3 ms·

> back in college a friend of mine tuned his dorm piano - which are much harder to tune - using that technique I feel as though "much harder" to tune understat

by eric_h 8y ago

> back in college a friend of mine tuned his dorm piano - which are much harder to tune - using that technique I feel as though "much harder" to tune understates the difference between tuning a piano and a guitar considerably :P It's ~40x as many strings!

Sylos 8y ago
And you physically cannot get a piano tuned perfectly, since with different intervals, you'd need individual notes to be tuned slightly different. With a guitar, you can at least still try to correct it by putting your finger down somewhat closer or farther away.
- TylerE 8y ago
  > With a guitar, you can at least still try to correct it by putting your finger down somewhat closer or farther away. Does not work like that. It isn't a violin. It is possible to pull notes sharp slightly (but it's done with pressure, not finger placement), but if the note is already sharp, there's nothing you can do.
  - delinka 8y ago
    Move one fret flat and pull very sharp? (no, this is not practical, but the inexperienced should give it a try...)
  - lightedman 8y ago
    "Does not work like that. It isn't a violin." Works exactly like that and I can demonstrate all day - Go grab APTuner and just watch your tuning when you place your finger at beginning or end of fret. You can cause a 25 cent difference on that alone. Makes no difference on my fretted or fretless basses, or any of my guitars from a 1978 Ovation to a 1998 Rhoads King V.
magduf 8y ago
Um, I'm not so sure about that. Sure, there's a lot more strings on a piano, but they're all separate from each other, and once one is tuned, it's tuned and you can move on to the next one. Try tuning a guitar that has a Floyd Rose locking tremelo system. The bridge is floating on a pivot with springs, so the tension of the strings is collectively working against the 2 or 3 large springs on the bridge. So every time you tighten or loosen one string, you're changing the tuning on the other 5! And adjusting intonation is a pain too, because if you finally get the strings all in tune, then when you adjust one string's intonation, it throws off everything again. (And worse, to adjust the intonation on a Floyd Rose, you have to completely loosen the string so you can get to the tiny little hex screw to unlock the intonation adjustment, and the way it's designed you don't really have an easy way of fine-tuning it.)
- elektronaut 8y ago
  Pianos are like that too. There is a LOT of string tension, and the soundboard warps. Raising the pitch requires carefully balancing by tiny adjustments in several passes.
- lightedman 8y ago
  "Sure, there's a lot more strings on a piano, but they're all separate from each other, and once one is tuned, it's tuned and you can move on to the next one." No, most pianos use multiple strings per key. You tune one string, you need to tune its sisters before moving on, or you're not going to have a proper note. "Try tuning a guitar that has a Floyd Rose locking tremelo system" Oh, you mean like my Jackson Rhoads RX Custom? 8 minutes from new strings to stretched via whammy bar and ready to rock. They're far easier than the old Bigsby string knives. " So every time you tighten or loosen one string, you're changing the tuning on the other 5!" Uhh, we have what's called a bridge lock for that. "And worse, to adjust the intonation on a Floyd Rose, you have to completely loosen the string so you can get to the tiny little hex screw to unlock the intonation adjustment" That's how you should be doing it on ANY non-hardtail bridge in the first place.

by eric_h 8y ago

Sylos 8y ago

And you physically cannot get a piano tuned perfectly, since with different intervals, you'd need individual notes to be tuned slightly different. With a guitar, you can at least still try to correct it by putting your finger down somewhat closer or farther away.

TylerE 8y ago
> With a guitar, you can at least still try to correct it by putting your finger down somewhat closer or farther away. Does not work like that. It isn't a violin. It is possible to pull notes sharp slightly (but it's done with pressure, not finger placement), but if the note is already sharp, there's nothing you can do.
- delinka 8y ago
  Move one fret flat and pull very sharp? (no, this is not practical, but the inexperienced should give it a try...)
- lightedman 8y ago
  "Does not work like that. It isn't a violin." Works exactly like that and I can demonstrate all day - Go grab APTuner and just watch your tuning when you place your finger at beginning or end of fret. You can cause a 25 cent difference on that alone. Makes no difference on my fretted or fretless basses, or any of my guitars from a 1978 Ovation to a 1998 Rhoads King V.

magduf 8y ago

Um, I'm not so sure about that. Sure, there's a lot more strings on a piano, but they're all separate from each other, and once one is tuned, it's tuned and you can move on to the next one. Try tuning a guitar that has a Floyd Rose locking tremelo system. The bridge is floating on a pivot with springs, so the tension of the strings is collectively working against the 2 or 3 large springs on the bridge. So every time you tighten or loosen one string, you're changing the tuning on the other 5! And adjusting intonation is a pain too, because if you finally get the strings all in tune, then when you adjust one string's intonation, it throws off everything again. (And worse, to adjust the intonation on a Floyd Rose, you have to completely loosen the string so you can get to the tiny little hex screw to unlock the intonation adjustment, and the way it's designed you don't really have an easy way of fine-tuning it.)

elektronaut 8y ago
Pianos are like that too. There is a LOT of string tension, and the soundboard warps. Raising the pitch requires carefully balancing by tiny adjustments in several passes.
lightedman 8y ago
"Sure, there's a lot more strings on a piano, but they're all separate from each other, and once one is tuned, it's tuned and you can move on to the next one." No, most pianos use multiple strings per key. You tune one string, you need to tune its sisters before moving on, or you're not going to have a proper note. "Try tuning a guitar that has a Floyd Rose locking tremelo system" Oh, you mean like my Jackson Rhoads RX Custom? 8 minutes from new strings to stretched via whammy bar and ready to rock. They're far easier than the old Bigsby string knives. " So every time you tighten or loosen one string, you're changing the tuning on the other 5!" Uhh, we have what's called a bridge lock for that. "And worse, to adjust the intonation on a Floyd Rose, you have to completely loosen the string so you can get to the tiny little hex screw to unlock the intonation adjustment" That's how you should be doing it on ANY non-hardtail bridge in the first place.