When intentionally tuning a cello to perfect fifths, use the octave harmonic (divides the string in half) on the upper string, and the 'third' harmonic, i.e., the one that divides the lower string in thirds. For tuning A against D, for instance, your little finger should touch the same point where you would normally finger the octave above the open A string while your thumb should lightly touch the D string where you normally play A. The former will sound the same pitch whether fingered or played as a harmonic, while the latter will sound the pitch an octave and a fifth above the open D string (which is the same A.) The nice thing about using the harmonics is that a) you don't have to have your finger in exactly the right place to get the harmonic and have it be on-pitch, and b) the harmonic sounds the single frequency (unless you way-overbow) rather than the rich-toned fingered pitch. You need that pure sine to get the least confusion about the beat.
When you play these two harmonics together, they will beat unless the strings are tuned in a pure fifth relation. If you tune the open strings in the manner you have been doing and then test with the harmonics, you will find out very quickly if you are actually tuning pure or not. The Korg tuner has gone through a few revisions in the past years. Mine doesn't allow more than equal temperament (so I've had charts to adjust for various historical temperaments.) If the model you have is OT120 (Which is currently on sale for $70 from Musician's Friend and Sweetwater) then you can set historical tunings and temperaments, which gives more room for experimentation. Also, petersontuners.com is full of interesting information on tuning, and if you look in the manuals for various of their more expensive tuners may just give you some other tuning ideas. William Brohinsky On Sun, Jun 24, 2012 at 12:11 PM, Edward Mast <nedma...@aol.com> wrote: > A question perhaps better posed on a bowed string forum, but I'm confident > someone here can help me. When tuning my cello with a Korg chromatic > electronic tuner, what pitches am I tuning to? Is it tempered tuning? The > reason I ask is that though I usually tune the A string from the tuner and > then the strings below by ear to fifths, if I tune each string from the > tuner the results seem to be the same - still perfect fifths. > > Thanks. > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
