Piano tuning tale from Georgia

Hi,

I went to Georgia recently and experienced how a tuning happens over there in the former Soviet Union. If anybody is interested in reading the story and seeing the pictures, click here:
http://jakobfrandsen.dk/georgia/piano.html

Comments are welcome!

Questions: How long does a normal tuning take here in the west? Do some tuners still use a tuning fork or does everybody use computers now?

This guy is an amateur trying to make an extra buck on the side of his bricklaying business. He's a real snappy dresser too.

3 hours is absolute maximum for the sanity of both tuner and client. Half that time is normal for me but sometimes I enjoy the company and conversation and this can stretch the time spent at a clients house. I use a tuning fork to pitch C520 and tune totally by ear/aurally. Increasingly I am asked if I use a computer to tune by as the last tuner used one which indicates to me that strictly aural tuners are becoming less and less. Cheers Gary.

: am asked if I use a computer to tune by as the last tuner used one which : indicates to me that strictly aural tuners are becoming less and less.

In my rather limited experience of piano tuners who use 'electronic assistance' to tune the piano, they are not nearly as good as the ones who do it by ear. I don't know if that's because I ran into incompetents, or if it's because a piano tuner who tunes by ear is required to pay attention to what the piano actually sounds like.

Thanks for a very interesting story. In answer to your questions, I used to budget 90 minutes for a tuning. More for special cases like a pitch raise and less for in shop tuneups. The 90 minutes generally included driving time. Yes, many many tuners still use a tuning fork. Even those who don't use them carry one or more with them. I have never had a tuning fork fail. I have had many electronic devices fail. All the electronic devices only make the tuning faster. They don't make it better. You still have to know what you are doing to get acceptable results.

Gerry

Love may be blind but marriage is a real eye-opener.

Speaking as a tuner who nearly always used an 'electronic aid' (I used a Hale Site-O-Tuner when I was a working tuner) I can assure you that your experience is atypical. I suspect you came across amateurs trying to use electronics rather than learning how to tune. All piano tuners CAN tune with nothing but a tuning fork. In fact, in a pinch we can use the dial tone of a telphone. (it's 440 hz) We use the aids because it is quicker and more accurate. By the end of the day my old ears don't hear the high end partials nearly as well as the electronic device does. In essence, I always set my temperament by ear and use the electronic device to spread it. Others may do it differently, but the electronic devices do NOT substitute for knowledge and training.

Gerry Psychologist's greeting: 'You're fine, how am I?'

Gerry, I was shocked by your statement that the telephone dial tone was 440 Hz. So I took my trusty Korg Tuning Trainer out and lo and behold you are right. However it doesn't sound like 440 to me...actually more like a buzz. It had never sounded much like a musical tone. It doesn't appear to contain much 880. Maybe it only contains odd harmonics (cant test 1320 with my Tuner). I used to use WWV to calibrate a tuner I built. WWV broadcast 440 a lot years ago but the last time I checked they only send it once an hour or so. If the 440 on my phone is dead nuts my tuner has drifted about 2 1/2 cents flat over 30 years or so...I hadn't noticed it . TS

My tuner was excellent he not only provided a speedy and very good tuning using his ear and a tuning fork but also a lecture on Pythagoras. I suggested the lecture part of the next tuning process take on a more lighter subject matter

I suspect the accuracy may depend on the local phone company. Another tuner told me about this trick, and the times I have checked it, it was pretty dead on. I think it would be really difficult to tune a piano to it, though. )

Gerry Get a new car for your spouse - it'll be a great trade!

1 to 1.5 hours. But the tuning you got was hardly 'normal'. Pianos very out of tune really need pitch raising, which is really 2 tunings (or even more, depending on how neglected it is) , not one 'normal' tuning.

Some still use a fork. But one can be a good or bad ear tuner, just as one can be a good or bad electronic tuner. An electronic tuning device is just a tool. So is a tuning fork. Neither will replace knowledge, skill, or experience.

I've taken to using something called a Sanderson Accu-Fork, which replaces my tuning fork. It's electronic, but is made for ear tuners. It's just a pitch generator like a regular tuning fork, not something that 'listens' to the piano. It just gives you the first couple notes, then you do the rest by ear. Mostly it saves you from having to bang the fork against yourself over and over, and has adjustable volume. It does what a tuning fork does, only better. Does this mean I use an 'electronic tuning aid'? It's a semantical distinction.

Your Georgian guy was working in an extremely idiomatic way. The way he tuned the A and then all the A octaves shows me he has no basic understanding of what happens in a piano during a pitch raise. The piano was, of course, going to be out of tune noticeably soon after he left. And that's just what happened. I feel quite sure his tunings would not pass muster by U.S. standards. If you tested it now, you would find it flat to his tuning fork. However, you paid practically nothing for the work. Cleaning alone is worth $15 or more. Then the tightening action screws, etc. You paid about 1/10 or maybe less of what this work costs in the U.S. Even with a mediocre tuning result, it's cheap.

Regards,

Rick Clark