Bill,  I want to thank you for your nice response in 030607 MMDigest
on electronic versus aural tuning.  I have been using a Verituner for
six months now and I find it is a very capable tool.

Since retiring from an engineering career, I have been helping out at
the Emil Fries' Piano Hospital and Technology Center here in Vancouver,
Washington.  This school was founded in 1946 and is the only school
in North America which offers coursework specifically to train blind
students for a career in piano servicing.

The instructors are excellent aural tuners and they pride themselves
on being able to bring out the "best" of short-scale instruments.
The instructors are also quick to point out that the day-to-day
tuner's world is dominated by the Acrosonic and Wurlitzer spinets
which are so difficult to tune well.  Concert grand piano tuning
(at least for temperament and stretch) is comparatively a breeze.

My project over the next few months is to try to quantify which
compromises the piano tuners make as they tune these difficult little
spinets; I hope to create a set of rules which translate into style
templates for the Verituner.  Some excellent groundwork and theory
by Jim Ellis and Jim Coleman Sr. on this topic has already appeared
in Piano Technician's Journal, published by PTG.

I also liked your comments on hammer technique.  It's not difficult
to see how so many pianos have come to be mangled over the years by
manhandling of the tuning lever.  RPTs should listen to Associates;
they will someday become peers and competitors.

Cheers!

John D. Rhodes - RPT (and Robbie's brother)
Vancouver, WA