Bass Guitar Tuning - A 'Note' On Bass Guitar Machine Heads

Inexperienced musicians often settle for inferior quality machine heads on their bass guitars as they do not realize the difference that good quality machine heads can make on bass guitar tuning...and ultimately on the sound of the band as a whole. As a matter of fact, getting high quality tuning machines for your bass guitar is even more imperative than getting them for treble clef stringed instruments.

The gear ratio for a tuning head indicates how many times the tuner button is rotated 360° to make the tuning post turn one full turn. A higher ratio permits finer adjustments and reduces the aggravation of tuning up and down repeatedly before perfect tuning is achieved. When looking for tuners, this factor should be considered because it determines the precision with which you will be able to tune your bass. Typical quality bass guitar tuners have gear ratios of 18:1, 20:1 and even up to 27:1, whereas some stock tuners on bargain brand guitars can be as low as 10:1. A typical gear ratio is around 14:1.

It is more important to have a higher gear ratio for bass tuning heads than for guitar tuning heads due to the fact that the thicker a string is, the less amount of turning it takes to change its pitch compared to a very thin string. The reason being that The thicker the string is, the more space it takes up on the tuning peg and the greater the difference in pitch compared to the same amount of turns with a thinner string. You can try this test yourself and you will notice that it takes less turns to change the pitch of the low E on a bass guitar one whole tone than it does to change the high E on a 6 string a whole tone (given the same turns ratio). Quality bass machine heads will give you the precision you need and will keep the instrument in tune better for longer.

Also, inferior quality bass guitar tuning heads often have a considerable amount of play, which makes it even easier for the string to slip out of tune -especially while playing. This starts to become a nightmare during live performances when you find yourself tuning your bass between songs while the rest of the band (...and the crowd) is waiting on you -a great show killer when you've got the crowd up and dancing.

Remember that a slight variation in bass guitar tuning can make a big difference. When the tuning is slightly off between the bass and the rest of the instruments, it can give the music an erie, uncomfortable feel to a song. Unless you are looking to intentionally give off this kind of effect in your music (which is more typically achieved using resources like the Locrian mode), I'm sure you probably want your bass to be perfectly in tune.

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