After making several instruments with this system, I have come to very similar conclusions: 1-TT frets are great for chords; in fact, the higher you go up the neck, the better it gets. I have found out that doing 4+ voicings after the 10th/12th fret sounds noticeably better than standard guitars. 2-do you need it? No, but it is great to have it on an extra guitar. 3-due to the very precise tuning needed for the system to function properly, I would always put it on a fixed bridge setup for better tuning stability. *Edit* 4- the increased sustain is mainly because each fret is a 3mm bar inserted inside the fretboard. The neck is stiffer and absorbs less energy from the vibrating strings, which then can ring for longer.
@@dedompler you should check with TT for dimensions. At this point they don't sell just the frets with the cad file for making the fretboard; this is how I did in the past. They now sell the fretboard done with frets already installed and you just glue it on the neck
@@valentiguitars oh i see. that certainly simplifies things. i suppose it stands to reason they did that following the Texas True Temperament shop that closed down due to QC issues
@@dedompler I do not know about that. I personally am their Service Point for Italy. I think that probably people around the world were not installing frets correctly/making the fretboards properly. Anyhow, their current policy surely has made things simpler for those who don't have access to very precice tooling machinery, although I would have preferred they kept the initial option available for those who could do it.
thanks this is a good way to think of things .. I was looking at the nut and thinking .. how could they do all that to the nut and not have a compensated nut? But now I realize that of course, the rest of the neck makes the strings 'line up' at the nut. also occurs to me that you could have them 'line up' at eg the 5th or 7th fret
You are a marketing genius, I never in my life thought I'd see Country Music sponsoring a video about cutting edge Fusion Guitars. As a fan of both country and jazz fusion, I love it!
I got to play one for just fifteen minutes or so. I'm already a fan of Strandbergs. I was dumbfounded by the overtones that pop out with the guitar. It really was insane. And the way the guitar resonated. I was like, I better put this away before I do something impulsive. It's magic.
AMEN ME TOO! Except I bought NX7 without ever having owned or tried the True Temperament system EVER! Played and owned many guitars over last 30 years - this guitar has pleased me like NO OTHER ELECTRIC I have ever owned!
@@AaronEddieHYofrom what I understand it’s because the frets are properly placed so that the notes can actually sing out. When you hold a note for a chord it’s often just slightly off from being in tune. You can see this when you use a capo. Instead of it immediately being in tune sometimes it’s slightly out of tune. The same thing happens when you’re playing notes on the fretboard
Here's how they work - they compensate LOCALLY so that a given chord sounds a LITTLE more in tune with ITSELF by giving up a GLOBAL perfection of tuning for every key (equal tempered). That's it. You give up being perfectly in tune with a synth or piano or another guitarist by oh 5 to 10 to 15 cents (100 cents in one half step) in order to get those nasty warbly interactions with the major and minor 3rds to sound more in tune with themselves. You won't be able to "tune" the guitar with a standard tuner because the notes are no longer equal tempered but closer to a just tuning MOSTLY on the G and B strings. So... it's great for sounding more in tune for those major and minor chords most people play (you know, the 2 versions where you bar all the strings with your first finger). The thing is, MOST guitarists will hear only that it sounds "better" and they'll not concern themselves with the details I mentioned and just say oh well, the chords sound more in tune and that makes it better! But what if you need to play a ROOT NOTE of the key you're in using your G STRING at the 4th fret? You will be NOTICEABLY flat. Just look how far back the fret goes at that position. Root notes, 5ths, 4ths... playing those on the G or B strings (for which the TT system has been optimized) will result in FLAT notes. There is no need for me to play or own one. I don't play live and I can always detune my G and B strings myself to achieve better bar chords during recording.
@@MaxRayMusic You can figure it out logically on your own using all that info I threw out. A440 means 440 vibrations per second. an octave up or down is either X2 or /2. EG, A880 is an octave higher than A440. 220 is the A an octave lower than middle A or concert A. Thus, your end points for ANY octave is always that far away. from 220 to 440 is an octave. Now, divide that into 12 notes. THOSE will be the frequencies you use to play music. On a NON-fixed instrument (voice, violin, fretless guitar, etc) you can MAKE the notes in tune per their function in the chords and relation to each other. On a standard fretted guitar you are stuck with the way you divide that octave up into 12 parts. When you divide the octave using the 12th root of 2, you get the equal tempered scale we all know and love. If you divide it by the best sounding slices for any major key, you screw up those notes for the OTHER keys.... so... what to do? Maj 3rd interval sounds bad in equal tempered..... sounds butter in just temperament but makes the 4ths and 5ths sound like shite..... SOOOOO.... in comes TT. They are shifting the notes eeeeever so slightly so that the major 3rds are more in tune INSIDE of the two common major bar chord shapes plus probably a few other tiny micro adjustments so that they have basically a compromise between JUST and EQUAL temperament so that yes, you are out of tune in octaves and tiny spots BUT you are MORE in tune on those nasty maj 3rds that are problematic in the equal tempered setup. So, with TT, you are more in tune with yourself and the strings are vibrating with more harmony, albeit slightly out of tune when that string functions as something like a 4 or 5. THAT is my comprehension of what the creators of TT have done. I'm not saying it's bad or horrible. I haven't played one for myself but I did try a Buzz Feiten nut and absolutely hated it. You cannot get your guitar in tune with that piece of s.
true temperament is actually a compromise so that you can play in all keys and it will kinda work. you could tune a normal guitar to an open tuning and play with a slide, you would be harmonising more closely than a true temperament instrument.
@@richardjblackman true. As long as you can minutely change the pitch and with control/accuracy, you can hit notes that are more in tune than equal temperament or true temperament. But that's hard to do with chords. Single notes not so bad.
I'm disappointed because nobody ever really talks about what this system actually does and you didn't either. (A couple of comments here discuss this) And the company that has designed these frets doesn't really want to tell about it either because you need to do a little bit of digging on the websites to find any actual explanations. So what this system does is that it makes some corrections that slightly differ from equal temperament tuning, to improve the sound in common "guitar keys" which are E, F#, G, A, B, C, D major and E, F#, G#, A, B, Eb minor. So the guitar sounds slightly better in some keys and worse in others. The marketing phrases like "perfect intonation" are really vague in my opinion because this is not an actual just intonation system and not equal temperament either but something in between, and it seems like most people are not aware of what it actually does. I would have liked to see a more detailed experiment in various keys to see how useful this system really is. And maybe I missed it if you mentioned it but a guitar with these frets must be tuned differently so you can't use a normal tuner pedal (this is explained on their website), so I think that is a big disadvantage too.
I could imagine doing a similar thing but aiming for perfectly intonated 12 tet too. The advantages of aiming at just intonation In common keys don't outweigh the drawbacks I think for most people. The whole idea of 12 tet in the first place is the be able to play in every key. With this system, you get a really expensive guitar that you can only play on certain keys with. Just seems dumb to me.
