I have to say, I'm always amused by these discussions that broadly outline the imprint of theoretical measurements on the phenomenon of sound. If we look at all the factors, including thickness and stiffness of string material, variability in trueness of dimension, interference of temperature and humidity (and probably barometric pressure) on the transmission of sound, proximate acoustical deflections, damping caused by skin oils, distortion caused by finger pressure, variability caused by thickness of fret material, wave interference from nut, bridge, soundboard materials, etc. Then there is the phenomenon that different ears hear the pitch differently. Where do we stop? I say train your ears and tune to the best of your ability. RA > Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:24:40 +0100 > To: lute@cs.dartmouth.edu > From: akbut...@tiscali.co.uk > Subject: [LUTE] Re: Tuning > > with apologies to those who aren't interested ;-) > > For a plucked instrument the finger on the node is removed from the string just after the pluck. (otherwise the sound is damped) > > Indeed, having sharp harmonics is a property of all strings outside the physics lesson, as any piano tuner knows. > > Also, if you use an oscilloscope to view the waveform, and hit the harmonic partially so that some of the fundamental also sounds, you can see the waveform of the harmonic moving against that of the fundamental. > > For a bowed instrument, I suspect the harmonics are in tune as long as the bow is driving the string. > > andy > > Philip Brown wrote: > > That may be true, but a more obvious cause would be that the total > > length of vibrating string is reduced by the width of the area of > > contact of the finger. > > > > Cheers > > > > Philip Brown > > > > On Mon, Jun 25, 2012 at 9:00 AM, <willsam...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > >> They would be for a perfectly thin flexible string - but string stiffness sharpens the higher harmonics. > >> Bill > > >> On 25 June 2012 09:39, andy butler <akbut...@tiscali.co.uk> wrote: > >>> Harmonics on a plucked string are a little bit sharp, > >> Isn't it the case that harmonics are pure by definition? > >> > >> David > >> > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
--
