The pipemakers formly known as #*=#\;'; ???

glands · Post by **glands** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 9:57 am

You can't tune a piano.......but you can tuna fish.

Seriously, I remember BK once telling me a piano must be a little "out of tune" in order to sound right. Peg each note spot on ET and its not at all pleasing to the ear. If I recall correctly, the farther from middle C the greater the number of cents deviation from ET.

glands · Post by **glands** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:00 am

Geez...its boring at the clinic at the moment. If only I had the pipes or my art supplies now. You'd think some guy growing breasts would keep his new patient appointment! He's probably out smoking pot.....the number one cause of gynecomastia in young men....inhaled plant estrogens.....ok.... ok..... stop checking yourself guys!

Douglas · Post by **Douglas** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:04 am

That is interesting Lewis. My piano is way off right now. I do have the tuning wrench and have considered giving it a go myself.

I used to know a few good piano tuners, but I have since moved.

carel · Post by **carel** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:57 pm

what is gynecomastia?

a piano must be a little "out of tune"

like the pipes

simonknight · Post by **simonknight** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:03 pm

Abnormal enlargement of the breasts in a male. And no I don't have it.

Douglas · Post by **Douglas** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:17 pm

I remember being at a public pool (the local YMCA) in the late 60's (I would have been about 7) and seeing a man with "breasts" and thinking "is this guy a pot smoker".

These threads sure can go off course.

The Sporting Pitchfork · Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:46 pm

Hamish Moore gave up on being a vet around the same time that he started making pipes about 20 years ago...He also doesn't have abnormally large breasts...At least, he didn't when I met him...

glands · Post by **glands** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:33 pm

How many endocrinologists does it take to cause a topic on C&F to completely degenerate?

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 4:38 pm

One.

Brazenkane · Post by **Brazenkane** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 6:45 pm

I'm actually apprecnticing w/ Paul Bruno, a master piano technician. hard work for certain. not to breach the topic, but A4 on the piano can be tuned to 440. to the left of that it goes lower and to the right of it higher (cents that is). tis' a big puzzle.

...lets leave it at that

Patrick D'Arcy · Post by **Patrick D'Arcy** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:05 pm

You stop your messing and go to bed!

Fr. Pat

glands · Post by **glands** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:54 pm

Whoa...the Brazenfella was ordered to bed at 5:05PM! That's some serious admonishment there Fr. Pat. The season of Lent gettin' to ya already? Must've given up too much debauchery. I can fix that in a few weeks when me daughter and I travel to LALA land.

On further reflection, the topic title implies that current living pipemakers have been around for a while and have had prior interests, jobs, even careers, and a collection of, sometimes eclectic, life experiences. Of course, there are youngsters in the business.....good luck to 'em all.

Lorenzo · Post by **Lorenzo** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:36 pm

Hey glands, about a piano being tuned "out of tune," that means equal vs. just. I think it was Bach who figured out that a clavichord and harpsichord had to become "a series of tolerable imperfections," or compromises, in order for the whole instrument so sound good in any key. Tuned perfectly to just intonation, a piano sounds great in one key, but when you move to another...certain notes sound sour and painful. Thus the compromise.

IOW, the octaves are always perfect, but everything inbetween is always off. If you tuned all the 3rds perfect, they'd come out 42 cents sharp by the time you moved up an octave. So, as a compromise, 3rds become the farthest out of tune in equal temperament. 4ths and 5ths are near perfect, but not quite.

I had a previous discussion with a couple members a few years ago who thought it was possible to tune a piano perfect (just). Not so. Well, it might work if you only played in one key, but who would ever do that?

Previous discussion with all the details:

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ano#240023

http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ano#194930

rorybbellows · Post by **rorybbellows** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:33 am

Seeing that this thread is all about pianos
What do you get if a piano falls down a mine shaft ?

RORY

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:45 am

rorybbellows wrote:Seeing that this thread is all about pianos
What do you get if a piano falls down a mine shaft ?

RORY

OK, I'll bite, what do you get when a piano falls down a mine shaft?