[CAUT] Unison tuning.

[Robert Callaghan]

Dear CAUT.

Thanks for all your informative posts.

Since there is a thread going about unisons, I had a question about
unison tuning and tuning in general. UNR has 3 Steinway Ds, one from the
50s, another from the 60s, and the third from the 80s.  My question is
about the highest D# (note 79).  When I started at UNR a string of the
D#-79 on the oldest piano was broken.  No big deal, I just changed it.
Then I noticed that the same note on the other two Ds resisted unison
tuning.  I work them much more than the other strings. I can't get the
octave, the wide 3rd, and the wide 5th to all sound consistent, only two
of the three, and often I have to settle for the best sound I can get.
I'm concerned that overworking them will fatigue the metal and break the
string, just like on the 50s piano.  I now suspect that might have been
at the root of the string breaking in the first place.

So my main question is if there is some kind of acoustical vortex here
centered on this particular note?  There would be some comfort in
knowing whether the problem is in the piano or dead spot in my hearing.

Thanks for your feedback.
Bob Callaghan
at University of Nevada, Reno