Posted by David on April 24, 2002 at 09:43:42:
In Reply to: Justified or equal temperment tuning? posted by Dave on March 25, 2002 at 15:41:20:
: What is the difference? They say most Honers are justified while LO is Equal Temperment. Does it make a difference. I've also heard the term double tuned. What's that mean?
You owe this to JS Bach. He invented `equal temperament' and wrote the Well Tempered Klavier to show it off. An instrument like the harmonica can only play discrete notes (except, of course, when you bend a note, but that is an exception). On a violin each note is separately tuned at the fret as it is played. So on a harmonica, so that it can play in more than one key and also so that it can be in tune with other instruments, is tuned on a compromise so that some notes are a little higher or lower than the mathematically correct frequency. This is called `equal tuning' or `equal temparament'. If the tuning is mathematically perfect it is call `perfect tuning' but this kind of tuning is not so good if you want to play in all keys.
It does make a difference. Our ear is more attuned to equal temperament, and this is the better system for most modern music.