The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Bass Zone => Topic started by: nofi on January 31, 2010, 12:42:51 PM
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for the life of me the only electronic tuner i can remember from that time was the strobe tuner. usually the tuning choices were a piano(hardly practical), 440 tuning fork, a horn player (which was seldom available) and the guitar player who would invariabely say, 'i'm in tune, tune to me'. anybody ???
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You're forgetting the pitch pipe.
I always carried a pitch pipe in the 60's. I still have one...never heard of electronic tuners until I returned to bass playing in the late 90's.
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A pitch pipe got me through the 70's, as did the entire band tuning to one of the guitars as a reference point.
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I tuned to a Fender Rhodes if on a gig, otherwise a pitch pipe. At home I probably tuned to the Allman Brothers at Fillmore East record ;)
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We always had to tune to the Rhodes piano at gigs. This was back in 1978 or so.
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I used a tuning fork, or "At Filmore East" ;D
Either that or "who's in tune...?" but as I mostly played in three-pieces, not much tuning needed...
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I used a tuning fork, or "At Filmore East" ;D
Either that or "who's in tune...?" but as I mostly played in three-pieces, not much tuning needed...
In orchestra, everyone tuned to the 1st violin. People forget that you don't have to be pitch-perfect, but you DO have to be tuned the same way.
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By the late 70s I had a little a Korg tuner. I think that was still in the 70s ???
Ya know, if I turn out to be the high tech guy here you guys are in trouble :o. I'm about the same level as Fred Flintstone ;)
Rick
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I'll second that by the late 70's, I had a quartz tuner with a needle, maybe korg or something
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Yup. When you had a keyboard player, you tuned to them. In our case, it was to the Hammond CV organ. Later, he got a real piano, and he had to tune it to the organ, as well. Once we lost the keys, we were lucky that one of the guitarists had a Peterson strobe tuner. I want to say that someone came out with a lower cost tuner (maybe Korg), but I can't remember whether we had one.
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I have a ZEN-ON Justina guitar tuner from late '70s still works great.
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that's it...why couldn't I remember that.
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We used to tune to the phone dial tone.
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By the late 70s I had a little a Korg tuner. I think that was still in the 70s ???
Ha... LOL... just realised I had one too, still got it... your off the hook, Rick... we both may have to go down with the (techie) ship... ;D
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I still have "The Master Key Chromatic Pitch Instrument" tucked away in my '69 LP Deluxe. It's been in there for over 35 years. I don't think I've used it in 25 years. ???
http://www.gradywilliamkerr.com/PitchPipes/PitchPipe.html
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I have fond memories of my pitch pipe from when I started violin lessons in third or fourth grade. It had four reeds - and style - being held in a white pearloid(!) block. It then found its way into the case of my 1970 Fender Jazz - keeping company with the pearloid blocks on the neck. I'm thinking that exposure to high concentrations of pearloid at a young age encouraged me to think of bass as more than just a background instrument. 8)
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wow, i had one with 6 pipes when i was attempting to learn guitar. :P
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What gets me is how many bass players CANNOT tune their instrument without an electric tuner. They have no clue how to tune adjacent strings by tuning at the 5th fret if you give them one note - any open string. How basic can a concept be?
I suppose it's similar to the laments that calculators have destroyed kids' ability to make change - if there's no device to calculate the change for them, they're helpless. Fortunately i have found that's not the case as often as the doomsayers would assert.
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Sad but true Pilgrim :sad:.
Making change (counting) is a lost art form. Hell,telling time by using a watch with hands on it is rapidly turning in to an old peoples secret code :P.
Rick
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I have to disagree, in my case my hearing got significantly better since I started using tuners.
Today I noticed that the old fridge rattles in low G. Maybe I should use it.
So no one else here used dial tone in the 70's? I didn't even know electronic tuning devices existed in the 70's.
I got my first tuner in '83, in fact I still have it somewhere, it was called a Banana tuner. Bought it in Philly the same day I got my Arbor brand Explorer-style bass ($90) and Reebok high tops... remember when you just had to have them?
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I have fond memories of my pitch pipe from when I started violin lessons in third or fourth grade. It had four reeds - and style - being held in a white pearloid(!) block. It then found its way into the case of my 1970 Fender Jazz - keeping company with the pearloid blocks on the neck. I'm thinking that exposure to high concentrations of pearloid at a young age encouraged me to think of bass as more than just a background instrument. 8)
Hmmm.......pearloid exposure, sounds serious. I'm not sure if the trusted aluminum foil hat can offer any protection to that. I'll have to do some research.
;D
Rick
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Damn it Al... how'm I gonna tune the fretless...? ;D
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Damn it Al... how'm I gonna tune the fretless...? ;D
Same way we tuned the upright basses in orchestra - get a G from the 1st violin, then tune across from there. "Shirley" your ear is good enough for that.......
And I know, don't call you Shirley.
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yeah kenny, don't you keep a fiddle player around the house for such things. ;)
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Al do the yokes roun' here and ther's Nofi'n y'all cain do 'bout it...
I still can't figure out the fish, though... ;D
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Back in the dinosaur days I carried around the 2 piece Conn strobe usually used in school bands for a long time until I couldn't read the wheels anymore and upgraded to a new Conn strobe.
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yeah kenny, don't you keep a fiddle player around the house for such things. ;)
I may have to teach my wife to play violin. That could be bad, veddy bad....
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I may have to teach my wife to play violin. That could be bad, veddy bad....
No, teach her to play fiddle. It's a lot less expensive. Very old joke: what's the difference between a fiddle and a violin? About $20,000.
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My wife is a lovely, wonderful person and much better than I deserve.
However, she is also the least musical person I have ever met.
If she attempted to play any stringed instrument, the most pleasant outcome would be that all rodents (and probably our dogs) would immediately vacate the house and at least a 50-foot zone around it.
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Hey Pilgrim, if your wife ever wants to start a band, it just so happens that I'm married to what I think would be the perfect singer for her ;D
Rick
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Hey Pilgrim, if your wife ever wants to start a band, it just so happens that I'm married to what I think would be the perfect singer for her ;D
Rick
Oh.
My.
Gawd.
This could be the end of civilization as we know it.
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I used to stuff a pillow over her face when she would sing and I'd tell her this was an excercise to build the diaphragm muscles to help her project better ;D.
I even offered to hold the pillow real tight..... just to help out ;)
Rick
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Y'all gettin' just a LITTLE bit kinky there....too much information. :o