Fine Tunings

 

 

I use a strobe tuner and a spindle sander to tune the bars that make up the seat. There are twenty chairs in the edition and seventeen different scales. The scales are all over the map. I particularly enjoyed asking musician friends for the five notes they would take to the deserted island. Custom scales are also possible.

1. D, D#, F, A, D
2. D, D#, G#, A, D (a scale danny elfman, the soundtrack composer, likes to use)
3. C, C#, F, G, G# (“yo” scale, one of two traditional Japanese scales)
4. C, D, F, G, A (SOLD)
5. C, D, D#, F, G (minor pentatonic)
6. D, E, F, G, G# (“in” scale, one or two traditional Japanese scales)
7. C, D, E, G, A (major pentatonic)
8. C, D, E, G, A (major pentatonic)
9. C#, D, E, G#, A (Gamelon Pelog scale)
10. E, G, A, B, E (West African inspired #2) (SOLD)
11. C, E, F, G, C (West African inspired #1)
12. C, E, F, G, A (West African inspired #4)
13. C, D, F, G, B (West African inspired #3)
14. C, D#, F, G, A# (Minor Pentatonic) (SOLD)
15. D, E, F#, A, B (Major Pentatonic)
16. D, F#, G, A, D (West African inspired #1 but in D)
17. D, F, G, A, D (Minor with octave)
18. D, D#, G#, A#, B (“yo” scale in D)
19. D, F, G, A, D (West African inspired #2 but in D)
20. D, F#, A#, C, C#

This is a shot of the spinning disk of the Peeterson strobe tuner that I use.  When I play a note that is in tune, the bars in part of the disk appear to stand still as in the photo above.  If the note is slightly sharp the bars will appear to slowly turn clockwise if its flat it will seem to turn counterclockwise.  Strobe tuners are extremely accurate but just as importantly they are very quick to measure the in-tuneness of a note.  That’s crucial for tuning wooden bar percussion because the note decays very quickly.