Tuning preference

[Nick Bidmade]

Jack Stoner on the US Forum sent me his tuning set-up for Peterson tuners and it works best for me on my Ben-Rom. Contact Jack and he'll let you on on his secret!

[Malcolm]

Anyone with a Peterson, if registered with them, can download a bucketful of tunings, including Jack’s tunings, from the Peterson website. I currently use a combination of Jody Cameron / Mickey Adams, think they are listed as MA E9th , this means All open and pedal/lever tunings on one pre set, instead of having to use two presets.

[Uncle Roy]

Very interesting thread Billy. Some very interesting and some confusing comments to the ears of this old fart
Quite contented tuning with my Peterson and preset turnings on my Mullen, specially for someone who has never played in tune so I can't blame the tuner anyway

[Haddock]

Hi all
I can’t let a tuning topic go without joining in. It’s a really fascinating topic and when I was going through my ‘tuning’ phase, I got full on obsessed! So to answer Billy’s question, ‘how many times’, lots! Books on temperament history, everything the internet had to offer and a fair bit of physics and mechanics later I finally found what worked for me and have pretty much stuck with it since. I used to tune straight up ET when I had my LDG and it had very little cabinet drop but when I got the Legend the drop was significant and it started an interest in the whole Just Intonation thing. I couldn’t go back now. My approach was to start from a point where the 3 main major triads, open, AB and AF were all perfect intervals. Then I tried to get as many of the other notes to fit. I went as far as a spreadsheet showing what all the correct ratios were and measured frequencies until I got it to work. There’s actually several options for things like minor thirds and 7ths within 5 limit Just and I tried several until I got what I liked. You can only get so close anyway due to the mechanics of the instrument and the laws of physics but when it works its great. The Peterson helps make it easy to tune once you have a plan.
Incidentally, here’s a simple test to see how ‘Just’ your sweetened tuning is. Switch on a fuzz box! Makes it very easy to hear the beat frequencies between notes and if you have a just triad, you’ll hear that ‘clean fuzz’ sound that many guitarists seek. For instance play a C note with a G and try slanting the bar. The ‘beats’ will increase slanting one way and decrease the other. When they more or less stop, you have a perfect interval. Then try with C and E and then all three. Well what else to do when its pissing down during lockdown.....
Cheers
Calum

[Davie Holland]

I have always used Al Brisco`s tuning chart..i.e. G#`s at 439 and E`s at 442 which has served me well over the years and I used a Korg Rack tuner which was easy to see on dark stages....or very bright stages too come to think of it. However I recently did a bit of research and found the Precision Strobe Tuner (linked from Peterson website) which uses your Iphone or Ipad. The best think about this is it is so easy to use..it can store your own string settings in memory....no more pressing the calibrate button for different string groups..it does it for you. At £9.99 its my now "go to" tuner. The method I used was 1st tuning the G#s to 439 then tuning (by ear) the E`s, then the Bs then everything else in between. I used the tuners` calibrate function to measure the strings individually and store them. Result is a tuner that automatically applies + or - cents to whatever string is being played. I know Petersons can do the same, but for a hugely increased price...ps..I have a Stroboflip for sale if anyone wants it. lol

[Malcolm]

Davie, I recently got the Stoboclip, it can be programmed with any of the multiple tunings available on the Peterson Connect page. It just clips on to any convenient place on guitar, gives you all the same settings as larger Peterson units, but just the size of average clip on tuners.Excellent unit.