Drifting Unisons

[Michael Jorgensen]

Ed,
     You could be on to something. The string which is tuned first must survive
the test blows and other jolts occurring when the remainder of the unison is tuned
giving it an additional guarantee of stability.   A better settled string with
more balanced tension between string segments logically should hold better when
humidity stresses are induced.
         Perhaps this along with a combination of the other previously mentioned
factors are the reasons for  differential drift within unisons.
-Mike Jorgensen

musutton@alpha.nlu.edu wrote:

> Dear List,
>         Here is another variable, that I don't think has been mentioned:
>         Most people tune unisons from left to right, so the right string is
> almost always the last to be tuned. Is there some way this could cause the
> right string to be more sensitive to humidity change? If the unisons were tuned
> from right to left, would the pitch change be reversed?!
>         Ed Sutton