Not a tuning thread,,,but...?

[Larry Bell]

Many regular posters stated outright that they rarely have to retune or tamper with their tuning

As an 'equal opportunity forum', you are likely to hear advice from folks who may have never played a gig in their life -- OR -- a consummate pro who has really been around the block. It is sometimes difficult to discern which is which. If a forum member freely shares examples of his/her playing or if I've heard them in person or am familiar with his/her work, I take their statements with many more grains of salt than someone who talks a good game. Being a regular poster doesn't buy much cred with me, but maybe that's just me. YMMV

[Les Anderson]

I buy your concept theory Larry. I have been through that experience on many, many occasions.

[Bo Legg]

I use "The Sample Mean" method of tuning.
Generally I’ve found that the honky tonk bands when performing sound around 8cents sharp and that most singers fluctuate plus or minus 10cents below to 4cents above that point.
I believe this sounding sharp is caused by stringed instruments being played hard trying to cut through or get above what the sound man has allowed them and in some cases poor monitoring.
Of course the problems compounds itself because most of us tweak away from 440hz
I don’t play hard so I always start out 8cents over what I would normally tune anticipating "The Sample Mean" point for the band to be 8cents sharp.
I check and compensate the tuning accordingly on the break.
With the jute box playing loud on the breaks it is impossible to tune by ear.
Every time I’ve tried to tune by ear on the break I wound up tuning to the jute box.
I always carry an extra tuner just in case.
Then what do I know. I’m just an old honky tonk playing whore.

[Carson Leighton]

It's practically impossible to tune by ear in a noisy bar or any other situation such as that..It might be a good idea to keep a set of headphones with you,,if you have a headphone jack on your amp..or a set of powered headphones..Always keep a spare battery for your tuner,,or if it will take an adaptor,,all the better..Tuners can still quit on you though,,and if someone else doesn't have one that's chromatic,,you could find yourself in a bit of a bind, if you can't tune by just using a reference note...I always carry an A-441 fork and a good set of tight fitting headphones,,just in case..

Any good muscian should be able to tune by ear, and if he/she can't,,then they should do their best to learn..It also helps your playing,,because in order to sound good you must have good intonation and you are constantly dealing with it on a steel guitar. I believe that tuning by ear also helps your intonation and helps you to hear things in the music that you never heard before,,and it takes a long time to get good at it, so you need to get started early in your muscial career...

This thread is not about ways to tune your steel, or whether you should tune to equal temperment, just intonation, meantone or any other temperment.. It's about being prepared..It's a good idea to experiment with the beats that are produced by partials that coincide from two different notes...Always tune "beatless" first,then alter one string or the other until a beat starts to form..When you are sure you can recognize a "one beat per second difference" between the two notes,,then you have come a long way in the art of tuning...It's just about bedtime for me....Regards,,,Carson