By a general Franklin system corresponding to a dense sequence of knots 𝓣 = (tₙ, n ≥ 0) in [0,1] we mean a sequence of orthonormal piecewise linear functions with knots 𝓣, that is, the nth function of the system has knots t₀, ..., tₙ. The main result of this paper is a characterization of sequences 𝓣 for which the corresponding general Franklin system is a basis or an unconditional basis in H¹[0,1].

Let ${ℳ}_p={m_k}_{k=0}^{p-1}$ be a finite set of step functions or real valued trigonometric polynomials on = [0,1) satisfying a certain orthonormality condition. We study multiscale generalized Riesz product measures μ defined as weak-* limits of elements ${\mu }_N\in V_N\left(N\in \mathbb{N}\right)$, where $V_N$ are $p^N$-dimensional subspaces of L₂() spanned by an orthonormal set which is produced from dilations and multiplications of elements of ${ℳ}_p$ and $\overline{{\bigcup }_{N\in \mathbb{N}}{V}_N}=L₂\left(\right)$. The results involve mutual absolute continuity or singularity of such Riesz products extending previous results on...