Ed Foote and Coleman 11

[Woodrow, John (Parramatta)]

Ed,
A number of months ago you posted the offsets to the Coleman 11 HT on this
list and asked for feedback on what people thought. 

Situation : Piano tuned in a Young HT.  The owner was finding an E major
chord in a modern, slow C major piece just a bit 'strong' (theme to
Schindler's List) Anyhow, had been carrying around the email with the
offsets to the Coleman 11 in the side of my laptop case since you posted it.
Remembered you commented that it improved the 'popular' keys (C,F,G) but
left most of the remainder as a close approximation of ET.   The person
concerned plays mostly 'period' music and is 100% sold on HT's.  I have a
tuned a couple of different ones for them and we had settled on the Young.  

Anyhow, thought it was time to give the Coleman 11 a try.   

Verdict: An excellent choice for somebody wanting some key colour but
wanting to avoid 'problems' in pieces more suited to ET ......("MORE SUITED
TO ET".....I know......leave me alone, I spent 10 minutes trying to think of
how to say that differently).   IMO, there was certainly a trade-off as Bach
sounded better in the Young.  However as a compromise (Ed, I trust you would
agree with me that finding the optimum compromise for the situation is what
this issue is all about, ET being just one possible compromise) the Coleman
11 combines beautifully the 'best of both worlds'.  Exactly as you had
described, the popular keys are more harmonious than ET (I originally wrote
'improved' but thought that might not be PC), and for practical purposes the
rest are about the same as ET.  I plan to make it a major part of the
standard offering from now on.

So ED thanks for bring this HT to my attention, and thanks to Jim Snr. for
its development and making it available to others.  I trust this post may
inspire somebody else to give it a try.  If you are interested, search the
archives for Coleman 11 for the offsets.

Regards,
John Woodrow
Sydney, Australia ICPTG