What does tap tuning do?
Every piece of wood is different. Even two pieces of wood taken from the same board – sized and shaped the same – will be different. Tap tuning is a way of making them the same. Tap tuning lets you know the specifics of the parts of the instrument’s body. The stiffer a tone bar or brace is, the higher its note will be. The more limber the bar is, the lower its note will be. The larger a soundhole is the higher the resonant frequency of the air chamber. The smaller a soundhole is, the lower the resonant frequency of the air chamber. By determining the notes the tone bars or braces make when they are tapped, you can adjust them (by shaving off wood) until they get to a specific note – which, in essence, adjusts its stiffness. It’s like making xylophone bars; you remove wood until you get to the right note.