This is wrong. It's true temperament because these "squiggly" lines are based on the mathematical ratios of the intervals. Equal temperament makes transposing keys easier but takes away the character of each key and even the modes within each key. There is a reason old composers chose to compose in a specific key, the character of that key would convey the composers idea or musical overture. I also personally believe that when tuned to the Pythagorean/Scientific pitch C=256, similar to the tuning used in our computers as "bits", the vibrations we make with the instrument activates harmonies that are latent in nature and empowers the music you are playing as if propelled by a "universal reverb". More important back then when everything was acoustic and relied on air as a means of propagation. It gave better sustain and timbre and affected the listener more emotionally. This principle is known as the Music of the Spheres and was also reflected in Plato's solids(Platonic Solids). When these vibrations/ratios are played on a tray of sand or salt, these geometric patterns are reflected on the 2-D tray but really is being projected in three dimension in the aether as a Platonic solid, that is, a true solid/archetype. This is called the field of Cymatics. Even in one of the old woodcuts, there is an image of the 7 modes related to the 7 planets with Apollo at the very top holding a guitar/lute with a Latin inscription echoing the ancient Egyptian alchemical adage known as the Law of Vibration, elaborated in the Kybalion. TL;DR: It only works in Pythagorean tuning
😮This Isent new ! Hardly workable,and very restrictive! I actually requires a different fret set for every key played in! I think the 70s version was called,,True tone,True fret?? they used interchangable fingerboards.
I love that you simplified the signal chain as much as possible. I personally dislike when someone demos a guitar through a chain of effects. You just don't get the sound of the guitar. Besides that, hearing the difference so clearly makes me want to try an acoustic with this fret system. TY for your insight Phil,
Regarding the frets and neck construction - literally all guitars today are made with CNC tools. So no, putting true temperament frets adds maybe 10-15$ to the overall cost, and the "average Joe's guitar" who makes them in the garage has probably 10 times more craftsmanship and skill in it.
That's the thing, it costs more because it's weird and they can charge more for it. The fact that you nerfs your ability to play in every key equally intonated make it stupid in my book. It is a gimmick
That’s not true. The installation of the frets is much more labor and time intensive. Producing those shapes and having them for each fret means you would have to have a collection of 24 different shapes instead of just having a bunch of simple frets. It might be very expensive. But that’s their decision
I think what the important thing is, does it inspire you? A long time ago I went down a rabbit hole about tuning a guitar. Like the salt on the soundboard of an acoustic guitar, how it lines up at 432 much more than 440 for an "A". In this case, I don't think we are comparing apples to apples for sustain. As Paul Smith likes to say, "everything matters". Is the neck wood the same? Thickness? Width? Is the fretboard material the same? Size? Glue to hold it on? Truss rod? Is the fret alloy the same? Size the same? Are both glued in? Same glue? Are both nuts the same? Glue? Tuners the same? Body wood the same? Thickness? Neck joint the same? Neck glue? All things that could contribute to, or subtract from sustain. Not saying one way or another, just some things from 'the wabbit hole' to think about. LOL Great video!! Thanks!! --gary
I have a strandberg boden with the multi-scale and had no issues at all with the slanted frets, in fact, I don't even notice it while playing. I am always trying to find that perfect compromise in tuning so the open chords sound good. I find myself tuning the G string a bit flat and the B a tiny bit sharp helps a lot. The true-temperment frets may be the solution, but the cost is holding me back.
The TT 'sounds' exactly the same BUT it sustains longer. The A guitar (TT) the waveforms lock together as accurate intervals / harmonics (sorry if these terms are wrong).. whereas B guitar I think you're hearing the slight clashing as when you tune by pinging harmonics on 3rd and 5th fret. We all experience that wonderful 'beating' sound that smooths out as both strings' waveforms align. To me A guitar's locked harmonics seem to 'surge' (a bit like - but not for the same reasons - as the 'feedback' you described) and as they do, they sustain longer. Less energy wasted in the clashing waveforms... and on the B guitar the clashing harmonics / frequencies waste the energy sooner and the chord doesn't sustain as long. Nice benefit. Can't explain the C chord on the TT guitar though lol.
Thank you, Phil, for taking on something so different and providing a interesting viewpoint. Most of us will never have occasion to play a true temper guitar so it is fascinating to have this explanation/viewpoint.
I can see the benefits of having that guitar as a recording tool, especially for clean tracks that become foundational in the mix. Other than that, I can't imagine using it live or for crunchy or high gain parts. It's advantages will be lost on any audience in a live situation for anything but very delicate jazz or orchestral compositions where the ensemble harmonics are very apparent to the listeners and players.
I would say, True Temperament Frets with an Evertune bridge, would be the perfect basis for a rhythm tracking guitar in the studio. Especially in multi guitar bands. Have one setup for each guitarist, and it would almost eradicate any tuning/intonation issues between them.
Martin miller did that with a custom AZ of his. Evertune bridge + TT frets to have constant perfect tuning and intonation. You could literally go 3 years of bending and environment changing and not need to tune the thing once. Ultimate rhythm guitar.
And if one is blessed with perfect pitch ears like Joe Walsh they might, might is the key word here be able to tell if your tuning temperment is a bit off. Maybe 1 in 100, 000. And bending strings across TT frets is really wacky! But it's music so don't get so technical you can't enjoy it. Rock and roll!
In 2009 Guitar world did a “Private Gear Tour” with Steve Vai backstage at one of his shows and he had a JEM with TT frets and also echoed your sentiment about the notes sustaining and he equated it to the overtones singing in tune. Such a cool innovation.
Heres a question Ive always wondered with these how does changing string guage affect the intonantion across these type frets? Are they designed solely for one type of string guage. What happens if you take a 6 string and put heavier strings on it for C standard tuning?
On the True Temperament website FAQ it says, '- No, not really. This is all about the intonation range at the bridge, for instance a Tune-o-matic bridge. A heavy string gauge combined with down tuning can end up out of intonation range. Our steel-string acoustic fingerboards (650 mm and 630 mm scale) work fine with 0,011- to 0,013-set with a wound 3d string. For our nylon-string acoustic fingerboard (650 mm scale) you can use medium to hard tension strings. We have through the years tested a big range of string brands and noticed that plain nylon strings varies a lot in tension consistensy. We can recommend Savarez Corum strings.'
I have perfect pitch, and regular guitars drive me crazy. I had a Peavey AT-200 that did the trick but felt a little cheap. I would love to try one of these.
I always appreciate technological advancement that adds functionality, improves feel or fixes a problem. Never liked pointy guitars or headless guitars until Strandberg. They're not so far removed from the traditional guitars but also push us in new, interesting directions with their body and neck shapes or the innovative fret systems. Cool stuff that feels like it actually adds functionality.
Sustain? I think the explanation you are looking for is that because the notes are in pretty perfect tuning they reinforce each other (and their overtones do as well) rather than if they are even slightly out of tune where they will interfere with each other, perhaps?
the thing with the longer sustain makes so much sense! notes are frequencies of waves. there are waves that interfere with each other in such a way that they cancel each other out. some combinations of waves cancel each other out faster than other combination. on this guitar the relationship of the notes to each other is always such, that their frequencies interfere with each other the least, thereby all sustaining for longer.
I have a VGS TD Special with TT frets and an Evertune bridge. It’s definitely a ‘forever’ guitar because that open C chord sticks out like dogs balls! Playing Major 3rds is where I hear most of the difference between it and a normal guitar. It’s great to have a guitar where you don’t have to switch your brain back and forth between the mechanical and the creative when playing. Like you said you need to spend some time with it. Great review! Thanks.
