Tuning question

[Don Daringer]

I have a Bakelite Rickenbacher and I have a tuning question. In open E if I tune all the strings to a tuner ( you know where I'm going with this ) the third string, G# is sharp. Is this normal with these? I temper the tuning (adjust the G# to the chord) but playing a drone string and barred note or doing runs or scales with an open string can be tricky or flat out out of tune. What do you all do?

[Jeff Highland]

It's just a fact of life with 12 tone equal temperment tuning, not a flaw with the instrument. Make whatever adjustments to tuning work for you and your style of playing or get used to the sound of it as is.

[Stefan Robertson]

Just Intonation sounds great and I have added a sweetener tuning for those that use a Strobo plus. On their Site.

However if you are playing with a Keyboard artificial tuning using math - which uses equal temperament - simply tune with a standard tuner so you don't sound out.

As a steel player either adapt to the changing band accompaniment or make adjustments to the way you play to suit.

I recommend like the pros did - start with Equal then tweak until you are in the ballpark by Ear. Most of the legends new how to tune by Ear once they were in the region aka Just Intonation. Perfect example look up Doug Jernigan and find his performance from the Steel Guitar Convention on Lap Steel. Watch as he gets it near first and then adjusts by Ear. Pretty much whether lap steel or pedal steel players know how to do this.

So use any of the above methods but always TRUST Your Ears. Good Luck hope that helps.

[Jack Stoner]

Tuning, what works for one doesn't for another.

On Pedal Steel when I first got a tuner (Korg WT12) I tuned everything to "0". Everybody told me I was out of tune. Jeff Newman came out with a tuning chart for E9th and C6th (ref to 440). I started using that and no one ever told me I was out of tune.

On my 8 string lap tuned to C6th same as first 8 strings on pedal (High to low GECAGECA) I tried tuning to "0" and it didn't sound right. I tuned using the Peterson sweetened Newman pedal C6th (442.5) and as I was used to that on Pedal, the lap sounds right too.

[Brian Evans]

As noted, tuning is a personal thing. G# is the third of the E chord, if it's tuned to equal temperament the third of any chord is always sharp, so it gets flattened to compensate - called "sweetened". If all you ever play is open E based chords, you're golden. If you ever play a chord or an interval where that string isn't the third of a chord, then you're out of tune again, only even worse. If you ever play single note lines against a IV or a V chord, that string is out of tune. I play an open G tuning with a low E, sometimes the B string is a third and sometimes it's a fifth, and often it's the root of a minor third interval B-D. If I flatted the B string so the G chord sounded good, everything else I play would be out of tune, so I tune in equal temperament (to the standard tuner) and I figure that's why God invented vibrato. Just wiggle that bar a bit and you're in tune, on average...

[Steve Lipsey]

Same if you use slants...in those, the 3rd is in a different place too...so sweetening the tuning makes it sour...straight up, vibrato, putting the bar in the least bad place, etc.

[Stephen Cowell]

I generally tune the maj3rds 7c flat, as a compromise... it does affect the other intervals when you move to the minor, but that's what vibrato is for, right? And on a strum tuning like Leon E13 sweeten it how you like... if you do start single-noting you'll use your ears anyway.

[Don Sulesky]

I use the Paterson tuner for all my playing whether it's my E9th pedal steel, C6th neck or C6 lap steel, Dobro in G or other keys...
I was doing a jam with a new player who had a Rogue 6 string lap steel and had trouble getting it in tune.
I said "Bob, use this" he was amazed, he did not know of the Peterson tuner, but now he does.