Pluck Play

Music for fun or therapy -- Mostly zithers, lap harps, etc., that have music sheets that slide under the strings for dot-to-dot playing

Friday, October 30, 2009

Tuning

Tuning these instruments was intended to be the topic of my next post three years ago when I lost continuity on this blog. A recent email inquiry reminded me that it was still pending and provided the nudge to get going.

Proper tuning can make a huge difference to the sound quality, and is neither expensive nor difficult.

For tuning my MusicMaker, Melody Harp, and other Zither & Zither-like instruments, I like my Korg Chromatic Tuner, but I'm not sure similar products aren't just as good. All the tools I mention here are available here, except the clothespin.

You will also need a pickup - mine clips on, but many of the instruments are too thick, which I deal with by clipping to a tuning post (not for the string I am tuning), sometimes with the help of a clothespin. I keep intending to try a suction cup pickup, but haven't gotten around to it.

For the actual tuning, you will need a full sized tuning wrench - the little metal doohickeys that come with some of the instruments are too small for fine control.

Once you have the equipment, the tuning sheet that came with your instrument (or a fudge, as shown), have read the instructions that come with the tuner and played with the setup a bit, it is actually rather easy.

Fine control is absolutely called for: if you can feel the wrench move, it is moving too much. I have to keep reminding myself to nudge it to just shy of movement. Of course if the pin is frozen, nudging won't help - it is often necessary to actually rotate the pin a few degrees each direction past the desired note to make sure that it is moving freely enough to allow tuning.

In the image below, both the "needle" & the red LED indicate that I need to tighten the string a wee smidgeon. My next effort showed that I need to loosen it a bit. With only a few moments more tweaking, I would get the image at top, with the green LED in the middle on and the "needle" centered - showing I am really close. It takes a lot longer with a one-man-band/photographer trying to do everything: the tuner kept timing out before I could get the camera aimed & framed. Not a problem when you are just trying to tune, not photograph.

Of course, after tuning one string you have to tune all the others.

And then do it all again.

Especially if the instrument has been badly out of tune, the process of tightening or loosening various strings will affect the overall tension on the soundbox, which will affect the other strings. So don't try to be too precise at first, and if it has been really out of tension, or just came down from the attic or was just delivered, just get it sort of close and let it sit over night before trying for closer.

The more precisely the instrument is tuned, the more it will "sing" as the soundbox and various strings pick up the harmonics written into the music. It takes it out of the "toy" category and into the "music" category. Fun enough tuned moderately well, near magic tuned precisely.

Well worth doing.


I may try to clean this up a bit more in the next day or three.

Please leave questions in the comments section.