pianotech-digest V1997 #834

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hi James:

Bass strings being mostly hand wound are not consistent in inharmonicity.
Therefore you cannot get more than one pair of partials to match even if 
you are an aural tuner. But, you can get a good balance between the most 
prominent partials tuning aurally. Oh sure, you could do it by machine 
also, but you have to measure a bunch of partials of each string of 
each pair and do the math. It's not worth the time involved.

Jim Coleman, Sr.


On Wed, 17 Jun 1998, james turner wrote:

> For Dr. Coleman,
> 
> You mentioned not using the SAT to tune unisons in the bass.  I never
> heard you say this before.  Would you comment further on this.  Are you
> saying the bass unisons should always be tuned by ear?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jim Turner
>