THANKS, VERY MUCH, PHIL!!!! WE MUST ALL REMEMBER, AND APPRECIATE, THAT OFTEN, LITTLE TECHNICAL "IMPROVEMENTS", IN DESIGN, AND IN MANUFACTURING, EVENTUALLY DO TRICKLE DOWN TO THE CHEAPER/AFFORDABLE "BEGINNER" LEVEL INSTRUMENTS!...WE ALL BENEFIT, IN WAYS WE MAY NOT EVEN NOTICE... MUCH APPRECIATED!!!
It's mathematically impossible to improve all the chords. The best you can do is make certain keys/chords sound better at the expense of playing other keys/chords worse.
Whereas I cannot afford a Strandberg, I just had to get the strat style replacement neck by True Temperament. To me, it just brought it all together the way I had imagined for decades of playing regular fretted necks. Nice video and thanks for sharing your insights!
Very useful info! I'd love to try a TT fretboard, but as you say: it's very expensive... Didn't know about the improved sustain, however - but it does explain a bit how Matthias IA Eklundh (a massive fan of TT frets!) gets those amazingly great sounds fron his beautiful Caparison guitars 😎👍
I really want to try one, however I've my doubts whether these two are all that similar. Green was a far brighter sound compared to Squiggly, where I actually had to roll back and check whether you were even on the same pickup (turns out you were). That does play a lot into it for me whether I think it's 'just' the squiggly frets, or if there are more differences between the instruments that we're experiencing.
I’ve been a member and subscriber to your channel for quite a while now; you’re one of the people who inspired me to begin learning how to play. This is the most personal video I’ve seen you make (with the exception of the Nathan PRS-surprise gift video, which is personal in a very different way). It’s clear how much this was a journey of discovery for you, and how seriously you took the, well, challenge it presented. Thanks for the many hours you put into it, kudos to CMA for sponsoring it the video, and thanks to Strandberg for their patience. I can’t imagine them finding another reviewer who will treat their instrument as seriously as you did.
Hey Phil, Thanks for the in-depth analysis of the True Temperament frets. I like the concept since any tool that enhances creativity deserves attention. I don't personally see this as ever replacing traditional frets because of cost and complexity. Also resistance to change by traditionalist. But those chords sounded great. For the sake of fun, imagine a guitar with Fanned True Temperamant frets, Buzz Feiten compensated nut mounted on a Novatone interchangeable fingerboard on a composite headless neck designed around the Torzal Natural Twist and Eduro neck carve on the back. Add a LightWave Optical System too. That would be an interesting beast.
"FANNED TRUE TEMP FRETS"..??? Is that technically plausible; since the "temperament" is an adjusted lateral positioning (for EACH STRING) so it's like the "FAN" fret concept split 6 ways in these cases and faned frets seem to be the best "average" in 1 fret to achieve a similar results so I can't imagine fanned temper frets .. (maybe I've had too little sleep). But nice concept and imagination with this and the other specs you suggested 👍
The TT neck was originally developer by a Swedish/Finnish/Nowegian person and was sold as replacement neck for 4-bolt Fender-scale guitars. Strat replacement necks at Warmoth range from $187 to $832, so the upcharge for the TT neck is reasonable, IMO. (I own a Strandberg Boden Standard(?) B-Stock which I like a lot. I swapped out the pickups for Tom Anderson HF1/HF2 set - a big improvement, although the original pickups were very good.)
For chords, it's the perfect neck/fret system. You can very clearly hear the difference, it's not subtle at all. I have been lusting after one of these (not necessarily this brand) since I first heard one played. I have always been a stickler for intonation, I can easily spend hours intonating my guitars every time I change the strings, brand or gauge, not when just swapping to a fresh identical set. The notes ring out and sync in perfect (or near to) harmonic resonance. It costs a pretty penny but IMHO, if they catch on and gain more than a niche market share, the price will come down. Great video Phil, thanks for covering everything so carefully.
I think the cost ($3.5k+ for a Indonesian made guitar) is probable the greatest barrier to entry for most guitarist and if they had a way of being able to try it out cheaper I think people would do it (headless guitars are the proof of that).
@@martyshwaartz971 Yeah, I have heard that to. But, despite probable make it a tid bit more accessible putting a new neck on your guitar often times it's a simple A -> B proposition or at the very least I reckon that majority of players would pay a tech which means your probable between $700-800 is the whole by the end. Sometimes for the sake of peace of mind I think most players just like to be able to walk into a store and play one (and it not cost as much as custom shop guitar).
@@edesbalazs To be honest I have only ever seen/played two and I had to be in a city were the population is several million, so I imagine most people haven't even seen one in person.
I own a guitar with TT frets and Evertune. I always find weird that people seem to want to dislike it. These frets sound more in tune, and therefore better. Gotta be a real contrarian to not want to be in tune. The price is bad, but other than that, it's perfect.
In my personal opinion, I don't like how perfectly intonated it sounds. It sounds like a guitar plugin. I don't see why the sound would bug me, but it sounds soo odd to my ear. The sustain is definitely cool for those who like the sound though
@@djstringsmusic2994 yeah once again this is the only argument people really have as a personal conflict with TT; TLDR it basically amounts to "I'm used to how 'bad' sounds, and for that reason I refuse to change" silliness.
Perhaps this is a silly question, but since you noted that if you are in a two guitar band you would probably want both guitars to be TT because of subtle pitch differences, as a bassist I was wondering if there were any similar issues when using a TT guitar and a regularly tempered bass?
I can hear the difference instantly. It's like a breath of fresh air. I've always been bothered by the inconsistent intonation on guitars, didn't realize there was a ciure till now. Crap, that means I meed another guitar. Oh well, can't play money.
The TT one sounded unfamiliar but much better in the A/B tests. If I ever have the cash to spare, I'd like to build the ultimate practice guitar: something like an Aristides with Evertune and TT frets. Throw some nicely coated strings in there and you can just pick it up anytime, anywhere and it will always be perfectly set up and in tune.
11:10 - what I hear is a slight mismatch on the Guit B when I play the chords along with a Piano, and I think that is really important, how well does it harmonize with chromatic instruments, which are a staple with today's music production.
A couple of observations. In the comparison, the D chord stands out to me as much as the C in hearing the "beats". Maybe that's just me, I always have to tweak the B and high E strings to get an open D to sound in tune. Also, I think the sustain difference could be that with the tempered frets the string frequencies are more closely in phase. I was recording a keyboard track on a DAW and had the raw audio and some monitored audio both playing through the headphones, so there was some latency between the two sources. I found that some notes were louder, and I actually couldn't hear certain notes at all. After verifying that the keyboard was working correctly, I killed the raw signal and everything was fine. I'm pretty sure that the latency caused specific frequencies to line up at close to 180 degrees out of phase, almost cancelling the note. With a physical string, I'd bet phase misalignments can actually dampen the vibration.
NGD today, just got her , exact model. Frets felt odd for about 15 min.sounds so much better!! Ola ought to give you one, I’m guessing you sold a few with this video.
If anyone wants to learn more about temperament, look up piano tuning temperament choices. Especially look for the videos that play the same song in the different tuning temperaments. Having watched those made me say "ohhhhhhh" and then come back to watch videos about the True Temperament Fret guitars.
