Retuning after a chord change

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mr songwriter
  • Start date Start date
BTW, compensated nut schemes for guitar go back at least as far as the '50s.
 
bongolation said:
I doubt anyone on earth hates tuning instruments more than I do.
Click to expand...

The wannabes tryin' axes at Guitar Center might give you a run for your money!
 
One of these days someone will invent a self-tuning guitar and become very rich indeed.
 
bongolation said:
BTW, compensated nut schemes for guitar go back at least as far as the '50s.
Click to expand...

Ah thanks, actually I've just got an Email from a guitar tech who said he thinks the nut might need re-cutting, so hopefully it won't need to have all that gubbins added onto it.
 
apl said:
Here's an interesting article on equal temperament. Sorry for abusing the spelling earlier.
Click to expand...

A friend and I were discussing the physics of music some (many) years ago, and we "discovered" the tempered scale. Using a hand calculator and armed only with the knowledge that halving a frequency takes the pitch down an octave and a 1:1.5 ratio is a perfect fifth, we started with A 440 and went up a fifth to E, then up a fifth and down an octave to B, and so forth around the circle of fifths, filling in the chromatic scale from A to A. We found to our surprise that we didn't end up at 880.

We figured that to make the octave up A land on 880, some out-of-tune-ness had to be distributed evenly around the circle of fifths, kinda like squeezing a lockwasher into planarity, where the most in tune notes to a given note are the ones adjacent to it on the circle of fifths. We came up with a multiplier which when applied to each fifth in succession (and dividing by two to drop the pitch whenever necessary into the octave between 440 and 880), we landed on 880 when we got back to A, and we used it to calculate a frequency for each note. When we looked up the frequencies of the A 440 to 880 scale for a piano, we were correct to several decimal places.

Much high fiving ensued.
 
Here's Jack Endino's article about the essential impossibility of guitar tuning.

I'm not sure I'm with him on 100% of every point he makes (about mechanical tuners, for example, but this is an old article) in what is admittedly something of a rant, but Endino's a very well-respected guy among real recording engineers and most of what he says here is really beyond much serious dispute as far as it concerns the tuning limitations inherent to the guitar..
 
Last edited:
Buzz Feiten

famous beagle said:
I've seen an ad in a magazine for some type of alteration that can be done to your guitar that's supposed to take care of these intonation problems. I can't remember the name of the company, but the ad had Steve Vai and Robben Ford testifying. I think it had Eric Johnson too (or maybe Larry Carlton?), but I can't remember. Anyway, they were saying things like "After all these years, I'm FINALLY in tune." It looked interesting. They said it could be done to any guitar without altering the appearance. And I want to say the cost was something like around $300 or so.

Anyone else see this ad?
Click to expand...

It's called the Buzz Feiten tuning system, the add is here on the web page as well:

http://www.buzzfeiten.com/

I recently purchased an ESP that has something called an Earvana compensated nut. Not sure what that is, but I will say it is the most in tune, finely intonated guitar I have ever owned. And I have owned many...
 
There was a ton of cheap Washburn stuff that came with the Feiten "system," stock. They were closed out a while back by Musician's Friend for under $200. The US (and some import) models still have it.

I was tempted to get one during the sale, just out of curiosity, but the axes were just so butt-ugly I just couldn't bring myself to do it. :(
 
This is probably one of the most entertaining threads I've read to date. Re-tuning, if they did actually do that, is such a waste of time. The time should be spent on tuning the guitar correctly. Has anyone every heard of strobe-tuning????? :rolleyes:

You'll get perfect (to the ear and chromatic tuner) intonation at any fret on any string...period. All you have to do is tune it correctly the first time.
 
David Katauskas said:
You'll get perfect (to the ear and chromatic tuner) intonation at any fret on any string...period. All you have to do is tune it correctly the first time.
Click to expand...

Right, you can get a guitar very close to equal temperament tuning, but that is in itself a compromise and certain intervals will be out.
 
David Katauskas said:
You'll get perfect (to the ear and chromatic tuner) intonation at any fret on any string...period.
Click to expand...
Just not all of the notes at the same time.
 
Then maybe I'm missunderstanding...I can hook-up my chromatic tuner and play any note on the entire fretboard, and it will always register a perfect note. I can also play an open C chord at

0
1
0
2
3
x

OR

0
13
0
14
15
X

And they both sound perfect. Perhaps I'm missing the point somewhere...I've have been wrong a few times before :D
 
David Katauskas said:
Then maybe I'm missunderstanding...I can hook-up my chromatic tuner and play any note on the entire fretboard, and it will always register a perfect note. I can also play an open C chord at
Click to expand...

The point is not whether your guitar is in tune with the western tempered scale, it's that the scale is not harmonically in tune with itself. If you get your guitar tuned so that an E chord sounds rock solid (the intervals are harmonically in tune), then a D chord will suck, and vice versa. The tempering is a compromise.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top