source file: m1602.txt
Date: Fri, 4 Dec 1998 11:48:26 -0500

Subject: TUNING digest 1601

From: Daniel Wolf <DJWOLF_MATERIAL@compuserve.com>

Carl Lumma wrote:

"Harpsichords may have the best harmonics of the bunch, from any era (of
course, today's harpsichords are woefully similar to those made hundreds =
of
years ago), but clavichord timbre has the least harmonic, weakest, and
funniest amplitude envelope of just about any keyboard timbre imaginable.=

It is unusable for ratios above the 5-limit, and the difference between
meantone and equal temperament (if you can set it at all!) is hardly
noticable."

I agree regarding harpsichords, but not with the general slight towards
historical keyboards. I would be very curious to learn exactly what kind =
of
a clavichord you have worked with to have arrived at such an opinion. Whi=
le
many poorly-made instruments are so badly balanced in action that _bebung=
_
is almost inevitable, the timbre of the instruments with which I have
worked has been extremely rich, albeit intimately quiet overall. (A
comparison of the clavichord with the ch'in is appropriate here). I have
had no trouble tuning clavichords to ratios of seven and eleven. And on a=

modern instrument, like the Wilson-Hackleman clavichord, it is a breeze. =
Of
course, many synthesized 'clavichords' and the clavinet have exactly the
qualities you describe...

"To me the overwhelming difference between fortepianos and modern pianos =
is
the fact that the former are single or double strung, whereas the latter
are triple strung.  Take that away (as Michael Harrison did), and you'll
find that the tension, diameter, and everything else about the modern pia=
no
outshines the fortepiano as far as harmonicity and sensitivity to tuning.=
"

Again, my own experience contradicts this entirely. While in the US, I ha=
d
a fortepiano in my apartment, and I had the opportunity to compare the ea=
se
of tuning it with a (well-known) single-strung Boesendorfer Imperial and
with a run of the mill medium-sized Steinway. All were tuned by ear to a
(again well-known) tuning with just fifths and sevenths and then the
tunings measured with a strobe tuner. The fortepiano was both the easiest=

to tune and the closest to Just, the Boesendorfer a respectable second an=
d
the Steinway a distant third. =