Tap tuned guitars

[hippietim]

I've heard about this off and on over the years but never gave it much thought. Then I was in a store the other day and the salesman was going on and on and on and on and on and on about how great this particular brand of guitars was because of how the wood is all tap tuned for perfect balance. He said he paid a visit to this builders facility and personally tapped fingerboards, necks, and bodies and was amazed that he could hear the intervals. He was describing how a particular fingerboard wasn't going to work with a particular neck because they were tuned a minor 2nd apart.

I gotta tell you, it was all I could do to not bust out laughing. This all sounded like a bunch of BS to me. I wonder how the heck it is going to matter once you sand the wood, spray it, bolt it, fret it, inlay it, attach various metal contraptions, and finally transfer the sound with a few magnets and copper wire.

I'm perfectly open to hearing more about this but I am extremely skeptical.

I could just see the guys making the Teles in '52 or Les Pauls in '59 sitting around tapping wood and going "does this neck/body combination sound like a major third to you?" :|

[Ringo]

of a OLD saying by PT Barnum - he would have loved all this hype about guitars, amps etc ....
There's a sucker born every minute!

Tim, Tim, Tim – how could you possibly question the veracity of a retail salesperson? ;-) The whole idea that someone in their position might even shade the truth, let alone make up an entire story, just to try to influence a potential buyer's decision!... well, the very idea threatens to undermine our entire system of commerce. :-) Hee hee!

Originally Posted by hippietim

the salesman was going on and on and on and on and on and on about how... the wood is all tap tuned for perfect balance. He said he ... personally tapped fingerboards, necks, and bodies and was amazed that he could hear the intervals. ... how a particular fingerboard ... with a particular neck ... were tuned a minor 2nd apart.

I gotta tell you, it was all I could do to not bust out laughing. This all sounded like a bunch of BS to me.

=LOL= That's too funny. :-) Sounded like? Sounded like??? Man, your self-control goes waay beyond mine. I not only might have laughed out loud, I might have tapped my <u>car keys</u> and asked him what interval I was playing. Hehe.

I could just see the guys making the Teles in '52 or Les Pauls in '59 sitting around tapping wood and going "does this neck/body combination sound like a major third to you?"

ROFL. "Nah Joe, dat's a minor third. Whassa matta? You dint get 'nuff sleep last night?" LOL

Tap tuning is a very real skill, btw, and can take a long time to develop to a high degree. And while it sometimes uses musical notes, particularly with violins or mandolins, it has nothing to do with musical <u>intervals</u>. It involves listening very carefully to the overall <u>resonance</u> of the wood (particularly carved spruce tops) as it's being worked to get the highest degree of resonance possible.

Here's a quote from the Comins Guitars site:

Tap Tuning and Bracing

Tap tuning is the intuitive art of selectively removing wood from the top and back plates to achieve a desired resonance and allow the plates to operate more efficiently. Likewise, the luthier can affect the overall voice of a guitar by manipulating the placement, size and pattern of the top plate's (or soundboard's) braces. The braces must also be painstakingly mated to the top to facilitate maximum responsiveness and sustain.

So the next time you're at that store, tell Mr. Tap Tune that you play a lot of rock 'n' roll rhythm, so could he please show you a guitar with the wood tuned in 5ths? Oh, but wait... you also play some country fills now and again... so how about a guitar tuned in 3rds and 6ths? And maybe a flat 5th or flat 9th for jazz? Or, "dammit... this is too hard. Just give me one with <u>tuners</u> on it, I'll do it myself" grumble, grumble :-) Hee hee! Have fun, CS :-)

[hippietim]

Originally Posted by Chris S.

So the next time you're at that store, tell Mr. Tap Tune that you play a lot of rock 'n' roll rhythm, so could he please show you a guitar with the wood tuned in 5ths? Oh, but wait... you also play some country fills now and again... so how about a guitar tuned in 3rds and 6ths? And maybe a flat 5th or flat 9th for jazz? Or, "dammit... this is too hard. Just give me one with <u>tuners</u> on it, I'll do it myself" grumble, grumble :-) Hee hee! Have fun, CS :-)

Well, I was thinking I want to get a Nu-Metal Tele - I wonder if he has any tap tuned drop-D fingerboards ;)

Great post Chris - both funny and informative!

[e-merlin]

Yeah, I'm a believer in tap tuning. Whenever a tune comes on the radio and I don't like it, I tap one of the little buttons on the radio and tune in another station.

[Nick Fanis]

tell this salesman to tap-tune his HEAD first of all

[Teletwang]

Actually, it is a real thing done by talented luthiers.
I'm still sceptical but when guys like Bob Benedetto
and Kim Walker tell me it works then who am I to
judge?

[PeterUK]

Originally Posted by Teletwang

Actually, it is a real thing done by talented luthiers.
I'm still sceptical but when guys like Bob Benedetto
and Kim Walker tell me it works then who am I to
judge?

And DeTemple Guitars:

Have a look at their FAQs:

<A HREF ="http://www.detempleguitars.com/home2.htm">De Temple Guitars</a>

:D Peter

[Deaf Eddie]

From the DeTemple Guitar website:

The subtle nuances of working with woods specific to instruments benefit from a lifetime of skill and knowledge. I'll go as far as to select and tune the timber for specific tonal qualities. The process is known in the fine art of violin making as "tap-tuning." It may seem that I carry it to the extreme, but these instruments are literally in tune before the strings are put on. It may seem remarkable, but after the setup is complete each string jumps to, and locks onto its correct pitch -- you've never seen (or heard) anything like it.

Well, he's right there - I've never seen or heard anything like THAT!

Gee, I hope the guys from Poco don't try to use one of his guitars - they'd have to order the e-flat model...

[TheGoodTexan]

I once saw Brent Rowan in a local store, and he had ESP Ron Wood Tele up to his ear and was tapping it just behine the rear string-thru ferruls.

I stopped to ask him what he was doing and he took the time to explain it to me. He said that some guitars won't resonate at any specific frequencey, but others will.

He said that this particular guitar rang at C#, which was just about useless to him. He showed me how to do it, and make sure that you have the strings muted. So I tried it, and sure enough the thing was ringing at C#.

He said that he looks for guitars that are in normal "guitar keys"...E, G, A, D, etc... Said that when he's in the studio, he likes to use guitars that are in the key of the song being tracked. He did emphasis that it's not a tried and true scientific fact, but just something that he's found that's worked for him over the years.

[jumpnblues]

Pete Townsend used to tap tune his guitars all the time...against his HiWatts.

[tele0053]

sounds like the salesman tapped too many draft beers before work ta' me.

what a crock!

[Ben Harmless]

I can see wanting your neck and body to respond to every pitch the same, and if they both ring out at the same pitch, it would probably bring them closer to that goal. but I'd be willing to bet that once you actually finish building the guitar the effect would be unnoticable.

My tele is tap tuned to I, IV, V.

[Rick J]

Unless I'm mistaken, I seem to remember a Fender Custom Shop catalogue referring to tap tuning as something they do for Custom Shop guitars. Anybody got anything on this? I'll see if I can find the catalogue and post if there's anything there.

Rick J

[littlebigman]

those sales people are trying to tap into your wallet in a flatter note than which you walked in their store. but ill agree that different guitars seem to resonate at different frequencies. buyer beware