On Sunday 19 December 2004 11:15 pm, Russell Hanaghan wrote: > Lee Revell wrote: > >On Sun, 2004-12-19 at 23:29 +0200, John Anderson wrote: > >>On Sun, 2004-12-19 at 18:55, Russell Hanaghan wrote: > >>>Fact is, it is impossible to tune an acoustic guitar > >>>"perfectly"...Invariably, when you have it tuned so an open G chord > >>>sounds spot on, an open A or even C will be a tad off. And the same > >>>applies to the inverse of course. This all due to a general lack of > >>>adjustment for intonation on acoustic axes. > >> > >>Actually, even guitars with adjustable bridge saddles won't be perfectly > >>in tune with themselves, except for octaves, 4ths and fifths which are > >>close enough that one can't really hear the difference. This is because > >>the frets are in the wrong place in relation to the overtone series > >>(pl). This applies to any instrument that has fixed notes (piano springs > >>to mind), and which use the 12-tone equal temperament tuning. > >> > >>It's a long story, so I won't go into detail. Google for Just Intonation > >>if you want to know more. It sheds a different light on various > >>questions like, where *is* that confounded blue note? Why do major > >>chords sound crap on overdrive? What's the deal with barbershop and > >>string quartets? Why is D minor the saddest key? If I tune the B string > >>by ear to the G string, why is it out of tune with the E string? > > > >I think this is called "well tempered tuning". > > > >Lee > > I got a few axes that make me lose my temper when I try to tune > them...is that the same thing?? :) That's ill tempered tuning
