Hi All,
While on the subject of those pesky pegs I thought I might pass on some
ideas about tuning:
1. Think about the tension on the string between the peg and the nut as
well as the tension between the nut and the bridge. Ideally they should
be equal. So, when you want to raise the pitch of a string, start by
lowering the pitch slightly, otherwise the tension between the peg and
the nut will just increase (perhaps to dangerous levels for a first
string) while nothing happens to the pitch you are listening to (which
depends on the tension between the nut and the bridge). You may also
want to make a final adjustment of the peg (in the direction of lowering
the pitch) without changing the actual pitch of the string.
2. Don't change your reference point during tuning. Having decided that
your first string is in tune (with a meter or whatever), use that as a
reference point and don't be tempted to change it, otherwise eternal
circles of tuning await you. One of the good things about using an
electronic tuner which can be set to play (or listen) to different notes
is that this advice is increasingly irrelevant, since the final arbiter
is always the meter.
3. Another nice thing about a meter is you can use it to tune your frets
as well as your strings. It doesn't matter whether the string is in
tune or not: you notice whether the string is 10 cents sharp or whatever
as an open string, and you expect it to be 10 cents sharp at the first
fret, second fret, and so on. Using the meter in listening mode like
this can be a quick way to check your fret positions, also to check how
the different courses behave - making it obvious whether some frets need
to be slanted, for instance.
4. It's important that the string is sounding when you move the peg, so
you can hear the pitch change. This probably seems obvious to 90% of
people, but could be a revelation for the other 10%.
Happy tuning,
Martin
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