This guitar is for someone like me, whose ears are very sensitive to tonal variations. I always preferred playing bass over guitar because I could never seem to get any guitar in tune. It was years before I found out the design of guitars is what makes them impossible to tune. I'd love to try one of these Strandbergs.
It would be interesting to see how this compares to the Buzz Feiten system. I have the BF system on my Tom Anderson & it has a piano-like sound as well, much like the true temperament system on the Stranberg
The wiggly frets scare guitarists to play such an instrument. I think there would be a good compromise straightening the many kinks on the frets, to have the frets in a smooth curve. The many kinks are just to the bits wich are connecting the perfectly intonated part of fret placement. If the transitions are straightened out, the string still sits on a perfect intonated spot on the fret and only vibrato will sound slightly different for highly trained ears. Ow well, the bends will need reprogramming muscle memory… that‘s the hardest part. But I personally would have a higher interest playing on TT frets if the frets where just curved. Cheers! And thank you Phil for this presentation!👍🏼 A compensated nut is a quite good halfway solution for better intonation. Now I have the idea for both: slight curved frets AND a accordingly compensated nut.😃
Thanks for so many years of great videos. You are always able to put feeling into every part of your show and reviews. Its not all about money but do you really need it and why. In the end thats what matters. Putting common sense with want or need is so hard to do. All your how to videos have done wonders for me also. Thanks again.
Does that mean if you have a four hour gig tonight you would automatically pick up the squiggly fret version without giving it a second thought? Just thought this question might require a more carefully considered answer. NO?
I have a friend who lives in Chicago who owns one tenth of the true intonation system. No point..just sayin..He told me it wasn't an easy sell in the beginning. I guess it's like anything that's new. (His initials are J. 19:28 19:28 E. just for the sake of verifying what I'm saying. I wouldn't make stuff up where you guys are concerned.
Has somebody explained mathematically how the seemingly random placement of each fret for each string is better? This reminds me of the controversy in Bach's day about the equal temperament tuning system which is used by all pianos today. (as immortalized in Bach's "Well Tempered Clavier"). Prior to that, keyboards were tuned in a way which sounded perfect when played in one or two keys, but sounded quite bad played in other keys. The equal temperament system is a little bit out of tune in ALL keys, but all keys sound slightly out of tune. For most cases, the slight inaccuracies are outweighed by the ability to play in any key at any time. I strongly suspect that "true temperament" system will have the same issues. Playing in some keys will sound really great, but there will be other keys that sound really bad. I'll check Andfe Fludd's video to see if he actually addresses the math problem.
I have one of the replacement strat necks so I have experience with it..This idea of perfectly in tune is absolutely wrong as you say. What this system does from what I see is like more well tempering the equal temperament system to the guitars eccentricities and more common keys. Just like regular equal temperament you are still sweeping some stuff under the rug, but it comes off as less and its hiding in different places.
Hey! A lot of information to unpack here for a RUclips discussion - as a slight reference point my Post Grad degree was *in* Temperament, history of tuning systems etc etc so some context I can add here! :) 1) "Seemingly Random" I get what you're saying and I know you're not saying it "is" random but these are adjusted to try and more generally improve the intonation of the guitar vs a fixed fret instrument. You cannot achieve "pure" tuning for all notes at all times on fixed pitch instruments, it's not possible - hence why we have "temperaments" to "temper" parts of the tuning (ie kind of trading how pure one note will be tuned vs another on the instrument which is a contextual decision as you say, such as for what key the instrument was in as an example, many years ago) 2)There's a lot of misconception about the Well Tempered Clavier, which was not in Equal temperament (and actually 12TET didn't become "standard" until the end of the 19th C but still wasn't "fully" adopted (at least as a piano tuning) until the 20th C where stretching octaves was still the norm in much of the world. These pieces were written for exactly as the name suggests, a Well Temperament, which is a subclass of tuning system (with the aim of being able to playing in all major and minor Keys without any notable inconsistency for a specific interval/key). It's not unlikely this was either a Werckmeister temperament or something very similar to it. Bach's family was key in spreading Well temperaments, and his son JC Bach was a key figure in this in the London scene (which would form a key import/export relationship.) I don't have my old research notes to hand but I believe JC Bach was the son that was a huge proponent of selling keyboard instruments with the advisement of using Well temperaments, though I think I am right in saying JS Bach started that ball rolling with his history in working as a sort of sales agent for makers too - though I may be getting Bach's wrong as to be frank there was many of them! 3) It's also worth noting for anyone reading this and finding it interesting "True Temperament" is also a Temperament (I believe it's also a Well Temperament), not some "fix all solution" which I think isa trap many fall into when discussing the Frets. It's a system designed to try and correct some bigger tuning inconsistencies on guitars, as well as actual be favourable for "common" guitar playing - so for the example I was given when discussing the system with the inventor Anders Thidell (who sadly passed away last year) was that the TT system will let you swap from G major to A minor chords on a standard tuned guitar, with less clashing of tuning/intonation. They were not designed to be "perfect in all instances everywhere on the neck" but an extremely considered general "improvement" in many situations. I discussed if for example, the "stock" TT system would suit instruments in various open tunings, and Anders said probably not depending on specifics and it may be better to engineer a specific lay out for said tuning. Anders and their company actually used to offer a large number of necks in various historical and microtonal tunings, which they have phased out over the previous few years/decade or so. I've to contacted anyone there in a few years but I don't think they would special order them either sadly.
Another fun thing - Anders of TT Frets before developing the 12 tone TT system, built a 31 note per octave (I don't believe 31 Equal but possible, 31 and 19 Equal are very commonly used "close to 12" tunings that were more common before settling on 12 Equal as the most practical to play vs using subsets and specifically tuned instruments) which inspired how he defined his Well Temperament that would become the True Temperament system eventually. I've never sat down to do the maths and didn't think to ask him about it before he passed sadly, but I suspect the TT system is heavily influenced by 31 EDO guitar layouts and systems. There's some info on the link here about the Tuning system that effectively is True Temperament that Anders developed and some of the maths behind it in terms of what specific adjustments have been made vs 12TET :) Was looking for this why writing my first comment and found it! You'll see this system was heavily inspired by what is suspected to be the Well Temperament Bach used for The Well Tempered Clavier so you were definitely on the money! www.guyguitars.com/truetemperament/eng/tt_techdetails.html
It's rigorously explained on their sight. You also miss the point, it's not an alternative to equal temperament, it is an attempt to solve the physical problems achieving equal temperament on guitar
Aesthetically I prefer the green one, but I would prefer the tobacco burst one as well. It’s not often we hear something truly different but to me this was and I would someday love to own one.
I don't know how minor it is. To me, it's pretty clear. The intonation of even the best set-up guitars has always niggled at me. Certainly, all the guitars I've owned have been not-perfect, and it bugged me. Some were better than others, but nothing was right. Now I have a TT neck fitted to my Strat, and I can tell you, I will never go back.
visually it looks silly as hell, but the idea of not having to constantly compensate for the flaws in guitar construction without any noticeable drawbacks would be a dream come true. It's become so ingrained in my style to bend and wiggle everything trying to disguise the nasty beating between intervals that aren't consistent across the fretboard I don't even know what it'd be like to not have to do it
Phil, it reminds me of the digital vs vinyl of recordings, the digital is exact but sort of has a missing element. To my ears, the standard has a warmer, more inviting sound and i know that the tremolo and pickups factor in to that. I just believe that the slight imperfections is the secret in the sauce. Great vid Phil as always
fully agree with this. The slight variances and imperfections are what makes a guitar unique. although its not 'perfect', our ears have gotten really used to those dissonances subconsciously and its what makes guitar so enjoyable to listen to. This guitar, while sounding really good, also sounds a bit synthetic, and too perfect. Digital vs vinyl is a great analogy - digital sounds technically better, but people miss the vinyl/tape saturation so much that they now use digital effects to emulate it. I can totally see producers using this guitar to create really lush, resonant chords and then add slight vibrato effects on it to make it sound more organic.
