ETD vs Aural Unisons

[J Patrick Draine]

>  When one is using
>the SAT, it is good to stop 4 LEDs so that any tendency to drift one way
>or the other will be more obvious.
><SNIP>
>One more point; Those of us who tune both ways know that we use a
>slightly different hammer technique in tuning aurally vs tuning with ETDs.
>
>Jim Coleman, Sr.

Thanks to Jim, Roger, John Ross et al. for giving voice to the "yes I 
do ETD unisons camp" (me too at least some of the time). Especially 
to Jim for the extra lessons on technique. Getting all 4 lights to 
stop dead is *not* easy!
I find that doing ETD unisons is especially helpful when finishing up 
a pitch raise. One's patience in the top octaves is getting low after 
a second pass, etc.
While I tend to agree with Roger's theory about the durability of an 
ETD unison vs. a wide but sweet aural unison, it would be nice if we 
could devise a valid, double-blind test of the hypothesis. Probably 
need a couple same model pianos, already pitch stabilized, with 
super-tunings put on them (#1 with aural unisons, #2 with ETD 
unisons), then allowed to age (and get played on) with periodic 
evaluations for unison degradation and tone color.
Where's the grant money?

Patrick Draine (SAT II user)