Autoharp Zither - microtuning to a set of chords?

I was lucky enough to pick up an 12 chord Autoharp Zither for $42 (including shipping) from Ebay (new these are > $200).

Picture, example song, and 12 edo tuning information (jpegs)are here:

http://notonlymusic.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=803&start=0

Now, of course I'd like to microtune this baby. However, this poses an interesting challenge because of how it works. One is suppose to / can strum the entire width of the autoharp and chords are formed by pressing felt dampers onto the strings to silence the unwanted notes. So... the A notes get used in A7, Dm, Am, D7 and need a working relationship with the other members of those chords.

So, while I'm used to the idea of taking a tuning and finding a set of chords from it I wonder if anyone here has done the reverse - that is taken a set of desires chords and worked out a non-12 edo tuning that makes them all usable.

The 12 chords of my autoharp zither are:

Gm, Bb, A7, C7, Dm, F, E7, G7, Am, C, D7, G

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "christopherv" <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:

> The 12 chords of my autoharp zither are:
>
> Gm, Bb, A7, C7, Dm, F, E7, G7, Am, C, D7, G

Assuming the seventh chords are dominant sevenths, this corresponds to a meantone gamut from -2 (Bb) to +6 (G#), which suggests to me optimizing this meantone gamut for 5-limit harmony. I could do that for you if you like, or you could use your favorite meantone.

Gene,

I'd be very appreciative if you'd come up with something for me. - Yes,
dominant 7ths in this.

Do you think it possible to do implement a more exotic tuning and have the
chords sort of work out as well?

Thanks,

Chris

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 2:51 PM, genewardsmith
<genewardsmith@sbcglobal.net>wrote:

>
>
>
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "christopherv" <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
>
> > The 12 chords of my autoharp zither are:
> >
> > Gm, Bb, A7, C7, Dm, F, E7, G7, Am, C, D7, G
>
> Assuming the seventh chords are dominant sevenths, this corresponds to a
> meantone gamut from -2 (Bb) to +6 (G#), which suggests to me optimizing this
> meantone gamut for 5-limit harmony. I could do that for you if you like, or
> you could use your favorite meantone.
>
>
>

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "genewardsmith" <genewardsmith@...> wrote:

> Assuming the seventh chords are dominant sevenths, this corresponds to a meantone gamut from -2 (Bb) to +6 (G#)

Sorry, I meant +8: a major third is +4, and two of them are +8. So we are talking about a gamut of 11 notes of meantone.

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
>
> Gene,
>
> I'd be very appreciative if you'd come up with something for me. - Yes,
> dominant 7ths in this.

Here you go:

! chris.scl
11-note 5-limit meantone lesfip
11
!
71.99829
191.39229
384.18843
503.58243
575.58072
695.11120
769.76122
887.79036
1005.81950
1080.46952
1200.00000

> Do you think it possible to do implement a more exotic tuning and have the
> chords sort of work out as well?

It might be. Can the order of notes be changed in the tuning?

Thank you very much!!

I will give this tuning a try - though the zither is full chromatic (12) so
I'm not sure which note I should double up here - but I bet I can find out
with some experimentation.

The note order in the zither can be changed to a degree easily by changing
the tuning - if the difference isn't too large (I'd say a up to 200 cents,
may be 300 cents)

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 6:49 PM, genewardsmith
<genewardsmith@...>wrote:

>
>
>
>
>
> Here you go:
>
> ! chris.scl
> 11-note 5-limit meantone lesfip
> 11
> !
> 71.99829
> 191.39229
> 384.18843
> 503.58243
> 575.58072
> 695.11120
> 769.76122
> 887.79036
> 1005.81950
> 1080.46952
> 1200.00000
>
>
> > Do you think it possible to do implement a more exotic tuning and have
> the
> > chords sort of work out as well?
>
> It might be. Can the order of notes be changed in the tuning?
>
>
>
>

Hi Gene,

Here is what it sounds like. I doubled up the 384 cent note (I think or the
one below it).

http://micro.soonlabel.com/autoharp-tunings/STE-000-zither-tune-11-note-5-limit-MT-lesfip.mp3

I think some of the chords are really beautiful. this has a lot of
potential!

Chris

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 6:49 PM, genewardsmith
<genewardsmith@...>wrote:

>
>
>
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
> >
> > Gene,
> >
> > I'd be very appreciative if you'd come up with something for me. - Yes,
> > dominant 7ths in this.
>
> Here you go:
>
> ! chris.scl
> 11-note 5-limit meantone lesfip
> 11
> !
> 71.99829
> 191.39229
> 384.18843
> 503.58243
> 575.58072
> 695.11120
> 769.76122
> 887.79036
> 1005.81950
> 1080.46952
> 1200.00000
>
>
> > Do you think it possible to do implement a more exotic tuning and have
> the
> > chords sort of work out as well?
>
> It might be. Can the order of notes be changed in the tuning?
>
>
>
>

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
>
> Thank you very much!!
>
> I will give this tuning a try - though the zither is full chromatic (12) so
> I'm not sure which note I should double up here - but I bet I can find out
> with some experimentation.

It's missing Eb; Eb could be 307.71749 to fit in with the rest.

Hi Gene,

I gotta stop tonight (Daughter is sleeping) but I'll put that on the list
for tomorrow. I really like how it sounds!!

Chris

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 9:27 PM, genewardsmith
<genewardsmith@...>wrote:

>
>
>
>
> --- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
> >
> > Thank you very much!!
> >
> > I will give this tuning a try - though the zither is full chromatic (12)
> so
> > I'm not sure which note I should double up here - but I bet I can find
> out
> > with some experimentation.
>
> It's missing Eb; Eb could be 307.71749 to fit in with the rest.
>
>
>

--- In tuning@yahoogroups.com, "genewardsmith" <genewardsmith@...> wrote:

> It's missing Eb; Eb could be 307.71749 to fit in with the rest.

Should be Eb 306.33099.