On Sun, 2004-12-19 at 18:40 -0500, Lee Revell wrote: > On Sun, 2004-12-19 at 23:29 +0200, John Anderson wrote: > > 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 No, not really. Well-Temperament is a fairly specific term. http://dwdraw.homeunix.org/music/info/music-temperaments.html Just Intonation is the correct term. Temperaments are all systems of intonation for fixed-pitch instruments--variable-pitched instruments have the ability to always use Just Intonation--that attempt to evenly distribute (relative to the mathematically perfect Just Intonation) the imperfect intervals. O T H E R L I N K S (also in paper): Specific Examples for Further Investigation Duffin, Ross W. Home page. Case Western Reserve University. < http://www.google.com/search?q=tuning+duffin+site%3Acwru.edu >. This source includes spreadsheets of pitches related to temperaments and sound samples. Kellner, Herbert Anton. ?Johan Sebastian Bach: the well tempered tuning is unequal.? < http://ha.kellner.bei.t-online.de >. This source includes instructions on how to tune a harpsichord using the Werckmeister Temperament. Kamp, Wim. ?Harpsichord.? < http://home.no.net/wimkamp/instruments/Harpsichord/harpsichord.html >. This source includes recordings of the author playing early music on a variety of temperaments.
