source file: m1401.txt Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 14:35:45 -0400 Subject: RE: Buzz Feiten's tuning From: "Paul H. Erlich" Neil wrote, >>In the June 98 issue of Guitar Player, on p86, there's a huge ad for >>guitars using the new Buzz Feiten system for intonation. What makes me >a >>bit ill is 2 things: one, as far as I can tell, after playing guitar for >>33 years, if the guitar keeps the same 12 note/octave eq temp >>arrangement, Gary wrote, > I guess I'll ask the obvious question: What aspects of intonation does >the Buzz Feiten system address if not microtonality? Is its purpose >greater accuracy to 12TET (in the spirit of moveable bridges and such)? Yes. As much as I agree with Neil that it would be more valuable to start educating guitarists on microtonality than obsessing over getting perfect 12tET, it is the latter that Feiten's system is geared toward. In addition to the usual bridge adjustments, Feiten proposes some string-specific nut adjustments. I remember Steve Vai saying he is getting Feiten's system installed on all his guitars, as he was never before able to play chords anywhere on the fingerboard and have them all sound in tune. When playing along with keyboards, etc, it is 12tET that defines whether one is in tune or out of tune, and deficiencies in 12tET itself are not really an issue to most musicians, who have never spent time listening to purer intervals.