Re: well, well, well...(Ed's comments)

Ed,
When I wrote:

> > A. it gives the purest thirds in the near keys

your comment was:

> Hmm, this is not a new concept.

What I meant was that this temperament has relatively narrow thirds compared to the four which I presented, not that I invented the concept.
>
you also said:

> I must take issue with the idea that piano techs are familiar with
> anything other than a fifth that is compressed by 1.95 cents or a third that
> is tempered more or less than 13.7 cents.

I was making the assumption that at least some piano techs know how to do well-tempered tunings which use 1/4- and 1/6-Pyth comma removed fifths as well as just fifths. I guess I should have said "keyboard techs" to cover folks who tune harpsichords as well; I was under the impression that some piano techs, especially those who work at universities, also tune the school's harpsichords, and that they know how to use historical temperaments on these instruments.

> >If any of you would like to try this temperament out, the frequencies are
> >as follows;

> Tuners don't use frequencies to tune pianos, we use cents. The easiest
> way for temperamenti (!?) to be communicated is in the cents deviation from
> ET. You got any of those numbers in that harmonic bathtub?

I'll send another email later today with the cents deviation readings, after I have a chance to consult my calculator. Thanks for your comments.

Dale Scott

Greetings,
When I wrote:
>> I must take issue with the idea that piano techs are familiar with
anything other than a fifth that is compressed by 1.95 cents or a third
>that is tempered more or less than 13.7 cents.

Dale replies
>
>I was making the assumption that at least some piano techs know how to
>do well-tempered tunings which use 1/4- and 1/6-Pyth comma removed fifths
>as well as just fifths. I guess I should have said "keyboard techs" to
>cover folks who tune harpsichords as well; I was under the impression that
>some piano techs, especially those who work at universities, also tune
>the school's harpsichords, and that they know how to use historical
temperaments
>on these instruments.

Sadly, this is rarely found. Yes, those of us that are around the
harpsichord world may bed kept up to speed on a few temperaments, but so far,
it seems that one out of 20 techs are multi-temperament. Hardly enough for a
crusade, but perhaps enough for a revival.
Aural tuning of these temperaments never caught on. That is why it is
such a boon to have TuneLab, SAT's and RCT's out there. The average tech need
only learn the context the earlier tunings represent, and the production of
them is simple. This harkens back to McClaren's postings on technology
having its effect on intonation. Today, the combination of modern
machines with Barbour and Jorgensen's research makes an entirely new tonal
landscape feasible and I have come to believe that in this "landscape" that
the piano becomes a more musical instrument. i.e. the tonal resources
available from an unequal tuning are more complex and extensive than from one
which has regular sizes of everything.

Hmm, this is now either a thread or a fuse...
regards,
Ed