Re: Tuning the pairs: 100% unison, or ... ?
I'm a wet tuning convert, but I play an OM. Within the pitch range of the OM, wet tuning works best with the G course, and less so the higher the pitch. For a mandolin, it would be hard to do AND sound pleasant. Also, there is a fine line between pleasant and unpleasant wetness, expressed by the beat frequency: I tune one string of a course to exact pitch, and tune the other string up from below until the beat frequency goes below, say , 0.5 Hz. For that, the base frequency of the course should be low and tuning precision and tuning stability should be excellent, both challenges the mandolin is not really good at. If it sounds bad, it's not wet, it's flooded.
the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world
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