Del, thanks for these insights, and for the tips on adding mass. Do you also believe that false beats can be caused by any of the problems listed below?
For example: termination problems at capo bars and agraffes; pianos w/ negative downbearing; agraffe hole problems; or agraffes asymmetrically positioned to their respective bridge pins; (or is that more of a phasing problem due to variable string lengths in a unison?) wire that has been brought up to pitch by a significant amount after many years of being quite flat; wire manufacturing defects; wire that was stretched or lifted too far after restringing?
All of these can cause string noise and/or tuning problems of some sort. False beats, however, are generally confined to the upper two or three octaves and their cause can usually be traced to the bridge in some way.
This morning I tuned a 1983 Yamaha G2 w/ original wire caked with a greasy/dirty film; there's some rust; some slight cracks are present in the high treble bridge, and it has no false beats...and it sounds great! go figure...
Not uncommon. Yamaha tends to use relatively thick soundboards and relatively massive bridges. Right in line with what I wrote about earlier.
ddf
