![]() Tuning on the fly with Ratio machine heads, or performing a quick little tweak of any string, is much quicker, more predictable and more intuitive Dave Dunwoodie Our goal was to allow fine tuning for the thick-core strings and coarser tuning for the thin-core strings, so that every string felt and reacted the same way to tuning adjustments. My company had time to look into developing a new product, so we decided to figure out what the correct gear ratios should be for each string of a guitar. How long did it take to make the idea a reality?Īt this point, I was gigging three to five nights a week, working on Graph Tech during the day, and still having the bothersome hit-or-miss tuning issues when I was out playing. I thought, What if we could instead make every string react the same way to tuning adjustments, so tuning a D, E or G string would feel exactly the same? Would it make a difference to speed and accuracy?įast-forward 25 years, and I still had that idea in the back of my mind. I thought, What if we could instead make every string react the same way to tuning adjustments Dave Dunwoodie I did some research and found that machine heads have always been designed the same way, with one gear ratio for every string, regardless of whether you’re playing a guitar, bass, violin or banjo. Once I understood the core of the problem – no pun intended – I began to think about solutions. This made me realize why I had so much trouble quickly tuning the G and low E strings onstage: because of their thick cores, they were hypersensitive to any adjustment, so you have to bring them up to pitch slowly to avoid overshooting your target pitch. A plain G string has a thick core and is very sensitive to any tuning adjustment, while a D string – which is wider overall than the G string – has a thin core and is insensitive to tuning adjustments. ![]() Instead, it has everything to do with the diameter of the string’s core.Įvery string on a guitar is different when it comes to both overall thickness and the thickness of its core. Surprisingly, it has nothing to do with how thick the string is. While researching that project, I stumbled onto an interesting tangent of a discovery: why each string reacts differently to tension changes when you’re trying to tune your guitar. The idea was to pull up on the tremolo arm and lock it to make the guitar shift into a predetermined open tuning, then push down on the arm and lock it to make it go into another tuning.Įvery string on a guitar is different when it comes to both overall thickness and the thickness of its core Dave Dunwoodie I was working on inventing a tunable tremolo for Graph Tech Guitar Labs. ![]() How did you come up with the idea for Ratio machine heads? Here, Dunwoodie explains the story behind Ratio’s concept and development. Ratio’s unique approach also means that, for any string you’re trying to tune, each half-turn of a tuning knob adjusts the pitch of your string by a semitone. Unlike traditional gears, each machine head in the set has a gear ratio custom designed for its intended string: 12:1 (high E), 20:1 (B), 35:1 (G 14:1 for a wound G with a thin core), 20:1 (D), 24:1 (A) and 39:1 (low E).įor seven-string guitars, a low B machine head is also available featuring a gear ratio of 48:1.Īs a result, Dunwoodie says, “each string reacts the same way to any tuning adjustments – no slowing down for the low E or G string, or twisting away on the high E.” Dunwoodie is the founder of Graph Tech Guitar Labs, and his response to the gear ratio issue is a machine head he invented called Ratio.Įach string reacts the same way to any tuning adjustments Dave Dunwoodie Many years ago, Dave Dunwoodie began thinking about creating a better machine head.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |