Trichords tuning

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Ron writes:
> The ear judges the overall compound effect, rather
>than an inflexibly specific set of partials, and can accommodate a more, er,
>idiosyncratic mix of partials than can an ETD. Either method will be right
>by it's own criteria, but the results won't agree. 

    Greetings, 
  I agree with that,  I tune each outside string to a SAT, and then the middle
by ear.  The coupled motion, along with all the other variables that will
exist in three strings over a bridge,etc,  makes a clear unison a very complex
phase problem, of which the ear is going to be the final judge.   
    It is rare that the middle string will not stop the SAT when it is tuned
aurally, but there are cases where the best sounding unison shows the dial to
be moving all around.  I always assume that there was something out of step
with the particular partial that the SAT was reading.  
    The staggered Steinway spacing on some of the Models C and D  responds
well to tuning the center string to the SAT, and then both outside strings to
it.  I still have to listen to all three to clear them.  
Regards, 
Ed Foote