Telephone tuning

[Jazzer2020]

Any others here use this method?

I've been tuning my guitars at home to the telephone dial tone (A) for around 40 years now.

I always have a phone near me that I can grab.

[Marko]

No-- heard of it, but never tried it.

 

I pretty much only use headstock tuners (Snark) these days ‘cause they’re handy for me.. guitar and bass.

[WRGKMC]

The dial tone in N America is a dual tone of 350 Hz and 440 Hz which is an A and an approximate F note. Its not a pure F note however. If it was you'd have beating between the two tones instead of it sounding like a single note. In modern UK they use a single 425hz tone.

 

I suppose you can use it if you always have a land line available and you can ignore the F note when you tune. Cell phones of course have no dial tone but many allow you to install a tuner app. For $10 or less you can buy an electric tuner which is going to be much more accurate, but I do put a high value musicians being able to do just as good a job with the ears first.

 

There seems to be a much higher percentage of musicians who rely on their tuner more then their ears. Many are very skilled at playing and can riff like the best but have a poor time identifying when they need to tune up when notes start getting sour. The last guitar player in my band was like that. He had an A type personality which made him a great front man but when it came to tuning, I had to constantly let him know when his strings were getting sour.

[Burgess]

I've done it before, many years ago when your only other option was a pitch pipe or tuning fork. I remember it worked but a tuning fork was preferable. Phone was better than pitch pipe but not always convenient as a I don't ever remember a bandstand that hand a phone handy.

 

These days you can buy a decent tuner for less than $20. Nothing you might necessarily want for setting intonation but certainly good for most anything else. Once Floyd equipped guitars with floating bridges became popular it really made a decent electronic tuner fairly mandatory.

[papaschtroumpf]

When I lived in France, I used it all the time, the dial tone was a pure 440Hz. That was a long time ago, it may have changed by now but I don't think so.

[billybilly]

Good trivia, I'd never use but may have back in the day.

[Birdman777]

What's a dial tone? Is there an app for that?

[Notes_Norton]

I used to use my ears, but when tuning by ears I tend to slide into just intonation instead of equal temperament. This is fine if playing solo, but it can cause intonation clashes with other instruments, especially synths and tuned pianos.

 

My ears actually like just intonation better but equal is more versatile.

 

Chromatic tuners are cheap and they work for my guitar, flute and sax - my synths are always in tune.

 

Notes

[groovezilla]

I think it's easier to find a guitar tuner than a telephone with a dial tone these days. Cool trick though.