[linux-audio-user] in tune - stupid thread

[Lee Revell]

On Sun, 2004-12-19 at 23:29 +0200, John Anderson wrote:
> On Sun, 2004-12-19 at 18:55, Russell Hanaghan wrote:
> > Fact is, it is impossible to tune an acoustic guitar 
> > "perfectly"...Invariably, when you have it tuned so an open G chord 
> > sounds spot on, an open A or even C will be a tad off. And the same 
> > applies to the inverse of course.  This all due to a general lack of 
> > adjustment for intonation on acoustic axes.
> 
> Actually, even guitars with adjustable bridge saddles won't be perfectly
> in tune with themselves, except for octaves, 4ths and fifths which are
> close enough that one can't really hear the difference. This is because
> the frets are in the wrong place in relation to the overtone series
> (pl). This applies to any instrument that has fixed notes (piano springs
> to mind), and which use the 12-tone equal temperament tuning.
> 
> It's a long story, so I won't go into detail. Google for Just Intonation
> if you want to know more. It sheds a different light on various
> questions like, where *is* that confounded blue note? Why do major
> chords sound crap on overdrive? What's the deal with barbershop and
> string quartets? Why is D minor the saddest key? If I tune the B string
> by ear to the G string, why is it out of tune with the E string?

I think this is called "well tempered tuning".

Lee