Anyone using tuners for tap tuning?

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Eddie
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Joined: Sun Sep 12, 2010 7:32 pm

Anyone using tuners for tap tuning?

Post by Eddie »

Just curious: Does anyone use a tuner or tuner software while for tap tuning backs and tops? Or just depend on experience to tell you when it is right?
Eddie
tippie53
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Re: Anyone using tuners for tap tuning?

Post by tippie53 »

I want to be a semi tone different on the top and back. I just use my ear .
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
deadedith

Re: Anyone using tuners for tap tuning?

Post by deadedith »

John - at what point(s) in the build process do you tap and compare the top and back? I've read a lot about it, seen YouTube videos about it, and am still confused. When the bookmatched pieces are joined, before the soundhole is cut out, is the only time that the variables are at a minimum, and it's easy to thin here and there for an optimum difference in tone. But good grief, after we have hammered and glued and cussed and cut, spilled coffee on it, and the various other slings and arrows of fortune that we subject the poor thing to, that original optimum difference is just blowing in the wind somewhere.
So I'm guessing that after the soundhole is cut, and the bracing glued on, and the rosette installed, would be another optimal point, where some brace shaving can restore the original tonal relationship?
My teacher Brian Burns has shown that, once the top is glued to the kerfing, and a tap tone established for that assembly, that you can TAPE the back on and tap then as well, and get equally consistent results in tapping the back as you would gluing the back on. Giving another shot at brace shaving that we would not normally have.
What do I know? I dropped a chisel onto an important part earlier today, so the only tap tone I've had is beating my head against the concrete wall of the shop. Produced an A#.
Dave B
tippie53
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Re: Anyone using tuners for tap tuning?

Post by tippie53 »

once they are braced you can check the tone and adjust the bracing to make the tonal adjustments
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
penndan
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Joined: Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:04 am

Re: Anyone using tuners for tap tuning?

Post by penndan »

I've been building an OM under the supervision of todd Lunneborg, a luthier here in Minnesota. Todd had me using a tuner program in his iPhone to tune my top clamped in this frame.

Image

Thumped the bridge plate with the rubber padded mallet and carved the braces till the note came down to what we wanted.
You can see the rest of my build log here:
http://www.luthiercom.org/phpBB3/viewto ... 109&t=2141
tippie53
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Re: Anyone using tuners for tap tuning?

Post by tippie53 »

that is how it is done. You can't tell much just tapping on a loose board . It needs to be secured . I will do more once I have it on the body.
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
JLT
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Re: Anyone using tuners for tap tuning?

Post by JLT »

tippie53 wrote:I want to be a semi tone different on the top and back. I just use my ear .
Higher on the back than the soundboard, or vice versa?

And, now that I have a thicknessing sander, I can control the soundboard thickness much better than before. It seems that some luthiers base their decisions on thicknessing from the stiffness of the soundboard, which they measure by deflection. Is there a guide that tells me how I can rig up something to test that deflection? And what would that deflection be? (I'm guessing that it's proportional to the width of a soundboard, but the actual values are a mystery to me.)
tippie53
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Re: Anyone using tuners for tap tuning?

Post by tippie53 »

I do my tops at .117 in that is the old Martin spec.
Martin never voiced a top and relied on patterns. I use the patterns but I will adjust the nodes to attain between an A to C on the top.
then on the back I just want that semi tone separation for wolf note control.
I used to do deflection testing but it never really showed anything reliable. The top with the braces are more reliable as that is the actual top. I like the way the top rig supports the ends and gets you a more true top voice

I don't care if the semitone is up or down. I don't want any harmonics
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
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