[sawdustdave]

A few weeks ago I read an article on Well-Tempering. For those pianists who hang here, that's as in Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier. What is "well-tempering"? It's tuning exactly in tune - so if we tune a piano to C Major, the 5th is, pardon the pun, a perfect 5th. Each interval is based upon the wavelength of the tonic.

OK, so what, you say. Well, we don't tune "well" any more. We tune "equal". So, our 5ths are a tad flat, etc. Each half step is exactly 1/12th of the octave. That means we're always a bit out of tune. But we're used to it, so mostly, we don't notice.

But, to me, the B string of the guitar is where I notice it, especially depending upon the key I'm playing in. I don't think that the string material is at fault, I believe it's "being equal" in tuning.

My son is a trumpet player with the WI Nat'l Guard (formerly with the 10th Mtn Div. Band as well). He tells me that, when the band is playing certain cadences the trumpets must raise their pitch ever so slightly and then, BAM!, overtones pop. What they're doing is changing from equal tempering to well-tempering.

I reserve the right to be wrong, of course.

Dave