Tuning a PSG

[Bobby Nelson]

Well that's good news Ken. I'm going to need all the precious little time I have learning to play. Hopefully it won't be a time consuming learning curve.

[b0b]

I heard from some guys who were there, that Lloyds tone was unbelievable... 1973 Sho~Bud LDG played through Webb 614 by Lloyd Green will not sound nothing short of great ... no need for 10K guitar or expensive boutique amp, all you need is a man who knows what he's doing ... don't even need a tuner lol

I imagine that Lloyd Green's Sho~Bud is worth considerably more that $10k. Especially considering that it never goes out of tune.

Part of his tuning "secret" it that he doesn't lower his 4th string. When you are constantly raising and lowering that string, it doesn't have time to settle to E. When you raise a string, it returns a couple of cents flat. When you lower it, it returns a couple of cents sharp. These are very small detunings, but they are enough to bother very sensitive ears. Lloyd decided long ago that since he had a D# note on the second string, he could do without it on the 4th string. Problem solved.

In the decades since, some players have solved this problem extra pull rods and other methods. But Lloyd's solution is simplest. All it requires is a different way of thinking (and the occasional bar slant).

[Allen Kentfield]

I tune the chord to themselves: B6, C#m, C#ma, Dma11. Starting with the B at +1 hz sharp of ET, you end up with A at 440 hz.

[Stephen Pride]

I mostly just lurk here, but figured the next time a tuning thread came up, I'd jump in with my experience to see if it helped anyone, or if anyone had any thoughts for me. I play an old Zumsteel Stage One, 3 pedals, 3 levers. I've been playing on and off for 5 or 6 years. Sounding in tune has been a constant struggle.

I was doing okay with E.T. for a while, but then started working with a Jeff Newman video (Up From the Top, A&B Pedals) where he instructs you to do a bunch of compensations, and I also had a teacher recommend Newman's chart to me, so I downloaded the Peterson app and bought the Newman tuning add-on for E9. I worked with that for a while and was kind of liking it, but then started to notice some things sounding wrong. Maybe it's just a problem with me, or maybe it's the guitar, but 4ths and 5ths were sounding out of tune. For instance, I'd have the A & B pedals down, and play the 6th and 4th strings, and there would be unpleasant vibrations.

I know this guitar has some significant cabinet drop. When I press A & B down, the E strings both go flat, but by different amounts (the 8th string goes flatter than the 4th). But again, unless I'm screwing something up or misunderstanding something, I don't understand why the two F# strings aren't in tune with each other when I follow the Peterson. I also don't understand why the 10th string and the 7th string are out of tune with each other.

What I've been doing lately is tuning the E's and G#'s to the Peterson, and then tuning everything else by ear, looking for 4ths or 5ths and trying to get them to ring true. So I tune the B's to the E's, then the F#'s to the B's. I tune the D# to the G#. I press the pedals down and tune the A's as best I can to the E's. I press down the A pedal only and tune the C#'s to the G#'s. I tune the E lever to the G#, and so on.

This seems to be working better for me than anything I tried before, but it's still not as good as I'd like. I'm trying to use my ear as much as possible and figure out when I need to slant a little, etc.

Curious to hear feedback about this, I'm sure I'm not the only to try it.

[Jim Reynolds]

If you want to learn anything, it's time consuming. Stick with it, if your young, it will be well worth the effort.

[Jim Reynolds]

Stephen, Not sure what your doing, but I have owned two Zum StageOnes, in the past 8 years, and have never had a problem. I suggest you contact Doug, should like you have the changer screwed up. I also have almost every lesson Jeff, had out, including the Up from the Top, all three, and have never found what your speaking of. I sure hope someone answer you better, then I can.