Beautiful words man, as a producer I have always thought about intonation on guitars, since sometimes you look for long sustained notes/chords and there is just a kind of presicion you get from a normal electric guitar let alone an acoustic guitar, I would love to try a guitar with that system. And love your opinion about how it feels, not as a guitar that makes every other obsolete, but as an instrument for a kind of sound and feel, and you are right, as one that excites the harmonics or resonate more and makes you play different.
true temperment is tricky. We got so used to the intonation being out of tune with the tempered scale, that we have a hard time appreciating true temperament. But its a funny relation... true temperament gives really great harmonics and long ringing "in-tune" chords, while the standard 12tone temperament gives that familiar chiminess of chords, a little bit off, but ringing with some disfuntion that we are used to. For me it was an eye opener for me listening to Jon Catler, to appreciate true temperament, but e warned, it will twist your music taste in a similar manner, than indian scales and tuning do.
@@cchavezjr7 you have completely misunderstood the point of true temperament. The point is that it's closer to equal temperament compared to linear frets.
@@gonzoengineering4894 "equal temperament" IS "linear frets". I think you have misunderstood the point of "true temperament", which is just a marketing buzz word and not a real music theory thing. It makes certain keys/chords slightly more in tune at the cost of making other keys/chords worse. That is all.
Sounds like the perfect guitar for EHX’s organ, synth, and piano pedals. I use these pedals at church and they really make the band fuller. We have a piano player. Everyone thinks she is playing the B3 and synth too. I tell them it’s me and they are shocked.
my budy has a Strandberg with fanned frets and at first it was weird to play, but once I stopped thinking about it, it was great. That neck shape is really comfortable!
Thank you for yet another very interesting video! 🤩 If I may, possibly this explanation can explain the reason for difference in sustain and richness: ..if you study the magic overtones in barbershop. No joke! Not being a fan myself but my wife was part of a Swedish choir which came second in the world championship in the USA. Her quartet practiced at our home for years so I was unintentionally “educated” in; tonality, interference waves, overtones, scales and most importantly - that everyone of these four members had to know at which note at certain chords, they individually had to raise or lower the pitch a bit. Or more! In one certain chord, the lead maybe had the exact pitch whilst the tenor hade to pitch up and baritone down and the bass did her particular pitch. When succeeding, the chord “rang”. A fifth tone could be heard. Although only four singers! Sometimes more than five tones. Why?! Because when four (or more or less) voices, vocal or instrumental, interact at exactly the right frequencies, they: A) amplify the sound energy of the other tones B) create overtones (plural) That was called “ringing” if I remember correctly. The sound mixture then filled the room or “enveloped” the listeners. Even in big theatres one whould experience the sound surrounding one’s head instead of being projected from the stage!…😮🤯 So… With the exact pitch of each tone in every different chord the energy of all tones will add to one another thus creating more sustain, a more full bodied sound and a richer sound. Conclusion: The closer one can get to “an ideal combination of tone pitches” for a chord, the richer sound is created/transmitted! So, any enlightenment? 😅 Kind regards Anders Sweden PS. If anything is unclear just give me a shout. English is not my native language. I’ll try to clarify if needed.
So here's the thing with True Temperament. TT = 12 TET and not just intonation. There are chords on standard frets that are (or can be) more consonant and some that are more dissonant. The benefit of TT is that it is consistent. That's not true on standard frets.. and especially not true while using sweetened tunings where you can nudge a string to nudge notes to the just intonation internal.
Thanks for the video. This may clear up the way outher musicians, pianist trumpet violinist hear when they play with a guitar in the band . Might be a must for rhythm players.
I wasn’t expecting to like the squiggly one as much as I did. It has that thing where the chords have this big looping sound like a piano does. I really love that.
In the ab test, the regular guitar had what seemed like a slight tremolo effect and the true temperament guitar had some kinda of organ sounding overtones that were amazing.
My only beef with headless guitars is that I just absolutely love the way guitar heads look. I won’t even buy a guitar if I don’t like the head. But I’m a weird like that. Would really like to own a strandberg one day
its a relief for my ears to hear an in tune chord on these guitars. not to speak of my probs when tryin to tune a non tt guitar. the c-chord was most prominent and its almost like a very slight chorus effect is drivin the chord an the non tt. if strandberg would make a archtop with these frets...geez. i wonder if theres any luthier who makes selmer-style gutiars with these frets. great video
Listening to the AB test, the clarity of the true temperament guitar looked as if it were a clear glass of water or something. The normal guitar had a ringing of clashing waveforms, which I don't dislike at all. I could see how you could love or hate it. The clarity of true temp could feel sterile if not used correctly.
what about string changes, if I go from 8 to 10 do I lose the sustain? how about just individual strings vs. a normal pack? different string types, flat would, metal material?
??? Kool Phil. Have you tried delay, flanger, phaser with this guitar? I am wondering if the sound is less ~muddy / notes are more distinct because of the 'true temper' ? I play with lots of delay, flanger, phaser combos and ~muddiness / clarity of notes might sound better with this system. Thanks Phil!
This may be a dumb question, but why is increased sustain so important or sought after? When’s the last time you played something that required you to hold a chord or note for as long as possible?
I wonder how they re-crowned these frets after leveling. Btw, that can be a downside, if you'll ever need to re-level or re-fret it, it's gonna be expensive. You might not even find a luthier who will take the job. Though, since it's stainless steel, you might not even need it, but it's something you should consider
I prefer the pickups in the regular one so much more that I find it too hard to compare the sound. I would love to hear two otherwise identical guitars with the only difference being true temperment frets vs regular straight frets.
The comparison at end was enlightening. The std guitar sounded a bit flat on the mid tones, okay on the tonic. Sure enough, the second guitar sounded a bit sharper, brighter and had some shimmer to the harmonies. Wow.
Question: if a guitar has the multiscale bridge system with fanned/slanted frets (for the purpose of better intonation of each of the 6 strings) why does it also need the True Temperament frets (for the purpose of better intonation) also? Isn't that redundant? I didn't hear if you addressed this specifically, because I was wondering this the whole video.
I don’t think fanned frets are meant to improve intonation (not that I’m any sort of expert). I thought the purpose was to create the multiple scale lengths for better string tension, especially with lower tunings. I.E., I don’t think fanned frets and True Temperament are meant to solve the same problem.
Multi scale is just that multi scale length for even tension across the strings it has little to do with intonation. It just makes it easier to use a lighter guage string for lower notes and not have a 27" scale length on the high E. It's beneficial on extended range guitars.
