Hi Bill, Some confusion exists here about the Conn strobe tuner. As Ken Burton mentioned the Strobe gets its calibration from the A.C. line. This means that the "A" level will vary with line frequency. As the line frequency is only 60 hertz and varies somewhat the "A" level tends to drift. Of course, you could measure a tuning fork and compensate that way. As to setting *stretch* in the temperament octave. If you *wished* to have a 2:1 or a 4:2 or a 6:3 the Conn could do this easily simply by reading the appropriate partial. The small Conn Strobe gets its *equal* temperament from 2 gears one of which has *one* less tooth than the other. It is a compromise with an error of about 1% built in. It is *possible* to compensate for the error if you know *which* way the error *tilts* Basically a Conn *shines* when doing octaves, and unisons. A poor temperament suitable for pitch corrections can easily and quickly be accomplished. There was *also* a large Conn Strobe that had many read outs. It was not particularly portable. It didn't make the same compromise as the small strobe. May Jim Coleman, who I know used one of the *monster* strobes, could comment. I have only seen pictures--but boy oh boy would I love to try to use one *just* once. Regards, Don
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC