<HTML style="FONT-SIZE: x-small; FONT-FAMILY: MS Sans Serif"><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1251"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2900.2838" name=GENERATOR></HEAD> <BODY> <P> <DIV>I've been thinking (that's the dangerous part) and doing some experiments.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>When setting ET temperament on virtually any piano—big and nicely scaled or Crappiola & Sons—the 3rd partial of D3 ends up within about 1/3 Hz of 440.00 and almost always on the sharp side, like 440.26 Hz (440.04 on an M&H A). </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>At this pitch, that turns out to be significantly less than 1/2 bps on better pianos (almost pure) and the most I found was a little over 2 bps on a Lester She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and that one almost certainly due to compromises crossing the break.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Does this not, or should it not, have big-time implications for setting or testing the temperament, as in a durn-near P12 at 3:1?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Fur eggs ample:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What if you tuned D3 to A4 at an exact or the teeniest bit flat 3:1 twelfth (stick a mute alongside A4 keystick to hold it down, play and tune </DIV> <DIV>D4 beatless at A440), then tuned your D4 to A4 as a 5th, tune A3 to A4 and compare to the D's and make sure you have two dandy octaves, 2 identical 5ths, etc? Would that not nail down four solid notes closely referenced to your foundation A4, including the stretch across the break on smaller pianos?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If this is goofy, be gentle.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Alan Barnard</DIV> <DIV>Salem, Missouri</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <P></P></BODY></HTML>