I have all my HGs in Just Temperament I play often with other Equally Tempered instruments It is NEVER a big problem The major thirds are the only possible problem The Just Tempered thirds are flat to Equal Temperament All you have to do is push them a little sharper with extra finger pressure Equally Tempered thirds are 14% of a semitone out of tune
Graham -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Chris Nogy Sent: 08 March 2007 19:53 To: hg@hurdygurdy.com Subject: Re[2]: [HG] Key placement calculator Split the difference. Tangents have a certain amount of adjustment, the problems occur when you get too far from 90 degrees from the string. So if you set your keyslip placement up halfway between the just and equal temperament positions for each note, you can easily set the tangents for one or the other (Even Temperament makes the instrument play more like a piano, which allows you to play parts in groups in a way that sounds right to most ears. Just temperament is a more true presentation of the frequencies, and the instrument sounds better to a lot of ears when played solo, even though you will be out of tune with most other even tempered instruments, and the effect can be glaring). Unfretted string players have the benefit of simply rocking a finger to bring a note into either/or, as the amount is usually less than a nickel off in tuning. Fretted players (Guitar, HG, electric bass) need to set their frets either/or. The benefit of the tangents being movable is that we may have to set it up for one or the other for a song, but we can change it with short work. You can't change your frets on a standard banjo or guitar... Chris *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 3/8/2007 at 10:35 AM Seth Hamon wrote: This is great... So when marking where your going to put the tangents. Do you use the measurments from the Equal or the Just Temperment side... I suspect Equal... Cheers, Seth Graham Whyte <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: There is tried and tested key position calculator at http://www.hurdygurdy.org Just click on "Resources" on the home page It gives you the exact key positions for a 345mm sounding length It gives both Equal and Just temperament values for 2 octaves If you download the Excel sheet you can enter any string length Chris Allen uses these numbers for all his HGs In fact I believe he sets his keys midway between the 2 temps This means that both Just or Equal can be set with minimal tangent angles Graham Whyte -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: 07 March 2007 23:55 To: hg@hurdygurdy.com Subject: Re: [HG] Shaft and wheel relationship > I was going to use the Lambert plans for the body style , but incorporate the > plans from the Dewit book for all the lengths and key placements. And boy do > those plans make this insturment look tiny... Seth You may benefit from doing the math yourself for key placement - I don't recall how accurate they were. The math for each tangent placement can be worked out from first principles starting with the 12th root of 2 (because it takes twelve divisions to get to half of the string length at the 12th tangent or fret) - or you can look around online for a fret position calculator, of which there are many for aspiring guitar-builders. A typical chanter string sounding length is 344 mm. After that it's a matter of deciding where the wheel should go and how wide it should be, and doing the requisite math to get the wheel angle right so that the ears don't stick 'way out and make your gurdy look like H. Ross Perot. That's where things get REALLY interesting. There's a thought - a gurdy with the peghead carved with the likeness of H. Ross. OK, let's not go there. Alden