No because the intonation is better not trying to compensate for the equal temperament system. 3rds sound dissonant on multiscale but sound "perfect" on True Temperament
As has been said, multi scale instruments are meant to better balance the tension between high and low strings. It's even mor eimpactful for bassists that play 5+ string instruments. That low B string can sound (and feel) flabby at 34".
Great review, Phil! It would be really interesting to do a comparison between a true temperament guitar and a guitar set up with a Buzz Feiten shelf nut, intimated and tuned per his specifications. Much lower cost and less intrusive to the feel of normal frets. I retro-fitted a PRS Custom 22 and purchased a John Suhr Modem carve top that came with this tuning system and have loved both guitars.
The AB comparison was a little tricky. I was kind of going back-and-forth. Although, I am driving in my car; but I have it up pretty loud. Strangely, in the beginning, the true temperament guitar was very wavering. I thought you were about to comment, or say that it might be out of tune. Every time you strummed it, it would waiver. And then it would kind of even out and go into that long sustain. Sounded better the longer the chord rang out. Who knows. I really don’t have any interest in trying it anyway. I’m still having too much fun on my traditional guitars. Not looking for anything different. 😝🤘🏻🎸🇺🇸
It seems to me that on the true intonation guitar there is less of the harmonics fighting each other that's causing the "wavering" on the standard guitar. I think that's the secret to the clarity - less harmonic interference.
I was really tempted to install this (or buy a guitar directly from Paul Guy Guitars with TT already installed) way back in 2006/2007 but I had the same concerns about not being able to play and enjoy a non TT gutar afterwards. I ended up not installing/buying it and haven't really considered it again. I suspect it would make it a bit easier on my ears though. I'm quite sensitive to how certain chords always sound slightly out of tune on a normal guitar.
Digging around in the market place now for one following this video. My guess is it will break the bank, but pretty nifty instrument that appeals to the physicist in me. Thanks Phil!
Is the intonation better because the shape of the frets put your fingers in the right place in relation to the fret and the string, because the frets compensate for the pressure of your fingers on the string, or is it both?...Or neither? Sorry if you answered this before but I don't think you did. BTW awesome of you to give a shout out to Andre Fludd's channel.
Thanks for the shoutout, Phil! Loved your take.
After making several instruments with this system, I have come to very similar conclusions:
1-TT frets are great for chords; in fact, the higher you go up the neck, the better it gets. I have found out that doing 4+ voicings after the 10th/12th fret sounds noticeably better than standard guitars.
2-do you need it? No, but it is great to have it on an extra guitar.
3-due to the very precise tuning needed for the system to function properly, I would always put it on a fixed bridge setup for better tuning stability.
*Edit* 4- the increased sustain is mainly because each fret is a 3mm bar inserted inside the fretboard. The neck is stiffer and absorbs less energy from the vibrating strings, which then can ring for longer.
ciao! i'm looking to build guitars using this system as well, would you have any resources or diagrams offhand that would be helpful for the process?
@@dedompler you should check with TT for dimensions. At this point they don't sell just the frets with the cad file for making the fretboard; this is how I did in the past. They now sell the fretboard done with frets already installed and you just glue it on the neck
@@valentiguitars oh i see. that certainly simplifies things. i suppose it stands to reason they did that following the Texas True Temperament shop that closed down due to QC issues
@@dedompler I do not know about that. I personally am their Service Point for Italy. I think that probably people around the world were not installing frets correctly/making the fretboards properly.
Anyhow, their current policy surely has made things simpler for those who don't have access to very precice tooling machinery, although I would have preferred they kept the initial option available for those who could do it.
thanks this is a good way to think of things .. I was looking at the nut and thinking .. how could they do all that to the nut and not have a compensated nut? But now I realize that of course, the rest of the neck makes the strings 'line up' at the nut.
also occurs to me that you could have them 'line up' at eg the 5th or 7th fret
You are a marketing genius, I never in my life thought I'd see Country Music sponsoring a video about cutting edge Fusion Guitars. As a fan of both country and jazz fusion, I love it!
I got to play one for just fifteen minutes or so. I'm already a fan of Strandbergs. I was dumbfounded by the overtones that pop out with the guitar. It really was insane. And the way the guitar resonated. I was like, I better put this away before I do something impulsive. It's magic.
AMEN ME TOO! Except I bought NX7 without ever having owned or tried the True Temperament system EVER! Played and owned many guitars over last 30 years - this guitar has pleased me like NO OTHER ELECTRIC I have ever owned!
If only you knew how accurate that statement is...
What causes the overtones?
@@AaronEddieHYofrom what I understand it’s because the frets are properly placed so that the notes can actually sing out. When you hold a note for a chord it’s often just slightly off from being in tune. You can see this when you use a capo. Instead of it immediately being in tune sometimes it’s slightly out of tune. The same thing happens when you’re playing notes on the fretboard
@stevederp9801 thank you. Just like a harmonic and.. sacred geometric shapes. Makes sense.
Here's how they work - they compensate LOCALLY so that a given chord sounds a LITTLE more in tune with ITSELF by giving up a GLOBAL perfection of tuning for every key (equal tempered). That's it. You give up being perfectly in tune with a synth or piano or another guitarist by oh 5 to 10 to 15 cents (100 cents in one half step) in order to get those nasty warbly interactions with the major and minor 3rds to sound more in tune with themselves. You won't be able to "tune" the guitar with a standard tuner because the notes are no longer equal tempered but closer to a just tuning MOSTLY on the G and B strings. So... it's great for sounding more in tune for those major and minor chords most people play (you know, the 2 versions where you bar all the strings with your first finger). The thing is, MOST guitarists will hear only that it sounds "better" and they'll not concern themselves with the details I mentioned and just say oh well, the chords sound more in tune and that makes it better! But what if you need to play a ROOT NOTE of the key you're in using your G STRING at the 4th fret? You will be NOTICEABLY flat. Just look how far back the fret goes at that position. Root notes, 5ths, 4ths... playing those on the G or B strings (for which the TT system has been optimized) will result in FLAT notes. There is no need for me to play or own one. I don't play live and I can always detune my G and B strings myself to achieve better bar chords during recording.
interesting take, I wonder if that is indeed the case 🤔
@@MaxRayMusic You can figure it out logically on your own using all that info I threw out. A440 means 440 vibrations per second. an octave up or down is either X2 or /2. EG, A880 is an octave higher than A440. 220 is the A an octave lower than middle A or concert A. Thus, your end points for ANY octave is always that far away. from 220 to 440 is an octave. Now, divide that into 12 notes. THOSE will be the frequencies you use to play music. On a NON-fixed instrument (voice, violin, fretless guitar, etc) you can MAKE the notes in tune per their function in the chords and relation to each other. On a standard fretted guitar you are stuck with the way you divide that octave up into 12 parts. When you divide the octave using the 12th root of 2, you get the equal tempered scale we all know and love. If you divide it by the best sounding slices for any major key, you screw up those notes for the OTHER keys.... so... what to do? Maj 3rd interval sounds bad in equal tempered..... sounds butter in just temperament but makes the 4ths and 5ths sound like shite..... SOOOOO.... in comes TT. They are shifting the notes eeeeever so slightly so that the major 3rds are more in tune INSIDE of the two common major bar chord shapes plus probably a few other tiny micro adjustments so that they have basically a compromise between JUST and EQUAL temperament so that yes, you are out of tune in octaves and tiny spots BUT you are MORE in tune on those nasty maj 3rds that are problematic in the equal tempered setup. So, with TT, you are more in tune with yourself and the strings are vibrating with more harmony, albeit slightly out of tune when that string functions as something like a 4 or 5. THAT is my comprehension of what the creators of TT have done. I'm not saying it's bad or horrible. I haven't played one for myself but I did try a Buzz Feiten nut and absolutely hated it. You cannot get your guitar in tune with that piece of s.
true temperament is actually a compromise so that you can play in all keys and it will kinda work. you could tune a normal guitar to an open tuning and play with a slide, you would be harmonising more closely than a true temperament instrument.
