Choosing a Temperament

[Richard Brekne]

Billbrpt@AOL.COM wrote:

>
>
> So, for anyone interested, here is my "honestly arrogant" set of figures for
> tuning a guitar so that it will sound more beautiful than the usual way in ET:
>
> All values are read on Octave 4:
>
> E2: -4.0   A2: 0.0   D3: 2.0   G3:  4.0   B3:  -2.0   E4:  0.0
>
> You can also do a "Victorianized" version of it which is milder:
>
> E2: -2.0   A2: 0.0   D3: 1.0   G3:  2.0   B3:  -1.0   E4:  0.0
>
> Don't ask any questions or say it won't work, just do it!  (and enjoy the
> beautiful chords).
>
> Yours truly,
>
> Bill Bremmer RPT
> Madison, Wisconsin

An interesting and nicely written post Bill. I am puzzeled by this
buisness of
tuning a guitar tho. Not really knowing much about how they are built
(tho I have
played my share of country and bluegrass on them) I was under the
impression that
the "tuning" was part of the placement of the frets.  Also, when you
play a
chromatic scale using one string the "tuning" is whatever the designer
had decided
it was. Combining this with off tuned singles (by the most recent
tradition of
tuning a guitar) cant change the  influence of the fret layout. I wonder
if such
instruments built 2, 300 years ago and beyond were "tuned" in this way.

Well, its all a bit off the piano tech subject line, but its food for
thought
anyways.

Richard Brekne
I.C.P.T.G.  N.T.P.F.
Bergen, Norway