#53- Drew's "TIP-OF-THE-DAY" ... Some more tuning suggestions

Remember to wiggle with your finger, the string you intend to tune, and visually follow the "wiggle" to the tuning pin to be adjusted. This way you'll be assured that you'll be tuning the string you're sounding. Many strings have been broken by over tightening the wrong pin while sounding the string you thought you were tuning.

S N A A P P P !!!

Have you ever heard that? It's not pleasant!

And another thing to be aware of:

Make sure your tuner is set to "A440" ! Many tuners have a button you can push to change the calibration from "A440" to a range either higher or lower. If you happen to be using a tuner that has inadvertently been changed to a calibration other than "A440" ... you will not really be in tune with musicians who have tuned to this highly accepted "A440" standard.

Chromatic harp players have an easy tuning job, because they can really tune almost every string right to the "zero" on the meter. But for the 6 to 7 high end strings, I tune a bit SHARP (progressively going from the zero" to about 5 to 8 cents sharp). For my 6 or 7 lowest bass end strings, I tune them FLAT (progressively going from the "zero" all the way down to almost 15 to 18 cents flat!). If you try this technique, you can adjust the amount of difference from "zero" to suit your self. By borrowing this simplified technique actually used by piano tuners, your chromatic autoharp will sound in tune from one end to the other, and you will be ready to play in tune with other musicians, in all the many keys in which they may play.

Diatonic harp players can similarly tune in the above way if they choose to, or follow other non-zero tuning schemes as shown in the Autoharp Owners Manual for (+ or -) tunings that are specific to non-chromatic autoharps. For multi-key "diatonics," the more keys you can play in, the closer to the "zero" tunings you'll require so the chords in the key changes will sound compatible.

Remember: Be in good tune before going out to play with others, as you don't want to see any sour faces frowning at you. It is truly the autoharp player's responsibility to BE IN TUNE, as others will have done their homework and come to the event IN TUNE. Further, think of other instruments such as harmonicas, concertinas and accordions that are fixed reed, and can't be retuned at the event. You certainly want to be in tune with them.

Be aware of these points, and reap the benefits of being "in tune."

Happy Tuning, and Happy Harping!

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Drew Smith
c/o Great All-American Autoharp Emporium
529 Ardmore Road, Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ 07423 / 201 444-2833
DREW-SMITH-AUTOHARP-EMPORIUM at VERIZON.NET or
drewharpsmith at netzero.net

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