High Treble Unisons - attack or sustain?

[Thomas Cole]

John,

You've got the right idea about getting the attack, or we call it the 
"prompt sound", to be in tune (high treble), whereas on the lower notes 
you want to concentrate more on the "after sound".

Yes, I'm sure we've all noticed the going sharp / flat phenomenon. The 
best way to deal with it is using a single mute technique - tune the 
best sounding string first and tune the others to it.

Tom Cole


John Dorr wrote:

> Esteemed List,
>
> It seems I've noticed when setting unisons in the high treble area 
> that sometimes each string can seem to have its own direction it 
> wanders off into, independent of the frequency on its initial strike.  
> One string may go flat during its sustain period even when the "lights 
> stand still" (I use an SAT) on attack.  Another of the unisons may 
> strike well but go MORE flat, or sharp first, then flat... yadayada.  
> So I find myself trying to make a decision as to whether to tune the 
> strike or the sustain.  Has anybody else noticed this phenomena?  (I 
> think you'd hafta be deaf not to)
>
> My conclusion:  Whereas: those higher treble notes don't have very 
> much sustain, and the sustain is probably less listened to than the 
> attack.
>
> AND, those notes oft-times are played very quickly, and with plenty of 
> other notes, high and low, going on in the music at the same time.
>
> Therefore, I resolve to tune the attack rather than the sustain, 
> compromising if need be by making the sustain as inoffensive as 
> possible while giving preference to the attack intonation.
>
> I realize I've made no reference to "wild" strings here.  Maybe those 
> are another topic.  I recognize them, too.
>
> Am I on the right track?  What are your thoughts?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> John Dorr
>
>
>
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