Although I've been playing music for more than 45 years, until recently I'd never realised that anyone had gone to the trouble of formally addressing the tuning issues around acoustic guitars.
Anyone who routinely uses a capo will know what I'm talking about, especially that sharp bottom E string.
It can leave you fiddling about between songs with the tuning pegs and capo which is never ideal.
So I was particularly interested to hear James Taylor talking about the way he deals with it by de-tuning a few "cents" per string.
This requires a tuner that will display how many "cents" sharp or flat you are as you tune each string.
He goes on to describe how many "cents" flat to tune each string to achieve this solution. (from low E to high -12, -10, -8, -4, -6, -3)
Apparently some Peterson tuners have an additional function called "sweetened" tuning which is pre-set the same (or similar).
It may well be that everyone here is already well aware of this "sweetened" tuning system and have been doing it for years, or maybe, like me, you've been feeling frustrated and blamed your guitar, the capo, your own ears, etc. etc., so I thought I'd share here and ask for others experiences and thoughts.
I'm going to try a clip on Peterson strobe tuner, with the sweetened function and, although more than twice what I paid for my last clip-on, it'll be worth every penny if it makes me sound like James Taylor. (trust me it'll take more than a tuner)
Appropriately; C-flat