Welcome to Tuning Fork

A tuning fork is an acoustic resonator in the form of a two-pronged fork with the prongs (tines) formed from a U-shaped bar of elastic metal usually made of steel. It resonates at a specific constant pitch when set vibrating by striking it against a surface or with an object, and emits a pure musical tone after waiting a moment to allow some high overtones to die out. The generated pitch from a particular tuning fork depends on the length of the two prongs. Its main use is as a standard pitch to tune other musical instruments.

A source of sound, consisting of a metal rod that is bent and fixed in the center. The ends of the rod can vibrate freely. During the tuning of musical instruments, the tuning fork serves as the standard pitch of a tone; it is also used to give the pitch in singing. Forks that produce the tone A’ (A of the first octave) are usually used. Singers and choral conductors also use forks producing the tone C”. There are chromatic tuning forks, with prongs that have movable little weights. Depending on the position of these weights, the prongs vibrate at different frequencies.
The tuning fork was invented by the English musician J. Shore in 1711. At that time the standard frequency of vibrations for the tone A’ was 419.9 hertz (Hz). In the late 18th century the composer and conductor G. Sarti, who was working in St. Petersburg, introduced the “St. Petersburg tuning fork,” with an A’ = 436 Hz. In 1858 the Paris Academy of Sciences proposed a standard pitch tuning fork with A’ = 435 Hz. In 1885 at an international conference in Vienna this frequency was adopted as the international standard pitch for the tone A’; the frequency was called the standard musical pitch.