Heritage tap tuning

[MartyGrass]

For those who don't know, tap tuning is done on some stringed hollowbody instruments, like violins, cellos, and guitars. The top and back are carved to resonate to a "clean" pitch, often C or D in the case of a guitar. This primarily improves acoustic clarity. Some smart people think it also improves the amplified tone.

 

Heritage will tap tune an archtop as an upcharge. I think it is $500, but don't quote me on that. I'm told that all Johnny Smiths were tap tuned. I believe Kuz has a Golden Eagle tap tuned also.

 

Aaron Cowles has been doing this work for Heritage. He lives near Kalamazoo and is a top notch luthier. This is what I recently learned.

 

Heritage would bring a bunch of carved spruce tops and maple backs to Aaron and he'd have no way of knowing what they were being used on. Aaron is one of the few luthiers that would tap tune the top before bracing it. Then, tap it again after the bracing to see if the bracing changed the tone. He would then further compensate by taking some of the bracing down.

 

I'm putting this up here for posterity's sake. In 50 years from now, someone will have found a 1990 Heritage archtop at a yard sale and wonder how it was made.

[Joe]

I got my H-157 through Aaron. He described the tap-tuning process to me, just as you stated Marty. It was like a history lesson in person. It was a pleasure to meet him and listen to his stories about 225 Parsons St.

[dr_iggi]

Too bad it is so expensive to tap tune. Seems to be an art/science that is slowly disappearing :-(

[FredZepp]

Lloyd Loar incorporated tap tuning into making those famour Loar instruments at Parsons St. in the 1920's....

 

 

 

Lloyd Loar found that all Stradivarius violins that he examined, while differing slightly in measurements, produced the same note when the top was tapped disassembled. Likewise, the back produced the same note, although it was different from the note produced by the top. When reassembled, the violins all produced a third note when tapped. These are the principles he applied to the legendary L-5 guitars and F-5 mandolins which bear his name on the label. They verify that Loar himself tested these instruments so that they produced those specific tap tones.

[Guest HRB853370]

For those who don't know, tap tuning is done on some stringed hollowbody instruments, like violins, cellos, and guitars. The top and back are carved to resonate to a "clean" pitch, often C or D in the case of a guitar. This primarily improves acoustic clarity. Some smart people think it also improves the amplified tone.

 

Heritage will tap tune an archtop as an upcharge. I think it is $500, but don't quote me on that. I'm told that all Johnny Smiths were tap tuned. I believe Kuz has a Golden Eagle tap tuned also.

 

Aaron Cowles has been doing this work for Heritage. He lives near Kalamazoo and is a top notch luthier. This is what I recently learned.

 

Heritage would bring a bunch of carved spruce tops and maple backs to Aaron and he'd have no way of knowing what they were being used on. Aaron is one of the few luthiers that would tap tune the top before bracing it. Then, tap it again after the bracing to see if the bracing changed the tone. He would then further compensate by taking some of the bracing down.

 

I'm putting this up here for posterity's sake. In 50 years from now, someone will have found a 1990 Heritage archtop at a yard sale and wonder how it was made.

 

I guess you could say then that my DW Craviotto snare drum that I recently sold for $850, was tap tuned. The inside of the drumshell was stamped with the letter "A" which I found out was the pitch of the drumshell.

 

Interesting. But could I ever tell the difference? Hell no.

[big bob]

I can defiantly tell on my 575 non cutaway. The sound is just huge!