[AT] Re: AT Digest, Vol 24, Issue 8

[Larry D. Goss]

Let me back up a little farther in my "career" from what I discussed on
this list last week concerning piano tuning.  My first job "off the
farm" was as an electrician's assistant for a Fort Wayne
dealer/contractor who sold and installed intercom systems and "as a side
line" was also the local Allen Organ dealer.  I started working with
electronic music better than a quarter century before I started working
with pianos.  Those were the "old days" of better than 50 years ago when
tuning an electronic organ took a day or two of effort for two people.
Every pitch on each of the manuals used half of a 6SN7 twin-triode, and
you had to adjust a pot and change out capacitors to get the tank
circuit of each oscillator trimmed to the right pitch.  Transistors had
barely been invented, and electronic tuners hadn't even been envisioned
yet.  The consumer technology was at the level of a "Strob-o-tuner"
which some of you may have had available when you went off to local and
regional music contests.  My Dad saw what we were using as a reference
for tuning, and took pity on us -- or at least on me -- and made
arrangements for me to borrow the EPUT meter from the works lab whenever
I needed to work on the big Allens.  That made things really nice,
because I could flip open my copy of "The Chemistry and Physics
Handbook" and refer to the table for the tempered chromatic scale to set
each oscillator to the three-place decimals that are listed there.
Since the EPUT meter (Emissions Per Unit Time) had a Nixie tube readout
to four decimal places, it was Duck Soup to tune the Allen, and I got to
the point that I could do it myself in less than a day.  

But the EPUT meter did something else -- it showed up the instability of
the oscillators.  That meant that it sometimes required changing out the
tubes, the pots, and the capacitors, to get things to settle down.
Changing out the coil was not an option.

Obviously, we don't do it that way any more.  Now we're into
synthesizers, digital sampling, and the whole nine yards.  There's as
much variability in the tonal quality of an electronic keyboard as there
ever was or is in an acoustic instrument, and often it's programmable.
Basically, you get what you pay for.  There are some major brands that
seem to do it right, but there's more to the instrument than just the
sound.  The mechanics of the keyboard make a difference also.  You can
have a Korg or a Kurtzwiel that sounds enough like a nine-foot Steinway
that you can't tell the difference.  But the person who is actually
touching the keyboard will know, and that will be the first person to
let you know whether the new technology is satisfactory or not.  But
that person will have the same opinion concerning the merits of a series
of acoustic instruments.  What it comes down to is -- if you're happy
with the sound and the touch, then go with it regardless of whether it's
a Lester Spinet, or a Casio, or a Baldwin, or a Hammond.

I suspect this is not exactly what you hoped to hear or read, Jim, but
that's the way I see it.

BTW, When I was in college, I did a little free-lance work on some
Allens and took the opportunity to tune one to "perfect pitch" (a
non-tempered scale in the key of C) just so I could hear what it sounded
like.  In certain musical keys, that was the sweetest sound you could
possibly imagine.  In others, it was downright sour.  That sweet sound,
overtones, "ring", of pure harmony is the basis for SPEBSQSA, and is the
big reason why barbershop quartets NEVER sing with musical
accompaniment.  

Larry

-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of Jim
Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 4:26 AM
To: at at lists.antique-tractor.com
Subject: [AT] Re: AT Digest, Vol 24, Issue 8

Gentlemen and women of the List,

Firstly, please let me tell you that I really enjoy your stories of long

ago.

I have had no farming experience, but I have driven my mate's Grey Fergy
a 
number of times and had lots of fun.

My point for discussion is this.....

How do the "Old" pianos "sound" compared with today's "New" digital 
electronic ones???


Any comments?




Jim
marshallman at iprimus.com.au
Runnin' with the wind ......
8^)

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