Guitar and Bass, tuning tuning tuning

[tinitus]

hey

anyone else into that never ending fine tuning

maybe its because Im also into building instruments

well, it is my disorder, to tune and tune and tune
I cant help it
I simply have to adjust them screws
hmm, maybe because I was a sailing from early childhood
adjusting sails, rudder, and all that other stuff

whenever I see a screw, I simply has to turn it


but my bassguitar, it really changes, a lot
playability, voice, everything
its like night and day
get it right, and its soo easy to play
sheer joy

anyone else into that ?

[PeteMcK]

Most of my guitars stay in tune OK, but not my favourite, a short scale Suzuki acoustic 'parlour' guitar, ~ 35 years old. The $%#@ B string won't stay intonate properly, no matter what I do... I've cut a new saddle; no joy. My next move is to try a heavier gauge string...

Actually, I have a short scale bass I made out of an old Strat copy, the low E is having probs intonating too, but I'm pretty sure that's because I haven't got the bridge set up right yet.... been working on that for about 5 years so far....

[fingerboy21]

My bass stays in tune until you touch the tuning keys. It's quite good at staying in tune, but the neck can bend very slightly in temperature changes.

[fingerboy21]

Also, I use a rack tuner that seems very accurate so I can get the tuning right and not some cheesy stomp box.

[tinitus]

hey friends

what about the bridge ?
thats the one Im mostly concerned about

bridge adjustment
basicly you fintune the scale size(mensur)

and it seems to have huge impact on the tuning

my fingers dont hurt no more, so I raised the bridge just a bit, which also helped a lot

[PeteMcK]

Tinitus, 'fintune the scale size' in English it's called 'setting the intonation'. In theory, you only need to do it once, unless you change your string gauges.. but in practise....??? maybe it depends on the temperature/humidity stabilty of the neck?

One of my pet hates - those grub screws which set the bridge height - half of them are too long and stick up waiting to take flesh off your hand... you have to try to cut them in half without stuffing up the thread...

re: 'I use a rack tuner' - It probably the easiest and often most practical way, but I'm a tighta$$ Luddite, still use my ears...

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by PeteMcK

Tinitus, 'fintune the scale size' in English it's called 'setting the intonation'. In theory, you only need to do it once, unless you change your string gauges.. but in practise....??? maybe it depends on the temperature/humidity stabilty of the neck?

that should cover it all

well, yeah, having all frets in perfect tune also gives optimal 'intonation', as a result
the really surpricing thing is that its a 150 dollar 29" kid's bass

one reason I say this is, I think many people may have trouble because of a poorly adjusted bridge

[Nigel Goodwin]

My daughter just tunes her bass by ear, despite having two electronic tuners - that she only used when she first started. She also often gets passed guitars on stage to tune as well - it's faster for her to do it than the guitarist messing about with a tuner.

[wakibaki]

Ah, there are a few tricks to this. Sometimes a bit of graphite (pencil lead) in the grooves on the nut (plastic bit at the end of the fingerboard) can help, sometimes a new nut is required if the existing one is pocketed.

If it's an electric, adjust the bridge adjuster until the 12th. harmonic and the fretted note at the 12th. are the same.

The other main thing is to treat 'em rough. Grab aholt of the string in the playing area near the end of the fingerboard and pull it away from the face hard, until it's nigh to breaking, then pull it left and right vigorously and quickly several times. Tune up to pitch and repeat the process until you get no change.

My violin teacher taught me this nearly 50 years ago. She used to terrify me pulling the strings around violently while I had the violin up under my chin, I kept expecting the string to break and take out my eye. Never did though.

w

[tinitus]

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

My daughter just tunes her bass by ear, despite having two electronic tuners

cant trust them electronic tuners 100%, but nice to have, still

hmm, first step to find the 'intonation setting' seems to learn how the bridge works
by that I mean which effect it has when adjust one way, or the other
to me the key word is 'detuning'
final adjustments were exstremely small
maybe like 3/10 mill

I have almost run out of threading
so my bridge is probably wrongly placed
should have been closer to fretboard

I suppose each instrument will be different