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Author
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Topic: Low to High or Vice Versa? a Poll..
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Jesse Pearson
Member From: San Diego , CA
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posted 07 February 2006 09:07 AM
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Thanks Rick, the melody thing sounds like a good reason why older steel players might have started the habit of stating their tuning H to L. Concerning actually tuning the steel, are you and Ray talking about "Just Intonation" with the steel to it self? I have been using Bobby Lee's quick and dirty method and it seems to work great with the intonation of the other instruments? |
Rick Aiello
Member From: Berryville, VA USA
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posted 07 February 2006 09:58 AM
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quote:
Concerning actually tuning the steel, are you and Ray talking about "Just Intonation" with the steel to it self?
No, not really ... Inharmonicity rears its ugly head no matter what tuning method you employ ... JI, ET, Mean Tone, etc ... anywhere there is a stiff string ...  A 6 string Frypan vs an 88 key piano ... probably isn't as big a deal though... But error is error ... best to minimize it whenever/wherever possible ... that's my moto ------------------
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Gene Jones
Member From: Oklahoma City, OK USA
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posted 07 February 2006 09:58 AM
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Back in the past (before tuners) when the "E" note was the reference point for tuning, we tuned from the "E" "up" for some strings, and from the "E""down" for the other strings.However, others are correct in stating that their tuning is identified from "left to right". So, who cares what sequence.....as long as the final result is being in tune! ------------------
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Charlie McDonald
Member From: Lubbock, Texas, USA
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posted 07 February 2006 10:07 AM
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As a piano tuner, E up and E down makes sense to me, having the tonal center in the middle of the tuning.Stretching doesn't seem to be a real factor within two octaves. I've tried it, and it's all pretty much dead on. |
Rick Aiello
Member From: Berryville, VA USA
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posted 07 February 2006 11:29 AM
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quote:
Stretching doesn't seem to be a real factor within two octaves
No ... and thats why I said: quote:
A 6 string Frypan vs an 88 key piano ... probably isn't as big a deal though
But Inharmonicity plays strange tricks on steel guitars ... especially short scale steels that use very heavy gauge, plain strings. To get down to the real "Nitty Gritty" ... You can't even get a single string to be in tune with itself !!!!! The "harmonic spectrum" generated by chiming a 0.017 plain E string at the 5th fret ... will not be "exactly" twice that of the "harmonic spectrum" generated by chiming that same string at the 12th fret ... So getting two strings to "agree" ... across the board ... ain't never gonna happen. The trick is to eliminate as many errors as possible ... So I stand firmly behind Mr. Byrd and Mr. Montee here ... nervous Ray ... ... Get your Hi E ... and tune down from there ... Eliminate all possible mechanical issues ... then you have only yourself to blame for bad performances ...  ------------------
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Bill Blacklock
Member From: Powell River, British Columbia, Canada
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posted 07 February 2006 11:59 AM
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I think low (bass) to high (treble) when discribing a tuning. Away from meBut I concider the treble side to be the first string. I tune my instruments from low to high because the heavier guages put more strain on the neck and parts of the instrument and that makes for easier tuning. If you start on the treble side the heavy gauges just pull the lighter guages out of tune when you come up to pitch. This is especially true with older instrument, Oahu's, Weissenborns and dobro's with sinking cones. |
Jim Phelps
Member From: Mexico City
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posted 07 February 2006 03:44 PM
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quote:
Back in the past (before tuners) when the "E" note was the reference point for tuning, we tuned from the "E" "up" for some strings, and from the "E""down" for the other strings.
Exactly. Even with a tuner, I often use the tuner for the E and tune the rest by ear. |
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