If you can't hear beats, you can't use a tuning fork. You have to hear the beats to 'zero' it in. Or is it that you can hears the beats on unisons and octaves but the intervals elude you. Take the time, listen closer. Have a tuner guide you as to what to listen to. A pitch pipe's pitch will vary by the degree of air flow. A harder blow will create a higher pitch. Temperature would be another variable. I saw one tuner strike the fork on his knee and then hold the end between his teeth, this allowed him to play the note and tune simultaneously. It worked for him but it looked really weird. To set your A or C from a fork, tune the corresponding note to the fork and then tune the note an octave lower to that note. Check the lower note with the fork, listen to the beat rate and adjust lower note to the octave to be the same beat rate sharp or flat. Check lower note against fork. If off, tune the upper note to the new beat rate. Check upper note against fork. If necessary, adjust the lower note to the beat rate. Once you have established the lower note pure with the fork, tune the upper note to it. Proceed with your temperament. But if you can't discern beats, stick with an ETD. -- Regards, Jon Page
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