Klarinet Archive - Posting 000433.txt from 2000/08

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Unloading/#piano
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 11:42:18 -0400

I wrote:
> My childhood piano tuner told me...[that] the strings
> are not tuned precisely alike.

David Renaud wrote,
>>Should be as close as possible. Sometimes compensation is required for
>>mismatched strings or false beats in a single string.

I wrote,
> Traditional piano tuners who tune by ear
> naturally produce these small differences, but people who use electronic
> devices for tuning will deliberately tune the strings very slightly out of
> phase in order to produce this richer voice with more overtones.

David Renaud wrote,
>>Most piano technicians would disagree. Most prefer squeaky clean unisons
>>inasmuch as possible on a given piano. I've heard of what your talking about
>>suggested before but few would do it. I've met hundreds of technicians at
>>conventions, and industry sponsored seminars, and am quite sure of this.
>>The testing standard for the PTG is to aim for pure, beatless unisons.

Thanks for the correction. I shouldn't have generalized so broadly from my
family piano tuner's comments. I may not remember clearly after 35 years or
so since the last time I saw him, but I think that when he talked about
tuning the strings slightly "out" with each other, he meant that since he
tuned only by ear, he'd never *be able* to make the strings for each note
match each other perfectly, though he tried to make them match. We bought
our piano used, so it's also possible he was talking about compensating for
problems with the old strings, as you say, and I just haven't remembered the
context of his comments -- though I'm sure I do recall him saying he thought
that a slight discrepancy between the strings enhanced rather than spoiled
the sound.

Still, for all I know, his pitch might have been so good that he did get a
beatless unison even though he claimed to hear that it wasn't perfect. We
had no way to measure it, since he refused to use any pitch device other than
his trusty C-fork. Hmm...I wonder if saying he *knew* the strings weren't
perfectly tuned and that he left them that way *on purpose*, not by accident,
might have been his pride talking, anticipating any possible criticism. He
was a defensive, grumpy guy who crabbed about his competitors and grimly
disapproved of all things newfangled. I liked him anyway, because he let me
nose around and peer into the guts of the piano and pester him with questions
while he worked, although he drew the line at letting me try out his tuning
wrench. ("You touch it, you die.") My piano teacher recommended him. Well,
whatever he really did (as opposed to what he thought he did or said he did),
he got wonderful results.

Lelia

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