Harmonic Tuning

Clark Frady · Post by **Clark Frady** » 9 Sep 2004 7:50 am

I was reading a Post on the forum about recording in the studio, and someone mentioned proper tuning and to what cents/Hz on the tuner. They mentioned to tune the E's to 440 and the rest by Harmonics. Can anyone tell me or tab the tuning sequence on the 10 string PSG tuned to E9th? This would make tuning easier when tuning by ear. Thanks

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Clark Frady

"I steel for fun!!"

randy · Post by **randy** » 9 Sep 2004 9:26 am

Clark, I tune first with a tuner and then come back and tune the octive strings in harmonics. If I hear a "beat" when I pick, for example, the high g#(12th fret H) and the low g# (24 fret H, I know that one needs adjusted...

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 11 Sep 2004 3:46 am

Clark,
Read this 100 times: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum5/HTML/002564.html

Clark Frady · Post by **Clark Frady** » 11 Sep 2004 10:08 am

Thanks Joey, this is what I wanted to see. Good deal!! Thanks B0b!!!

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Clark Frady

"I steel for fun!!"

Mark Herrick · Post by **Mark Herrick** » 12 Sep 2004 11:31 am

Wish someone would come up with one as specific as that for the Push/Pull mechanism...

Bob Wood · Post by **Bob Wood** » 13 Sep 2004 11:36 am

Clark,
I've found that if I tune my E's to 442, then tune the rest of the strings to them, I'm closer in tune with the guitars that tune to 440. I know it dosen't sound logical, but it works for me and the current band that I play with. I believe that Paul Franklin tunes to to 442 also. That's where I got the idea from. Give it a try! See if it dosen't work for you.

Bob

Clark Frady · Post by **Clark Frady** » 13 Sep 2004 1:09 pm

Yes, B0b, I remember hearing something about tuning to 442 from a picker at Saluda, will give it a try. THanks.

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Clark Frady

"I steel for fun!!"

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 13 Sep 2004 1:24 pm

I don't exactly know what the quote below means (I'm rather lacking in technical music theory), but several authoritative sources on the web quote pretty much the same thing...

<SMALL>You should definitely not use the 7th fret harmonic when tuning one string from another because the note it gives is not part of the equal temperament scale but the Pythagorean scale which is slightly different. The advantage claimed for this method is that the strings are not being fretted and therefore not being stretched unduly. In practice though what happens is that the discrepancy becomes magnified as the player tunes across successive strings.</SMALL>

In light of Bobby's recommendations made in the link Joey posted, I'd like to hear some discussion about this from our more knowledgeable members.

Joey Ace · Post by **Joey Ace** » 13 Sep 2004 4:24 pm

Interesting observation.

I'm no tuning guru, so I'll post these numbers without comment.

I've performed this test using a Peterson V-SAM Tuner.

The eighth string on the E9 neck was chimed at the 12th and 7th fret. The 12th fret chime was tuned to be exact (no cents deviation).

With the tuner set to Equal Temperment, the 7th fret chime was four cents sharp.

When the tuner was set to Just Intonation, the chimes were exact (no cents difference)at the 7th and 12th.