Tap tuning

[Ivan Kelsall]

Please - For those of us who don't know,what is FFT ?. Maybe i should know,but i don't,
Ivan

[peter.coombe]

Fast Fourier Transform. Google it.

[Marty Jacobson]

So, you might need to re-examine your belief. It ain't that simple.

I was assuming an "all else being equal", but you make some good points I hadn't thought about. Typically I only really think about top mass and FFT, back mass and FFT, air volume, aperture size/shape/position. Everything else seems to be significantly less critical.

I've been playing around with a mandolin by putting bracing on the top. Even easier than some of the other top test mule rigs which have been discussed here, because you can change the brace shape, mass, and position while playing it after every plane stroke or scraper scrape.
It's made me realize how subtle the impact of bracing is on tone. As in, what large changes in geometry are needed for substantial impact on tone.

[HoGo]

I was assuming an "all else being equal", but you make some good points I hadn't thought about. Typically I only really think about top mass and FFT, back mass and FFT, air volume, aperture size/shape/position. Everything else seems to be significantly less critical.

I've been playing around with a mandolin by putting bracing on the top. Even easier than some of the other top test mule rigs which have been discussed here, because you can change the brace shape, mass, and position while playing it after every plane stroke or scraper scrape.
It's made me realize how subtle the impact of bracing is on tone. As in, what large changes in geometry are needed for substantial impact on tone.

Now that is some REVERSE engineering LOL.

[Stephen Perry]

I've found little that has a "substantial" change in tone. However, lots and lots of little adjustments and changes that complement each other hit small jump points that are improvements. These improvements come in balance, speed of response, clarity, warmth, sparkle. Everything. Most aren't uniform across the spectrum, so a good deal of back and forth is involved.


But it's not tap tuning. I know what I'm looking for in working on pieces of wood, and I do tap (among other things), but I'm looking primarily at relationships and character of response, not a magic pitch!

[fscotte]

I've been playing around with a mandolin by putting bracing on the top. Even easier than some of the other top test mule rigs which have been discussed here, because you can change the brace shape, mass, and position while playing it after every plane stroke or scraper scrape.
It's made me realize how subtle the impact of bracing is on tone. As in, what large changes in geometry are needed for substantial impact on tone.

I did this a while ago as well, and it is one reason why I came to the conclusion that once the shape of the arch is carved, all other things like thickness and tone bar size is secondary having less influence on tone than originally thought.

Arch shape is king.