Meantone Temperament Tuning System

[Lee Baucum]

I'm curious to know if any of you are using a meantone temperament tuning system on your E9 pedal steel guitar.

PLEASE! No scientific discussions! There are already quite a few of those here on the Forum. My head hurts just thinking about them.

I know that b0b was a big fan of the system. As I recall, one of his claims was that the tuning system is more "forgiving" if one of your strings drifts sharp or flat.

I've seen some posts by Earnest Bovine. He is/was a big fan of meantone tuning.

Apparently, the F# strings are less problematic.

Have any of you tried this tuning system? Are any of you currently using this tuning system?

I would really like to hear some real life experiences, with regard to the topic.

Also, are there any meantone tuning charts available on the Peterson website?

[Jerry Overstreet]

b0b has a link here to his Peterson meantone sweeteners.

viewtopic.php?t=373118&highlight=meanto ... nt+tunings

[Lee Baucum]

Thanks a bunch, Jerry. I appreciate the link. Very helpful.

I do remember b0b saying his E9 tuning was centered around F#. Interesting.

He mentions the +12 on the C note maybe causing an issue. I don't use a split to produce a C note...so it can't bother me!

~Lee

[Marshall Woodall]

Hey Lee, I use a meantone sweetened tuning on a 10 string extended E9 setup. I really like it. I have tried the standard Peterson setups along with those created by Jack Stoner and Mickey Adams. It does somehow seem more forgiving overall and gives me a little more confidence in group situations. Occasionally my ear is bothered by the compromised 5ths but all in all I'm digging it. I hope you are keeping cool in South Texas. I lived in Brownsville and Harlingen as a teenager and I remember some hot Summers down there-

[Dennis Montgomery]

I use meantone for my 12 string extended D9...suggested by...guess who? b0b of course! I was having lots of problems finding a tuning that worked for my ears and asked b0b what he thought. He told me the settings needed to sweeten my Peterson Strobe Tuner for D meantone back in 2019 and I've stuck with it ever since

[John Goux]

I use a sweetened combination of ET, Meantone, and Just.
As inspired by Bob.
We play in an ET world. I tried it on steel, l and didn’t care for it.
I tried Meantone. As a guitar player those 5ths really bother me. I want my 5th in tune.(or at ET)
As I remember, Bob’s method was based on his old tuner, which read in increments of zero, -5, -10 etc. It was simple to remember, and sounds good.

My variation is based on Bob’s.

All open strings at 0. Except major 3rds, at -10. (currently at -11)
A’s at -5. (where my E’s drop to in pedals down)
C#’s -10 below the A’s in pedals down(-15 or 16)
BC pedals F#-C# at -5. (Str 7 sags down to -5)
F(E sharp) is -10 below the C# in A/F, making a nice C# major chord(-20)
The diminished chord is passable, as my F is higher than in Just.
The D nat 1/2 stop is a -5, like the A chord.

The whole tuning is at 441.

The advantages of this hybrid:
All my chord groups and scales sound in tune to me. It’s closer to ET than most sweetened tunings. The 5th are not dissonant like in Meantone. Major 3rd are sweet enough. Minor 3rds are at ET or higher. F#s are consonant.

I don’t claim to one of the super-in-tune players. My success is based on bar position, just like everyone else.

This Bob-inspired ET/Meantone/Just gets me closer to ET, and is super easy to remember. I use a Peterson for cents, but have never needed to create a preset.

Cheers, John