Folks-
I have a 3 voice Club in C/F in which the two main scales are arranged across three reed blocks as:
block 1: M0 and M+ for C
block 2: M- for C and M- for F
block 3: M0 and M+ for F
(M0 denotes concert pitch, M- a few cents lower, M+ a few cents higher)
Is there any reason why this is better than putting the M- and M+ on the same block? This arrangement would make for easier tuning (to my naive analysis) since it will make it easier to adjust that pair to get the desired main (highest frequency, which I think would be perceived as being "main") beat.
I wonder, though, whether the existing arrangement has been chosen on acoustic grounds. While I can see that the phase difference between the three similar frequency oscillators will give rise to different beat patterns (specifically the extent to which there are alternating strong and weak beats), I'm having trouble working out whether arranging the reeds M0/M+ (or M0/M-) will help to give consistent behaviour. My hunch is that coupling via the air and through the fondo will win out anyway.
I'm interested in empirical and theoretical observations.
Cheers, Adam