I have started to write this note at least three times and each time it
came out way too long and with far too much detail. This effort may be
no better but here it is anyway. There is so much material and
questions to answer on this complex topic that there is easily enough
for a workshop at some future MBSI meeting.

Any analytical instrument whether or not it is an electronic tuner or
something else like a micrometer is useful to some degree or other.
This seemingly obvious statement means only that you must understand
the limitations of the tool in order to use it effectively. An
electronic tuner can be useful to bring any instrument into approximate
tune. Many times this can be done so well that it cannot be improved.
But for many instruments like pianos, a well trained ear will improve
the tuning by resolving or optimizing the intervals.  This will account
for the various harmonic differences in pianos and cannot be done
easily by using an electronic tuner.

Music boxes are a problem to tune by ear using intervals because the
persistence of the tone is very short and not loud. So picking up beats
is nearly impossible. It therefore takes a superbly trained ear to tune
without some sort of aid. Beatrice Robertson is correct in that combs
were tuned in the old days by using a master comb or diapason.
Alternately plucking the master and the tooth being tuned results in a
tooth tuned to within a few cents of the desired value.  This accuracy
is for the most part adequate for an instrument where the profusion of
notes and resonances sometimes makes it hard to pick out just where the
melody really is.  The harmonics and partials in a musical box tone
also tend to confuse the apparent pitch of many notes. Music box scales
are stretched much like a piano is stretched.  The degree of stretching
is frequently very great and can approach a full step and a half over
the six or seven octaves in a musical box.  Most examples of a large
stretch seem to be found among the older bo es.

An electronic tuner like the stroboscopic instruments made by Conn,
Peterson and others reads note values by sensing the frequency and
reporting note values in terms of A(440). It is an invaluable aid in
tuning a music box but only if it is used correctly.  The key is to use
the instrument as a measuring device to guide the tuner and not treat
it as an absolute standard. My approach which is not unique and is used
by many restorers is to measure the note values of all teeth in a comb
before any restoration work on the comb itself is done.  These data are
plotted on graph paper octave by octave after determining the scale of
the comb or the value of "Do". The x axis is the note value as recorded
by the strobe tuner. You end up with a grid or stack of marks one above
the other for each octave on the comb.

The analytical capability of this technique is excellent. You can
readily see errors in note values as well as determine the stretching
and temperament of the scale of the comb. The best part is that if
changes to any notes are needed, they can be fit into the pattern found
on the comb when work was started.

Let me emphasize again that the electronic tuner is only used as a
measuring device and not as an absolute standard. This may very well be
the best way to use it in any situation whether music box or not.

Chuck Walker

____¶
Chuck Walker (cewalker@prodigy.com)¶
Hopewell Junction, NY