single vs. three string unisons (long)

[Jim]

Dear Fred:

I forgot to mention to you that one of the examples which Virgil uses when
he demonstrates the difference between a single string and all three
strings of a unison is this.  After he has tuned a unison, he will
play a 10th below so you can hear the beat, and then he will place a
rubber wedge between two strings and play the 10th again.  His entire
class agreed with him that the single string produced a beat that was
higher in speed.  He chided me a little when I objected that it still
sounded the same to me.  So, I proceeded to do my  own experiments here.
It was Sept. 9th when I was finally convinced.  I Video taped my
testing and the results.  Frankly the kind of difference I measured at
times was in the neighborhood of .3 to .4 cents.  If I was careless in
the unisons, it could be much worse so that is why I tuned each string so
carefully within .1 cents.  I was really trying to prove him wrong.

Jim Coleman, Sr.