Re: [Harp-L] Re: Just Intonation and Difference Tones

[Fernando Bresslau <bresslau@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

When tuning to a compromise tuning (or a Non JI tuning), one of the 
popular methods in factories is to have a standard reedplate mounted on 
the tuning table, to which each reed is compared and tuned to. In this 
way, the tuner (worker) works by ear. I talked to a Hohner tuner and 
asked him, when tuning on an electronic tuning table, which of the 
options he prefered: using the lights which indicate if the note is 
sharp or flat, or comparing the sound of the reed to the optional sound 
emited electronically by the table. He said that tuning by ear is 
quicker. I guess that his decades of experience tuning by ear are also a 
very important part of his decision making.

All the best,
Fernando

Tim Moyer wrote:

> If the implication here is that tuning by ear is inexact, I beg to 
> differ.  The human ear is capable of detecting some pretty small 
> differences in pitch.  One of the beauties of just intonation 
> schemes is that once a reference is set the rest of the tuning can 
> be done completely by ear simply by listening to the intervals 
> between the notes.  Of course, you can't tune to equal this way 
> unless you have a pitch reference for every note (like a set of 
> tuning forks or a tuner), but you can tune the notes relative to 
> each other quite easily.
>
> -tim