Piano Tuning

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 4 Jun 2002 8:43 pm

Larry,
Acoustic pianos tend to be a bit more forgiving than digital. I think it has something to do with how many strings they use for each note. For tuning to a track with piano I just listen to a root chord and then I tune to it. When I have checked with a tuner AFTER the session it comes out pretty straight ahead JI with the 3rds to taste for the most part. Blending in with the bass player and making sure the vocals sound good is where the money is with intonation. If it is a real dense mix the trick is knowing what notes to leave out .

Bob[This message was edited by Bob Hoffnar on 04 June 2002 at 09:49 PM.]

Larry Bell · Post by **Larry Bell** » 5 Jun 2002 7:25 am

Thanks, Bob
That's pretty much what I had in mind. This session may have both electronic keys and an acoustic grand. I usually don't worry about stuff like that too much, but I've become accustomed to a 4 piece guitar only band in live performance and in the studio -- haven't done much recording with keys recently. Just thought I'd ask. Thanks again.

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Larry Bell - email: larry@larrybell.org - gigs - Home Page
2000 Fessenden S-12 8x8, 1969 Emmons S-12 6x6, 1971 Emmons D-10 9x9, 1971 Dobro

Greg Vincent · Post by **Greg Vincent** » 5 Jun 2002 7:58 am

Disclaimer: I know nothing about tuning pianos! This is just an observation & a few questions.

Some of the sourest sounds on a piano can be the instances when a single note is warbly and out of tune with itself. This strikes me as something that would be easy to fix, since many (most?) of the notes on a piano consist of three strings tuned in unison. Chances are one of those guys has just flattened a bit, right? Can't you just pluck each string of the trio induvidually, find the one that's flat of the other two, and bring that one back up to pitch? Wouldn't this be an easy do-it yourself fix?

A related question: Do folks sometimes purposely tune these unison string groups a little out of whack to get that "honky-tonk barroom upright piano" sound for recordings?
If so, do you call in a professional piano "de-tuner" for this job?

[Actually I'm only half-joking on that last one. Is there a prescribed way to do this without getting the piano so out-of-whack that you have to start from square one to get it back "in whack" again? Are there people in the business of tuning AND DE-TUNING pianos??? And on the flip side, are there instances where a piano might be tuned JI for a certain key just to get an extra-sweet sound --like in an extravagant recording studio situation?]

-GV[This message was edited by Greg Vincent on 05 June 2002 at 09:03 AM.][This message was edited by Greg Vincent on 05 June 2002 at 09:05 AM.]

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 5 Jun 2002 9:56 am

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>bring that one back up to pitch? Wouldn't this be an easy do-it yourself fix?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Yes, of course. Many piano owners buy a hammer just so we can fix the unisons.

Do folks sometimes purposely tune these unison string groups a little out of whack to get that "honky-tonk barroom upright piano" sound for recordings?

I never saw that. But I have heard the sound processed to add a de-tuned signal, creating that effect electronically.

My first pro music gigs were as a piano player in a traditional jazz band ("please don't call it Dixieland since we are purists and snobs"). We never asked anybody to detune the piano but I often found that the job had already been done without having to ask! We did sometimes ask people to put thumbtacks on all the hammers.

Mark Ardito · Post by **Mark Ardito** » 5 Jun 2002 1:03 pm

I have a friend who tunes piano's here in Chicago. He was telling me that in Chicago it is a almost dead industry. He said there are almost no "professional" tuners left. They are all dying, and no young guys are taking up the trade.

Hmmm...maybe a good industry to get into?

Mark

Greg Simmons · Post by **Greg Simmons** » 5 Jun 2002 3:28 pm

Maybe you could hang out w/the Maytag repair guy at Krispy Kreme...

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Greg Simmons
Custodian of the Official Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
shobud.cjb.net

William Steward · Post by **William Steward** » 6 Jun 2002 4:42 am

Earnest thanks a million for that link...it was exactly what I looking for...and Jeff also thanks I will look for the Travis textbook. I learn a bit more about this stuff each day thanks to this forum. I do have a catalogue from Schaff although when I first inquired they were a bit cagey about selling stuff to non-technicians....I now have a 'tuning company'(on paper)! As for electronic intstruments - one of the nice features of the samples on a Kurzweill module which I purchased some time ago was the ability to choose between "solo" and "ensemble" tunings. Although I prefer the samples on my Roland RD-600 for a recording with steel, I would proobably use the Kurzweill module using an "ensemble" setting which I would guess would be closer to an 'equally tempered' tuning than the 'solo' setting. If the steel was tuned 'straight up' (as steel players tend to reference)...that should be about as close a match as you will get with an electronic instrument. The rest should be a matter of arrangement...I notice in good country recordings the steel and piano parts avoid stepping on each other's toes....sometimes less really is more.