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Old 03-22-2007, 10:47 PM
Bob Branstetter Bob Branstetter is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Powell View Post
Bob Branstetter,

If the general rule in tuning the after length is 1/6, wouldn't that be a perfect 5th plus two octaves? (2/3 = the fifth degree, 1/3 is octave up, 1/6 another octave up)
It really is not a general rule, it is known as the German rule. Length and pitch are two different animals where this is concerned. You must consider that the end of the string with the wrapping and ball are usually not even the same diameter or mass as the speaking length string diameter. I don't consider the 1/6 length something to be fixed in stone. I may make it a little longer or a little shorter depending on the bass. I have not found the pitch/interval of the after-length to be anything consistant using the 1/6 length.

I fail to see how anyone can logically isolate the after-length frequency (pitch) from that of the tailpiece and tailpiece wire/gut/rope/etc. They vibrate as a single unit and the vibration frequency of the tailpiece, which has by far the greatest mass and amplitude, is frequently below that of the the lowest note on the instrument. If I were going to "tune" anything, it would be the tailpiece. It makes more sense to me to make the pitch of the tailpiece the same or an octave (1/2 the frequency) lower than the body resonance frequency, but that would be getting into A0/B0 matching. I also find it interesting that many players who amplify routinely mute that after-length . I guess they must not consider the after-length pitch all that important either.
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Last edited by Bob Branstetter; 03-23-2007 at 10:42 AM.
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