Temperament and tuning

Bob-Dubery

A while back I read an article by Richard Lloyd (Television) in response to a question about tuning and temperament.

He offered something interesting - a different way to tune a guitar that, he said, accomodated the compromises in terms of temperament on the guitar a bit better and would lead to a more accurately tuned, better sounding guitar - especially as you play chords up the neck.

OK... first the method (which assumes a well set up guitar and a good ear).

1) Tune the 6th string to E with a tuner, pitchfork, what have you
2) Fret the 6th at 10 to get a D. Tune the 4th string to that.
3) Fret the 4th string at 5 to get a G and tune the 3rd string to that.
4) Fret the 3rd string at 2 to get an A and tune the 5th string to that.
5) Fret the 5th string at 2 to get a B and tune the 2nd string to that.
6) Fret 4th string at 2 to get an E and tune the 1st string to that.

Now I've tried this, and I think the guitar sounds a little more in tune. But then people buy plastic bracelets and say their balance improves as a result - so sometimes we perceive what we want to perceive.

Anyhoot... Richard Lloyd seems to understand this whole temperament thing, but I don't, and I wondering why different ways of tuning a guitar would result in subtly different tunings.

ryanguit

how do each of those strings read on a tuner now?

i tune 6th E to tuner
then play 5th fret harmonic on 6th string and compare with 19th fret of 5th string (i set my intonation using the same fret)
play 5th fret harmonic on A compare with 19th fret of D string
play 12th fret harmonic on D compare with 7th fret of G string
play 12th fret harmonic on G compared to 8th fret on B string
tune E string by ear by a few different methods usually just fretting 9th fre on G string.

check B string off D string 9th fret, then play097700 to hear if anything seems fishy, repeat.

then for live i detune the top string slightly so that when playing at 3/4 volume on that string is in tune with playing other strings at half volume. i play std 10's for my electrics.

this gives me the most even tuning on the entire fretboard but does nothing special (like make me sound better haha)

food for thought: slightly flat major 3rds are very pleasing to the ear. so a slightly flat G string sounds nice on acousics for E position chords. to test this:

play a 4th fret harmonic on 6th string (high G#) and tune your G string until the 13th fret sound same. then play an E major chord. if you get it right A and C chords shouldn't sound terrible. this note is not from the equal temperament set.

Cheers

Squonk

Hectic , will give it a bash and see the difference

AlanRatcliffe

I simply fit compensated nuts, then I can tune the standard way and be within -1 cent on any note on the neck. Messing around with "sweetened" tunings is just not practical in most playing situations.

BTW this has more to do with tuning and intonation than temperament, which is a whole other can 'o worms...

Bob-Dubery

ryanguit wrote: how do each of those strings read on a tuner now?

Well when I do it they end up pretty flat - but that's more about me than about Lloyd's method.

I think it's a good question, though I don't think a clip-on Planet Waves tuner reports precisely enough. Probably a Petersen tuner would tell us something useful.