@@richardjblackman true. As long as you can minutely change the pitch and with control/accuracy, you can hit notes that are more in tune than equal temperament or true temperament. But that's hard to do with chords. Single notes not so bad.
I'm disappointed because nobody ever really talks about what this system actually does and you didn't either. (A couple of comments here discuss this) And the company that has designed these frets doesn't really want to tell about it either because you need to do a little bit of digging on the websites to find any actual explanations. So what this system does is that it makes some corrections that slightly differ from equal temperament tuning, to improve the sound in common "guitar keys" which are E, F#, G, A, B, C, D major and E, F#, G#, A, B, Eb minor. So the guitar sounds slightly better in some keys and worse in others. The marketing phrases like "perfect intonation" are really vague in my opinion because this is not an actual just intonation system and not equal temperament either but something in between, and it seems like most people are not aware of what it actually does. I would have liked to see a more detailed experiment in various keys to see how useful this system really is. And maybe I missed it if you mentioned it but a guitar with these frets must be tuned differently so you can't use a normal tuner pedal (this is explained on their website), so I think that is a big disadvantage too.
So can’t tune open strings with a tuner?
@@live2shredguyi have the same question
I could imagine doing a similar thing but aiming for perfectly intonated 12 tet too. The advantages of aiming at just intonation In common keys don't outweigh the drawbacks I think for most people. The whole idea of 12 tet in the first place is the be able to play in every key. With this system, you get a really expensive guitar that you can only play on certain keys with. Just seems dumb to me.
This is wrong.
It's true temperament because these "squiggly" lines are based on the mathematical ratios of the intervals. Equal temperament makes transposing keys easier but takes away the character of each key and even the modes within each key. There is a reason old composers chose to compose in a specific key, the character of that key would convey the composers idea or musical overture.
I also personally believe that when tuned to the Pythagorean/Scientific pitch C=256, similar to the tuning used in our computers as "bits", the vibrations we make with the instrument activates harmonies that are latent in nature and empowers the music you are playing as if propelled by a "universal reverb". More important back then when everything was acoustic and relied on air as a means of propagation. It gave better sustain and timbre and affected the listener more emotionally.
This principle is known as the Music of the Spheres and was also reflected in Plato's solids(Platonic Solids). When these vibrations/ratios are played on a tray of sand or salt, these geometric patterns are reflected on the 2-D tray but really is being projected in three dimension in the aether as a Platonic solid, that is, a true solid/archetype. This is called the field of Cymatics.
Even in one of the old woodcuts, there is an image of the 7 modes related to the 7 planets with Apollo at the very top holding a guitar/lute with a Latin inscription echoing the ancient Egyptian alchemical adage known as the Law of Vibration, elaborated in the Kybalion.
TL;DR: It only works in Pythagorean tuning
😮This Isent new !
Hardly workable,and very restrictive!
I actually requires a different fret set for every key played in!
I think the 70s version was called,,True tone,True fret?? they used interchangable fingerboards.
I love that you simplified the signal chain as much as possible. I personally dislike when someone demos a guitar through a chain of effects. You just don't get the sound of the guitar. Besides that, hearing the difference so clearly makes me want to try an acoustic with this fret system. TY for your insight Phil,
Regarding the frets and neck construction - literally all guitars today are made with CNC tools. So no, putting true temperament frets adds maybe 10-15$ to the overall cost, and the "average Joe's guitar" who makes them in the garage has probably 10 times more craftsmanship and skill in it.
That's the thing, it costs more because it's weird and they can charge more for it. The fact that you nerfs your ability to play in every key equally intonated make it stupid in my book. It is a gimmick
That’s not true. The installation of the frets is much more labor and time intensive. Producing those shapes and having them for each fret means you would have to have a collection of 24 different shapes instead of just having a bunch of simple frets. It might be very expensive. But that’s their decision
I think what the important thing is, does it inspire you? A long time ago I went down a rabbit hole about tuning a guitar. Like the salt on the soundboard of an acoustic guitar, how it lines up at 432 much more than 440 for an "A". In this case, I don't think we are comparing apples to apples for sustain. As Paul Smith likes to say, "everything matters". Is the neck wood the same? Thickness? Width? Is the fretboard material the same? Size? Glue to hold it on? Truss rod? Is the fret alloy the same? Size the same? Are both glued in? Same glue? Are both nuts the same? Glue? Tuners the same? Body wood the same? Thickness? Neck joint the same? Neck glue? All things that could contribute to, or subtract from sustain. Not saying one way or another, just some things from 'the wabbit hole' to think about. LOL Great video!! Thanks!! --gary
I have a strandberg boden with the multi-scale and had no issues at all with the slanted frets, in fact, I don't even notice it while playing. I am always trying to find that perfect compromise in tuning so the open chords sound good. I find myself tuning the G string a bit flat and the B a tiny bit sharp helps a lot. The true-temperment frets may be the solution, but the cost is holding me back.
The TT 'sounds' exactly the same BUT it sustains longer. The A guitar (TT) the waveforms lock together as accurate intervals / harmonics (sorry if these terms are wrong).. whereas B guitar I think you're hearing the slight clashing as when you tune by pinging harmonics on 3rd and 5th fret. We all experience that wonderful 'beating' sound that smooths out as both strings' waveforms align. To me A guitar's locked harmonics seem to 'surge' (a bit like - but not for the same reasons - as the 'feedback' you described) and as they do, they sustain longer. Less energy wasted in the clashing waveforms... and on the B guitar the clashing harmonics / frequencies waste the energy sooner and the chord doesn't sustain as long.
Nice benefit.
Can't explain the C chord on the TT guitar though lol.
Thank you, Phil, for taking on something so different and providing a interesting viewpoint. Most of us will never have occasion to play a true temper guitar so it is fascinating to have this explanation/viewpoint.
Agreed. I will probably never play one, and could not tell the difference. But I truly appreciate the opportunity to hear it.
I can see the benefits of having that guitar as a recording tool, especially for clean tracks that become foundational in the mix. Other than that, I can't imagine using it live or for crunchy or high gain parts. It's advantages will be lost on any audience in a live situation for anything but very delicate jazz or orchestral compositions where the ensemble harmonics are very apparent to the listeners and players.
I would say, True Temperament Frets with an Evertune bridge, would be the perfect basis for a rhythm tracking guitar in the studio. Especially in multi guitar bands. Have one setup for each guitarist, and it would almost eradicate any tuning/intonation issues between them.
Dude, that's brill...
Martin miller did that with a custom AZ of his. Evertune bridge + TT frets to have constant perfect tuning and intonation. You could literally go 3 years of bending and environment changing and not need to tune the thing once. Ultimate rhythm guitar.
