Dear List, I have loosely followed the unison coupling thread and I am aware of both the controversy over strip muting and the .5 cent net drop in pitch when the whole unison is played. There are a few new technicians on the List. This is intended mostly to explain how using a strip mute can be just as accurate as the single mute method and also take into account what I have always known as the Coupled Motion of Strings Effect (CMSE). I learned to use a strip mute over 20 years ago from the late George Defebaugh RPT and Jim Coleman RPT. I have used one ever since and prefer to tune that way except when doing an occasional touch up. I always expect to make two passes at a minimum, even if it is not a pitch change tuning. On the first pass, I am trying to place the pitch of each string at a point from where I expect it to drift to where I eventually want it. On the second pass, I expect to find most strings exactly where I want them, with just a few slightly off and at random. If I find a more than a few in a row either sharp or flat by any measurable amount, I will have reason to doubt that my fine tuning will really be fine. In my view, the SAT pattern must stand perfectly still and hold up to at least two very firm test blows or it is not stable. When creating either an aural tuning or a program, I naturally tune the tenor and middle sections first, then progress to the treble and high treble *without* pulling in the unisons. If the unisons are tuned in the middle immediately, a single string in the treble will be tuned against a whole unison in the middle. This will cause an automatic CMSE error. The simple way to avoid this is to always establish the pitch of a single string *only* against another single string. After advancing to the high treble, those unisons are tuned and their stability checked. Then the treble unisons are tuned. Now, the most difficult and tedious part of tuning is done, the rest is easier and more relaxed. The bass is tuned, single string to single with the middle. The bass unisons are tuned and checked. The last part is to tune the middle unisons. The shift that occurs will be with all unisons by the more or less same amount. While it is possible to program in an extra .5 cents flat in the low bass, I don't really find that necessary. I tend to tune the low bass a little flatter than most people do and the high treble a little sharper. If I am concerned that my A4 end up absolutely at 440, all I have to do is program a slight offset that will make it end up there if my program itself doesn't do that. In other words, I don't worry at all about chasing this elusive little demon by tuning "a little sharp" (but not knowing exactly how much to do so). I hope this helps. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin
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