False string: how to identify?

April 13, 2007 at 10:46 PM · Play the string open, if it falls in pitch, it is false.

April 14, 2007 at 01:54 AM · My daughter says "Sometimes when you tune your instrument, you turn the pegs or tuners a little and the result is higher than what you expected. For example: if you have difficulities especially tuning your D and G strings together sometimes it may be hard to hear the vibrations in the air to determine which way to turn the peg or fine tuner"

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April 14, 2007 at 02:17 PM · Listen to the natural harmonics also.

April 14, 2007 at 04:58 PM · When the sound loses all semblance of clarity, it takes twice as much effort to pull the sound at all, pitch gets "iffy", and dynamic subtlety becomes impossible.

May 12, 2007 at 12:51 PM · Usually with a false string, if you play the open string, (not too loudly, and in a way that lets it ring out), you clearly hear it start at one pitch, and ring out at another pitch. Now here's the strange thing: in my experience, it rings out sharper than it starts out! How a decaying note gets higher is a mystery to me. True or false, it seems to me that the string should lose energy as the vibrations abate and, if anything, get flatter.

At any rate, it's pretty impossible to tune a false string exactly in perfect 5ths. Also, in minor 6ths, I find that the fingers can't be too close together.

May 12, 2007 at 06:42 PM · also, in my experience, the notes move around on the string. ex, G and D strings form a perfect fifth/are in tune, but the notes on the d string are shifted up a half step from where they should be.

May 13, 2007 at 02:40 PM · I was taught how to test a false string by doing this:

Give the string a strong pizzicato, and if the pitch of the note creeps up to where it should be, instead of immediately speaking the correct note, then the string is false. The reason for pizz instead of arco is that the variable bow pressure can be deceiving.

Does anybody else do this? Is this correct?

February 9, 2010 at 01:37 AM ·

 I know this is an old message thread but I'm quite fascinated by the subject. Regarding pitch variation in a so-called false string I've recently been reading "Master Handbook of Acoustics" 4th ed. by F Alton Everest. Concerning pitch, it is clear from this reading that the perception of pitch is very subjective and although our ears are the best judge, there are more variables than might first be suspected.

We are all well acquainted with the frequency ratios that produce various intervals such as octaves at 2:1 and fifths at 3:2 but I was surprised to read that the perception of pitch is also related to the perceived loudness of a sound. (Everest pp.61-63 ) Please take note that I repeatedly refer here to the perception of the various qualities of a sound, rather than any objective measurement. According to Everest, pitch can be perceived to rise or fall with variations in the perceived loudness of a sound, and that this variation is not consistent across the full range of frequencies that fall within human hearing, or even from person to person. He writes that the variation in some frequency bands is in the opposite direction to others. In other words, with a variation in loudness, some pitch bands will appear to go sharp, while in other bands, the same variation will appear to make the pitch go flat even though the frequency remains fixed.

This helped to explain for me why I hear loud sounds in the bass frequencies to be consistently flat and moving sharp as the note decays.

I've no doubt that strings do indeed "go false" but careful consideration should be given to making sure that all other variables including loudness are absolutely equal before declaring a string false in any test. In particular, I wouldn't be confident about using a strong pizzicato and listening for creeping pitch as the note decays to determine if a string is false, particularly the low strings of a double bass. Given that these effects are going on not just for the fundamental, but also all the changing partials of a tone, this is not as simple as it might seem at first.

I can't offer any solution to the problem of identifying a false string.

I am very interested to know what others think about this, and if they have any personal observations about their pitch perception regarding false strings.

It also occurred to me that this may be connected somehow to the phenomenon of perfect pitch.