I’ve found that using the ETD allows me to go through the first pass so quickly that my careful double tunings take no more time. I then go back over the complete piano using primarily ear. I tune the whole piano from bottom to top with the device. I’ve completely integrated an ETD into my tuning sequence in a different way. Many aural tuners keep to this tradition, using the machine to set the temperament octave and then aurally tuning out from there. This procedure is quite different from the sequence used in aural tuning where the core octave in the center of the piano is tuned first and then spread out chromatically in both directions. The customary way of using a modern ETD is to calculate the stretch for the piano you’re working on, and then start with A0 and go up chromatically to C8. Slowly more and more aural tuners are using them in various ways. The application of modern computer technology brought an accuracy and flexibility that the early machines couldn’t even dream of. There has traditionally been a prejudice against electronic tuning devices primarily because of the inaccurate machines that were available prior to the late 1970’s when Albert Sanderson introduced his Accu-tuner.
I trained as an aural tuner and tuned that way until about 2005. I’ve now worked with both Tunelab and Cybertuner piano tuning software.
