Bass Harmonics

  welcome to the machine said:

hmm, yeah I see what you mean although I don't pretend to understand fully the implications of equal temperement compared to a mathematical system when placed to a guitar.

 

surely the tempered scale is basically logarithmic though? as in its designed so all intervals balance and an octave of a given note is identical to twice the original note (unlike in just intonation). and if so then harmonics would almost exactly coincide with the frets, allot closer than just intonation anyway?.

the tempered scale has the placement of some notes within an octave shifted about, but an octave is still an octave, which is why the harmonics at the 12th and 24th frets match up exactly. other frets within the octave aren't exactly 'where they should be'. it's a compromise, but one that prevents, say, a third sounding dissonant against a seventh within a scale.