Stretch Vs.Temperament, (was Beat Rates)

[Ron Nossaman]

> >The reason Dr. Sanderson gave was that two strings moved in opposition
> > reducing the movement of the bridge. He was able to measure the drop in
> > pitch with his accutuner. The class could also hear the change in the beat
> > rates when shown by Virgil.
>
>Greetings,
>    It has been shown that a flexible termination will allow that string to
>behave as though it is longer than it really is, and a very rigid termination
>will show the opposite, ie. two strings of equal diameter, length, and
>tension will show two different frequencies  if one has a rigid termination
>point and the other a more flexible one.  The reason for this is that the
>flexible terminus allows the string to effectively "end" farther away, while
>the rigid one requires that all of the energy rebound from a point that is,
>on a microscopic scale, not quite at the terminus,itself.
>    This effect is made manifest when two strings are operating 
> simultaneously
>on a bridge; if they move together, the bridge moves more.  It is not the
>"Weinreich" effect, but shares some of the same physics.  The "Virgil" effect
>depends on very closely matched unisons, and if there is cause to "detune"
>one string to compensate for variables,  I don't think the flattening will
>show itself.
>Regards,
>Ed Foote RPT

Ed,
I never have liked the strings of a unison moving in opposition theory. I 
don't think that's even possible in a piano.

Ron N