Hi Alan The short answer is yes. If there are two distinctly different termination points that cause the string to vibrate at different real speaking lengths for different directions.. then you would get all kinds of falseness. I would imagine such a condition would affect all partials and the mesh of beats would be a real mess. I believe however that the single string beat, as a specific type of falseness, is caused strictly by the termination as a whole moving in phase in one of the many vibrational directions the string takes, and at one specific partial. If you have more then one such condition for a single string at more then one partial... then you are bound to get multiple beats and the string will start sounding like a sour unison... or worse... which I suspect may be happening a fairly low amplitudes in the lower tenor and bass far more often then is popularly believed. Cheers RicB While on this topic. I wonder if there is a slight difference in speaking length as the string vibrates in its sideways excursion compared to the speaking length while in its vertical excursion? If there is, would this give a false beat to the string? If the pin and notch relationship has become compromised for whatever reason, it might result in such a situation. Alan --
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