One of the secrets of the guitar is that guitars don't play perfectly in tune. Actually, all fixed tuning instruments, such as piano, play slightly out of tune. It is impossible to place the frets on the guitar so that all notes on the instrument will be perfectly in tune in every key, because of the way tuning works. There are two types of tuning in western music: Pythagorean and tempered. Pythagorean tuning is named after the mathematician who created a great deal of the theory of mathematics. He discovered the mathematical principles of intonation. A pitch whose frequency is twice as high as another pitch is one octave higher. These principles explain mathematically the perfect tuning for each step in the octave. The problem with Pythagorean tuning is that it works only within one key. In other words, if you tune all the notes on a piano so that the notes are perfectly in tune in the key of C, they will be out of tune when playing in other keys. We hear differently from math principles. Intonation used to cause many problems. For example, when a lute player needed to play a piece in another key, he had to actually move the frets on the lute (lute frets were made of gut for just this reason). Ancient harpsichordists retuned their strings to switch keys. So, to handle this, a tuning system called "tempered tuning" was developed. Tempered tuning places all the notes at a slightly compromised frequency to yield good, but not perfect, tuning in all keys. Tempered tuning applies to guitars as well. The frets on a guitar neck are laid at specific positions to yield a good compromise in tuning, but a guitar can not possibly play perfectly in tune in all keys. The standard fret spacing is the Antonio Torres developed "rule of 18" each fret is 1/18th less then the one before it. It was this bit of genuis that allowed us to have the modern guitar that can be played in any key, anytime, but as in all tempered instruments, there is a compromise. Those with real good pitch, or real good chromatic tuners may hear this long-standing tempering of intervals when compared to mathematically calculated intervals. Some musicians building their first guitar, and/or without experience with the mechanics of guitars, may discover the tempering in their first attempts at tuning the guitar. No, the frets are not in the wrong place. That is the way guitars are and always have been. Except for some of the first oriental import "toy" guitars of the early 50's, we have never seen even very, very cheap guitars with frets in the wrong place. It is too easy to get it right and most all current fretboards (for the last 40 - 50 years) are machine cut with ganged sawblades to more than accurate perfection, and there is absolutely no way for one to be good and another to be wrong. Many other systems and "tricks" have been developed to attempt to alleviate this, but they really just move the tempering to some other place. Tuning in octaves seems to be the best compromise for normal use, and the best way to get working intonation is to tune the fretted note at the 12th fret to the harmonic note at the 12th fret. you should have the action adjusted and the guitar all set up first, or you may be making adjustments several times. Torres Engineering |
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