Question about Custom Tablature in NR

[James Lowe]

Hello,

I'm looking at tidying up some parts of this in the NR (not changing anything 
technically) and would like a clarification on something.

We state:

--snip--

The \makeStringTuning function is used to create a string tuning 
without setting the stringTunings property in the current context.  
The arguments to makeStringTuning are the symbol to be
used for the new string tuning and a chord construct used
to define the tuning.

--snip--

Further up we say (I am paraphrasing)

--snip--

\contextStringTuning takes two arguments:


1. The symbol in which the string tuning will be stored.

2. The chord construct that defines the pitches of each string in the
tuning.  This must be in absolute octave mode, 
The string with the highest number
(generally the lowest string) must come first in the chord.

--snip--

My question is does \makeStringTuning also require the pitches to be absolute 
mode as well?

The @lilypond example infers this (I think) but I'd like a clarification.

Thanks

James