned a little sharp. How much is "little" depended upon the conditions. Techs who prep pianos regularly for orchestras are usually familiar with the particular or peculiar conditions* in the various halls in their respective areas.

*Not referring to acoustics here.

Last edited by bkw58; 09/14/13 10:28 AM. Reason: *addition

Bob W.
Piano Technician (Retired since 2006)
Conway, Arkansas
www.pianotechno.blogspot.com
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,713
3000 Post Club Member
Online Shocked
3000 Post Club Member
Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 3,713
Originally Posted by rxd
Originally Posted by Maximillyan
Originally Posted by rxd
Nobody ever asks for deviations from the standard product. The most common exception, perhaps the only one today, is visiting orchestras requesting the standard product but at 442 in which case a whole different piano or set of pianos is sent in. Rarely is the pitch of a stable piano changed and changed back for only one or two concerts and rehearsals.
This is an international forum and yet we never hear from those professional tuners serving symphony orchestras in other countries. It would be fascinating to hear from the tuners themselves what is common elsewhere.


Hello,rxd.
WHY 442?
Or are they, these super tuners are forced to pull up in a favor of violins and trombones?
We would all like to hear their verdict here. Are when however happen it's ?
I'm afraid that frequent lifting pitch for 442 and above may adversely affect the expensive concert grand piano. Or am I wrong?

I have not observed this much movement in the lowest bass, I suspect that is years of tuners not bothering with them or genuinely hearing them there. The partials run extremely sharp on those strings and, depending on where the ear is focused.

Where the ear focuses has a lot to do with our perception. Perhaps some hear these notes much the same as we see things with peripheral vision, in that while we see them, they are not in the same focus as the are when we stare straight at them. Maybe hearing is the same in its own way.

Good day, rxd.
The hearing is so unpredictable as how many people here would be so much different hearings. No more the value of subjective than a hearing. This is the greatest joy of creation.
Thank of a CREATOR!

Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 9,230
O
9000 Post Club Member
Offline
9000 Post Club Member
O
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 9,230
you do not need a particular acute hearing to tune the treble, as the instrument signals when the note is in tune.

Now we need to hear correctly those high frequencies, and it get less easy with age.

In the end I dioscovered that there is an absolute agreement between tuners on how those last octaves are sounding.

The spot is so tight it is just not possible to tune at another pitch, or you use a differnt listening method than most.

what is more surprising is that the M3 and even the M6 are also sounding the same. I would expect the M3 to have different behaviour, they do not (after tuning by octaves 12 ths doubles, fast 5th and 4th check, mostly focusing on the resonance of the top note)

We are not even in the "beats" region.

Last edited by Olek; 09/15/13 10:06 AM.

Professional of the profession.
Foo Foo specialist
I wish to add some kind and sensitive phrase but nothing comes to mind.!
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 9,230
O
9000 Post Club Member
Offline
9000 Post Club Member
O
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 9,230
Originally Posted by bkw58
Very true. A440-441 is never a problem. Even A442 won't raise an eyebrow. However,if the piano drifts even few cents below A440 the orchestra - especially the brass and woodwinds - will complain. For the concert stage I always tuned a little sharp. How much is "little" depended upon the conditions. Techs who prep pianos regularly for orchestras are usually familiar with the particular or peculiar conditions* in the various halls in their respective areas.

*Not referring to acoustics here.


sure, sometime it get very warm, and in some p^laces it stay quiet enough


Professional of the profession.
Foo Foo specialist
I wish to add some kind and sensitive phrase but nothing comes to mind.!
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 376
G
Full Member
Offline
Full Member
G
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 376
Nash is correct. Start with a fork. Learn to set a temperment. You will never hurt for business if you learn to tune pianos by ear. Musicians will love you!


Making the world a better sounding place, one piano at a time...
Page 7 of 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Moderated by  Piano World, platuser 

Link Copied to Clipboard
What's Hot!!
Piano World Has Been Sold!
--------------------
Forums RULES, Terms of Service & HELP
(updated 06/06/2022)
---------------------
Posting Pictures on the Forums
(ad)
(ad)
New Topics - Multiple Forums
Country style lessons
by Stephen_James - 04/16/24 06:04 AM
How Much to Sell For?
by TexasMom1 - 04/15/24 10:23 PM
Song lyrics have become simpler and more repetitive
by FrankCox - 04/15/24 07:42 PM
New bass strings sound tubby
by Emery Wang - 04/15/24 06:54 PM
Forum Statistics
Forums43
Topics223,385
Posts3,349,185
Members111,631
Most Online15,252
Mar 21st, 2010

Our Piano Related Classified Ads
| Dealers | Tuners | Lessons | Movers | Restorations |

Advertise on Piano World
| Piano World | PianoSupplies.com | Advertise on Piano World |
| |Contact | Privacy | Legal | About Us | Site Map


Copyright © VerticalScope Inc. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this site may be reproduced without prior written permission
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.5
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission, which supports our community.