source file: m1414.txt Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 09:27:19 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Re: Buzz Feiten tuning system From: John Starrett All- I have checked out Buzz Feiten's patents and I now understand how his system works. To read them yourself, go to http://www.patents.ibm.com/fcgi-bin/patquery the IBM patent server (a wonderful web site at which you can access all patents after 1971 and many before, with powerful search engines.) The essence of Buzz's patents are these points: 1. Acoustic guitars do not have adjustable bridges, so, add an adjustable bridge to an acoustic guitar to compensate for the stretching of strings due to fretting 2. The nut of acoustic guitars is traditionally cut so that fretting in the first position produces greater tension than fretting in higher positions, so, shorten the fingerboard at the nut end to compensate for this effect. I must say, I am not impressed. Buzz may be well meaning and his method may compensate for a too-high nut, but why not just cut the nut properly in the first place? I realize that arguments can be made that some repetoir may require allowance for greater string excursion for vigorous strumming in the open position, but in general the nut should be cut so that the distance from the first fret to the string is the same as that from the second fret to the string when the first is fretted. If someone can give me a valid reason why the nut should not be treated as the 0th fret, I will eat a bug (I get to choose the bug and the method of preparation). I have nothing against Buzz or innovation in tuning systems, and no axe to grind, but unless he has made new discoveries not listed in his latest patent (issued March 17, 1998) the hype and talk of meantone and other temperaments in the ads and media is nonsense. Buzz's patents speak only to an improvement in intonation of 12TET (although the rule of 18 is specifically referred to in the patents, rather than 12th root of 2) as realized on an acoustic guitar with a too-high nut and uncompensated bridge. Your loveable old crank, John Starrett http://www-math.cudenver.edu/~jstarret