Machine usinsons

[Jim Coleman, Sr.]

Hi to Ric Moody and others interested:

You asked why I prefer to tune unisons by ear. As others have said, it is 
faster. It may possibly be more accurate in the midrange. On the SAT in an
FAC program the machine listens just two octaves above the fundamental. 
In real life aural tuning, we listen to 6th partials, 7th partials, 8th 
partials, 10th partials, 12th partials, etc all at once. The higher we 
listen, the more accurate is our fundamental. For example, if I tune the 
8th partial of A4 within 1 bps, the 4th partial is within .5 bps and the 
fundamental is within 1/8th bps. If I tune the A4 4th partial with the 
machine (at this location, 1 cent equals 1 bps), I would have to have the 
strings within .5 cents (not too hard to do). However, if I tuned the 
16th partial of A4 within 1 bps, everything below in the partial series 
would be twice as good (the 16th partial of A4 would be at A8 which is 
too high for me to hear anymore but young audiophiles hear it all the 
time). In aural unisons, I try to get everything within .5 bps (that 
takes 2 seconds to hear a beat. partials within the 7th octave don't 
last that long).

For purposes of the Tuneoff, I was willing to put myself at a 
disadvantage in tuning all unisons with the machine, knowing that I would 
just have to be more careful. Even though it is not advisable to tune 
Bass unisons with the machine, I'm willing to try just to keep the 
contest between ears and machine fair.

For Concert work, I like to tune unisons just like Ed Foote does. I 
didn't realize I was being Weinreichized,but it does make sense. After 
tuning both side strings with the SAT III, I tune the middle string by 
ear and listen to the overall sound of the unison which is "the proof of 
the pudding". If there is a slight beat in any of the strings, I can tune 
the middle string in such a way as to minimize the beat phenomenon. There 
are times, though, where I will tune each of the three strings to the 
machine. Of course, this means I have to do more rubber mute moving, and
it is helpful to do a little quality control work by listening and 
improving if possible by changing one string. These little differences 
are normally so small as to not be detectable in the listening audience.

The mute moving is quite simple when tuning the two side strings with 
machine. I place the rubber wedge between the 1st and 2nd strings while 
tuning the Rt string, Then I move the wedge 1 click to the Rt (between 
the 2nd and 3rd strings) and tune the Left string. I then move the wedge 
two clicks to the Rt and tune the center string. I can do this quickly by 
the braille system so that I do not have to get up to look where they are 
placed (I remain seated while tuning Grands).

Jim Coleman, Sr.