SV: ET for Guitar

[A440A@AOL.COM]

Greetings, 
 Ola writes: 
<<I'm a guitar teacher and tune alot guitars.

 I've stolen the idea to this one from Ed Foote and Bill Bremmer<<

I think we have differing approaches, in that I can't give any cents offset 
for the strings, different guitars require different tunings to be equal. 

 

Ola says, 
>>I do like this


1 Tune the A string 

2 Tune the D string a wide fourth to the A so I get a wave that goes out of 
fase

in one second and into fase the next second

3 I tune the G string to the D string a wide fourth so I get it beatin/waving 
4 times 

the same time the A-D fourth beats 3 times

4 I tune the low E string to the A string so it beats slower than the A and D 
string but not pure

(it's a hard string to hear it waving so slow<< 

   What I proposed is that you tune the fourths so closely to pure that you 
cannot hear much of a wave, and use the 3rd-6th test to ascertain that the 
D-G is wide,( you do this with the 1st fret Bb on the A string as a test 
note).  Repeat with the A-D using the 1st fret F on the E string as a test 
note.  Then tune the E string so that it sounds Just with the A string and 
you have a wide octave from the 2nd fret on the D string.  How wide?  Just 
wide enough so that you can't hear a beat, but if you begin to push the D 
string even a little, it will produce a beat rather than remaining apparently 
clear.  
   The four strings are now in position to give you three wide fourths, and 
it helps if the D-G is slightly faster than the A-D.  It should now be easy 
to tune the highest E string to the low E and the 2nd fret on the D string.  
It should NOT be wide enough to beat.  
  The placement of the B is now easy enough. Use the G string to check it 
against the E string as a 3rd-6th  test.  If you have sufficiently stretched 
the fourths, as notated above, the E string will be low enough so that the 
B-E fourth can be acceptable with about a 5 bps third formed with the G 
string.  Gibsons seem to require a little less beating than Martins. 
   When the guitar is tuned this way,  the only string needed to be moved to 
favor any given key is the B string, and it only needs to move a very small 
amount for this. 
The problems occur when the fourths are not tuned wide,and the resultant 
sharp E on the top makes getting an acceptable fourth with the B string 
without having a harsh third formed in the process. 
   When the B string is making a nice, but barely noticeably tempered fourth, 
the guitar will be in ET,(for all practical purposes).  Most of the pro 
pickers around here that have heard it remark that it is the first time they 
have had a tuning that will play the same, all over the neck, in all keys.  
But they also usually remark that it doesn't sound as nice in their chosen 
key as they can make it by moving the B string around a little. 
   It used to be a common occurance in the studios that the piano would get 
the first blame when the guitarists couldn't get in tune.  I came up with 
this tuning for the six string as a self-preservation technique, and I DON"T 
get any arguments anymore. 
Regards, 
Ed Foote RPT 
(Gnashville)

 


Ed Foote suggested that I retuned the B string when I change between E major 
(purer E-H fourth)

and Cmajor (slower G-H third). That goes for G major and A major too I guess.

Ed foote not long ago said that the guitar players liked his HT tuning. Can 
you say anything more about that Ed?

I forgot to ask you. What kind of style do they play and are they playing in 
any spesial key?


I guess by letting the forths of the four lower strings beat a little faster 
you would get a temprement ala Bill Bremmer

It would produce a slower G-H third. I left my guitar at work so haven't 
tried it>>