I normally don’t check the tuning on my fiddle each time I pick it up, however I do find that it stays in tune remarkably well. My better half knows when I’m out ,even a small fraction of a note and when I check it with the electric piano I find it dead on. Is this normal for most fiddles that are played 3-4 hrs/day?
I have gone months without having to tune even one string.
Some instruments certainly hold tuning better than others. My bouzouki can be put away in its case for 3 weeks, and come back out in tune.
My banjos, on the other hand… 😏
I have skin heads on my banjos, and they’re all over the place. I tune after almost every set, because just playing with it heats up the head a bit, which changes the tuning, oh, and because I care 😉
I have never met a fiddler that didn’t at least have to fine tune at least once a night, though…
Pete
I might get away with it for a night or two if I’ve got a good set of strings that have settled, the temperature and humidity haven’t varied a lot etc But most nights I have to fine tune at least.
My cello stays in tune remarkably well (but not perfectly) for weeks on end (I use obligato strings), whether it is used at home, in rehearsal, or the concert hall. My fiddle strings stay in tune reasonably well once they’ve settled in, but I am aware they can need some slight adjustment when going from home to a pub session because of temperature and humidity changes, and usually later on during the session (I’m using gut-cored Eudoxas).
The very act of playing an instrument will alter the tuning to some degree - perhaps not all that noticeably - because of temperature and humidity changes affecting not only the strings but the main structure of the instrument. Fiddles and fretted instruments are made of a variety of woods with different coefficients of expansion and susceptibilities to humidity, so you’re going to get dimensional changes there. Playing a string will stretch it, and some strings don’t always recover exactly to their initial tension, so retuning will be needed at some stage.
I play in an orchestra, and it’s not unusual to have a general re-tune after the first item on the programme, and sometimes between movements in an extended work. This is because the brass and woodwind start going sharp.
And as Pete says, we tune because we care.
Strings can play a big part in how well it stays in tune. Also, if you play your fiddle for 3-4hrs a day in the same room in the same house all the time, it is far more likely to stay in tune than if you play it a bit around the house, lug it to gigs, sessions, lessons and whatnot, where you’d probably find some fine tuning needed.
In general my fiddle stays in tune pretty well, with Evah Pirrazis, which are well played in. But, going to sessions or gigs where we get carried away and inadvertently bow the crap out of the strings, or changing tunings fairly often, means they’re not quite as ‘stable’ as normal. It is quite possible to bow your string out of tune.
I use Dominant strings and always have to do a slight tune up each time I play, even if the room temperature or humidity haven’t changed significantly. Tuning up is such a deeply embedded habit that I can’t relax into my playing if I haven’t done it. Perhaps I’m just obsessive?
My fiddle is more often than not remarkably well in tune when I get it out in the pub. So much so that if I’m a bit late and everyone has tuned up a bit, for what ever reason, they’ll tune down to me. Maybe It’s got something to do with the fact that I never get it out elsewhere. Like Schrödinger’s cat, how would you know the fiddle is in tune when it’s in the box?
(Tee hee, just looked at Schrödinger’s cat on Wikipedia and there’s a great phrase in there that is perfect for describing tunings at sessions: “indeterminably probabilistic in nature”)
I’m surprised that you can go months without tuning. On the other hand, my fiddle and my viola tend to stay pretty well in tune. Weather changes and retuning can do crazy things though. I went to India for a month and a half this summer and my fiddle pegs stuck horribly and my bow wouldn’t loosen - ever. On coming back, my pegs keep slipping. Changing between Wetsern and Indian tuning also made it difficult to stay in tune, since Indian tuning is often much lower than ours, say CGCG or DADA, and the string take a little while to adjust to the difference.
Tuning fiddles is really bad for you. First of all the strings and snap and whack you in the eye, second if they were nearly tuned when you started the are broken now and not tuned at all. Next you have to accept the fact the most of the time most other instruments are not in tune either, so you’ll be playing out of tune anyway.
Last but not least, good bow technique will keep your sound sweet and so hypnotic that the audience will believe that your sound is in tune when it isn;t and they will also think Yogi the flute player must be drunk even though he/she is a lot closer to concert than you because hear Yogi as being out of tune.
:0)
Schrödinger’s cat… might explain why gut strings are harder to keep in tune.
I have to retune my fiddle every time I play to match the current box player.
Then there’s those sessions when both box players are there. I put one on either side of me and aim for the middle. “Am I little sharper than you? And am I a little flatter than you? Perfect, off we go!”
I like dominant strings, but I became worried that using them with adjusters was actually putting them out of tune. My logic went something like: adjusters are ok for steelies but dominants feel more flexible and fiddling about with the adjusters just seems to loosen them or something and make them more prone to being out of tune. I got rid of the adjusters and now tine with the pegs. I find the strings stay in tune for longer now. Maybe my instinct was right or it was just a coincidence. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Also, Bill, would you mind telling us what make of strings you use and if you use adjusters or not?
If I was made to sit between two box players who were not in tune with each other … I slit my wrists
Rob
I am using Prelude strings with only one adjuster on the E string
The A string has had to be changed twice in the past 15 months due to wear. For some reason that is the string that gives me the most trouble tone wise and supposedly so since it probably is played more frequently than the others. I do check the tuning every 2nd or 3rd day and do get my wife’s opinion, and it does remarkably stay in tune. It is kept in the case when not in use and in moderate temperatures. That may have something to do with it staying in tune.
Thanks for that Bill. I find it interesting that you also play with just one adjuster. This is normal for a classical set up. Maybe they know something we don’t!
Rob
The adjuster is there because of my luthier and not from my own knowledge. I do believe he is a classical violinist, judging from the music that he carries in his shop.