Quantifying Player-Induced Intonation Errors of the Steel String Acoustic Guitar
R.M. Mottola · 2019
Data from a previously published study on same-note pitch variability of the steel string acoustic guitarwere subjected to additional analysis to isolate and quantify the sources of intonation error. Pitch error componentsassociated with the construction of the guitar, the player’s tendency to play sharp, and the player’s tendency to pitchvariability were identified and isolated by simple arithmetic operations. The player-associated error components werefound to be substantially related to the fret being played. Per-player sharping tendency values for the G string rangedfrom 0 – 4 cents on fret #1, 0 – 6 cents on fret #5, and 0 – 10 cents on fret #12. Per player pitch variability meanvalues ranged from 0 – 2 cents on fret #1, 1 – 4 cents on fret #5, and 1 – 7 cents on fret #12. Quantifying player-associated pitch error tendencies may be useful in optimizing an instrument’s intonation for that player.