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Old 11-13-2010, 07:03 PM   #27
karbomusic
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Funny that people staring reverently at those electronic tuners never noticed this.
I would hope they do and find the sweet spot while testing different plucking pressures etc. If not they'll be playing sharp all the time.

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Bezmotivnik above made some excellent posts abut the real-world difficulties of tuning guitars, specifically that a plucked note tends to start out "sharp", settle into its steady-state "note" and then decay somewhat "flat". Personally, I consider the ability to find the "in tune" sweet spot for your playing style to be a sort of prerequisite. And in that sense, tuning a plucked-string instrument is something that requires some degree of art and judgement.
Agreed.

Let me add that I wouldn't want readers thinking a properly intoned guitar doesn't carry high value because it does, its just not a panacea. There may be a multitude of other tuning issues with the guitar meaning moving saddles pieces isn't the way to fix those problems. Not that anyone said that but we can easily split hairs when it comes to the phrase "No guitar is perfectly in tune". No cymbal (that isn't in a vacuum) ever stops vibrating, ever but who cares. The point is that a well made guitar, that is intoned and setup well, will "sound" very intune in the right hands (see sig )

When one knows how to tune(even very slightly detuning in just the right spots) the instrument will sound much more musical and in tune across the entire instrument. Its organic though, clinical tuning has no value, you have to tune to the act of playing so to speak. The average pressure used when playing should also be used when intonating. The only thing I'll add about equal tempermant is that there are certain, very slight adjustments to it that sound better on a guitar when strumming open chords but that's a different subject and creeps into hair splitting as well.

Lastly... Pickup height...

Need to add that if they are too close the magnets in the pickups pull the strings sharp. Its most noticable on the low E string (more mass). The problem is that the symptom sounds just like an intonation issue.... IE: a G power chord using the E and A strings will sound in tune but the same power chord slid up to D will sound out of tune. Try it.... It is more pronounced on guitars with two humbuckers.

Karbo
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Last edited by karbomusic; 11-13-2010 at 07:13 PM.
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