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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | Seems as long as I have been playing, the B string has always driven me nuts. Why is it some days I can tune the guitar and the B string seems to blend in, and some days I spend alot of time fighting to get the B string where it seems in tune. Does anyone else fight with that darn B string? :p |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 4619
Location: SoCal | see Guitars and Girls posting - its the 'G' string that gets the most attention :p |
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Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1196
Location: Lafayette, Louisiana | Thanks Tony, I will check it out. :D :D :D |
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Joined:
March 2004
Posts: 629
Location: Houston, Texas | Originally posted by Legend-LX-Fan:
Seems as long as I have been playing, the B string has always driven me nuts. Why is it some days I can tune the guitar and the B string seems to blend in, and some days I spend alot of time fighting to get the B string where it seems in tune. Does anyone else fight with that darn B string? :p
I've experienced this as well. For one thing, I have always had trouble with consistant finger pressure when forming chords or notes. Once the string hits the fret, too much additional pressure simply changes the pitch higher as the string bends further down towards the fretboard. The B and high E, being the smallest diameter are the most susceptible to this.
The other thing is that as the strings age and flat spots begin to wear from the fret contact, they begin to have intonation problems. This is really most notable on the high E. Generally the 12th fret harmonic will shift towards the bridge. Check the 12th fret harmonic on the high E and if it is not directly over the 12th fret, its time for new strings! |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Yes B and G are difficult, not so much on Ovations but take a 70 year old National. They never get in tune, just kinda close. They were built before they discovered intonations and light guage strings. You just get it close and avcoid the chords that don't work too well. |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 782
Location: Waurika OK | Glad to know that I am not the only one to have that problem with the B string tuning and to a lesser degree G also.
I have been using an "Intellitouch PT-2 tuner. It clamps on the headstock and picks up the pitch from the neck, ambient noise does not affect it. It is a chromatic tuner easy to use and seems to help me get tuned easier, espec. B, and more accurately than my plug in chromatic tuner.
It also has a choice of three "A" references. 438hz 440hz 442hz. (why I don't know, but maybe some of the real musicians would know)
You an check it out at www.tuners.com
I paid $35.00 for mine. A friend got his off the web for $29.00
noel |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 627
Location: Cherry Hill, NJ | You know a violin player could detect the differance between Fb and E. The guitar is not a perfect instrument. The frets are stationary. That's why when playing in E is in tune, except when changing to G or D. A slight tunning adjustment is neccessary. Just my take on it.
Tommy |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Another problem with years of absorbed trivia, the B string on a standard tuned guitar has an intonation problem that is inherent in guitar design or perhaps it should be called in guitar heritage. It is the problem of well tempered instrumentation where certain notes are flat or sharp mathematically, someone has tried to correct this with frets that are not straight accross but staggered like the bridge intonation adjustment.
This is a shallow explanation, I expect Paul or some other complete professional to jump in here with college calculus and prove this theory with many obscure math formulas, I will critique the formulas when they appear. I learned PhD gibberish when I was working on nucleur instrumentation and found that nano second simultaneous events will nail a fission every time. (kinda like double stops)
Bailey |
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May 2004
Posts: 295
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | It's the G that's been a problem for me. I've also heard it's the one most prone to breaking, so I'm always careful to wind it up to pitch slowly when putting on new strings. |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | ...don't fully understand it, but I found this portion of an article regarding the "Tuning problems":
Playing In Tune
So you’ve done everything right. The strings are fresh and stretched, the intonation is set, the nut is lubed, even finger pressure is applied, and, okay, so the B string tuner was actually slipping and has been replaced. Now why won’t the darn thing play in tune?
The bad news is - guitars don’t play perfectly in tune! They are only relatively in tune. They are in what is called a "tempered" tuning. Even on a perfectly maintained instrument, if you tune it so that the G# in the first position E chord is sweetly in tune, the open G in your first position C chord will be flat. If you tune the C# in a first position A chord to be sweet, the open B will be flat. Guitars are tuned in a compromised tuning that makes that C# and G# a little sharp so that the open strings are only a little flat. Fortunately for most of us, our ears have become accustomed to these compromises so that it doesn’t sound unpleasant. Still, you will often see classical guitarists re-tuning for different pieces that feature specific intervals.
The fact that guitars are not perfectly in tune can result in what we call "recording ears." In the recording studio we will listen so closely that we will hear these compromises more than is normal. Don’t worry, neither you, nor anyone else is likely to listen that closely to your guitar parts ever again. Learning to tune your guitar so that it is equally out of tune for all the chords is part of the process of learning the instrument.
Another, more advanced part, is learning to make minor adjustments with finger pressure and slight string bends that push the guitar into better tune rather than throwing it out. It is said that other people picked up Jimi Hendrix’s guitar and found it out of tune-right after he had just finished playing and sounding perfectly in pitch. Mythology or not, this goes to illustrate that how you play can affect your tuning.
In all, this may seem like a lot to deal with, but if you keep your strings new and stretched you will probably sound fine. And just in case-keep that electronic tuner handy and full of fresh batteries.
Michael Ross is a guitarist and writer, who has toured the East Coast, West Coast and all points in between, as well as Iceland, Norway and even a few colder places. He recorded two CD’s with the Potato Eaters, and done clubs and sessions too numerous to mention (or remember). He is the author of Getting Great Guitar Sounds (Hal Leonard), and lives in San Francisco with nine guitars that he attempts to keep in tune.
Thank you to Guitar Shop Magazine for this article.
Here's the link to the full article:
Tuning Problems |
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B string thing