Lots of guys already do this
The VGS Tommy Denander signature had both True Temperement frets and Evertune bridge already in 2011…
And if one is blessed with perfect pitch ears like Joe Walsh they might, might is the key word here be able to tell if your tuning temperment is a bit off. Maybe 1 in 100, 000. And bending strings across TT frets is really wacky! But it's music so don't get so technical you can't enjoy it. Rock and roll!
In 2009 Guitar world did a “Private Gear Tour” with Steve Vai backstage at one of his shows and he had a JEM with TT frets and also echoed your sentiment about the notes sustaining and he equated it to the overtones singing in tune. Such a cool innovation.
Heres a question Ive always wondered with these how does changing string guage affect the intonantion across these type frets? Are they designed solely for one type of string guage. What happens if you take a 6 string and put heavier strings on it for C standard tuning?
This was my first thought.
On the True Temperament website FAQ it says, '- No, not really. This is all about the intonation range at the bridge, for instance a Tune-o-matic bridge. A heavy string gauge combined with down tuning can end up out of intonation range.
Our steel-string acoustic fingerboards (650 mm and 630 mm scale) work fine with 0,011- to 0,013-set with a wound 3d string.
For our nylon-string acoustic fingerboard (650 mm scale) you can use medium to hard tension strings. We have through the years tested a big range of string brands and noticed that plain nylon strings varies a lot in tension consistensy. We can recommend Savarez Corum strings.'
I have perfect pitch, and regular guitars drive me crazy. I had a Peavey AT-200 that did the trick but felt a little cheap. I would love to try one of these.
This really is one of your most eloquent video reviews. Well done Phil.
HOLY COW!!…. I actually hear a difference…and I never ever hear a difference on comparison videos 👍👍
I am a piano tuner. One of the challenges of guitar tuning is one string must produce many pitches. In a piano every pitch is individually tuned.
I always appreciate technological advancement that adds functionality, improves feel or fixes a problem. Never liked pointy guitars or headless guitars until Strandberg. They're not so far removed from the traditional guitars but also push us in new, interesting directions with their body and neck shapes or the innovative fret systems. Cool stuff that feels like it actually adds functionality.
Sustain? I think the explanation you are looking for is that because the notes are in pretty perfect tuning they reinforce each other (and their overtones do as well) rather than if they are even slightly out of tune where they will interfere with each other, perhaps?
the thing with the longer sustain makes so much sense!
notes are frequencies of waves. there are waves that interfere with each other in such a way that they cancel each other out. some combinations of waves cancel each other out faster than other combination. on this guitar the relationship of the notes to each other is always such, that their frequencies interfere with each other the least, thereby all sustaining for longer.
I have a VGS TD Special with TT frets and an Evertune bridge. It’s definitely a ‘forever’ guitar because that open C chord sticks out like dogs balls! Playing Major 3rds is where I hear most of the difference between it and a normal guitar. It’s great to have a guitar where you don’t have to switch your brain back and forth between the mechanical and the creative when playing. Like you said you need to spend some time with it. Great review! Thanks.
THANKS, VERY MUCH, PHIL!!!! WE MUST ALL REMEMBER, AND APPRECIATE, THAT OFTEN, LITTLE TECHNICAL "IMPROVEMENTS", IN DESIGN, AND IN MANUFACTURING, EVENTUALLY DO TRICKLE DOWN TO THE CHEAPER/AFFORDABLE "BEGINNER" LEVEL INSTRUMENTS!...WE ALL BENEFIT, IN WAYS WE MAY NOT EVEN NOTICE... MUCH APPRECIATED!!!
Anybody can tune one chord to sound perfect, but to get that sound from different chords is really something.
It's mathematically impossible to improve all the chords. The best you can do is make certain keys/chords sound better at the expense of playing other keys/chords worse.
As someone who plays guitar for 4+ hours a day and writes music, that guitar sounds heavenly even unplugged
Whereas I cannot afford a Strandberg, I just had to get the strat style replacement neck by True Temperament. To me, it just brought it all together the way I had imagined for decades of playing regular fretted necks. Nice video and thanks for sharing your insights!
Now try it live with a band.
Very useful info!
I'd love to try a TT fretboard, but as you say: it's very expensive...
Didn't know about the improved sustain, however - but it does explain a bit how Matthias IA Eklundh (a massive fan of TT frets!) gets those amazingly great sounds fron his beautiful Caparison guitars 😎👍
I really want to try one, however I've my doubts whether these two are all that similar. Green was a far brighter sound compared to Squiggly, where I actually had to roll back and check whether you were even on the same pickup (turns out you were). That does play a lot into it for me whether I think it's 'just' the squiggly frets, or if there are more differences between the instruments that we're experiencing.
I’ve been a member and subscriber to your channel for quite a while now; you’re one of the people who inspired me to begin learning how to play. This is the most personal video I’ve seen you make (with the exception of the Nathan PRS-surprise gift video, which is personal in a very different way). It’s clear how much this was a journey of discovery for you, and how seriously you took the, well, challenge it presented. Thanks for the many hours you put into it, kudos to CMA for sponsoring it the video, and thanks to Strandberg for their patience. I can’t imagine them finding another reviewer who will treat their instrument as seriously as you did.
Hey Phil, Thanks for the in-depth analysis of the True Temperament frets. I like the concept since any tool that enhances creativity deserves attention. I don't personally see this as ever replacing traditional frets because of cost and complexity. Also resistance to change by traditionalist. But those chords sounded great.
For the sake of fun, imagine a guitar with Fanned True Temperamant frets, Buzz Feiten compensated nut mounted on a Novatone interchangeable fingerboard on a composite headless neck designed around the Torzal Natural Twist and Eduro neck carve on the back. Add a LightWave Optical System too. That would be an interesting beast.
"FANNED TRUE TEMP FRETS"..???
Is that technically plausible; since the "temperament" is an adjusted lateral positioning (for EACH STRING) so it's like the "FAN" fret concept split 6 ways in these cases and faned frets seem to be the best "average" in 1 fret to achieve a similar results so I can't imagine fanned temper frets .. (maybe I've had too little sleep). But nice concept and imagination with this and the other specs you suggested 👍
You forgot Evertune! 😅
@@ChrisSkinner1 thanks for reminding me.
@@myleskenney7258 actually yes. Strandberg Boden+ NX 6 True Temperament has fanned true temperament frets.
NO WAY!! now I'm hunting!!@@sunn_bass
The TT neck was originally developer by a Swedish/Finnish/Nowegian person and was sold as replacement neck for 4-bolt Fender-scale guitars. Strat replacement necks at Warmoth range from $187 to $832, so the upcharge for the TT neck is reasonable, IMO. (I own a Strandberg Boden Standard(?) B-Stock which I like a lot. I swapped out the pickups for Tom Anderson HF1/HF2 set - a big improvement, although the original pickups were very good.)
For chords, it's the perfect neck/fret system. You can very clearly hear the difference, it's not subtle at all. I have been lusting after one of these (not necessarily this brand) since I first heard one played. I have always been a stickler for intonation, I can easily spend hours intonating my guitars every time I change the strings, brand or gauge, not when just swapping to a fresh identical set. The notes ring out and sync in perfect (or near to) harmonic resonance. It costs a pretty penny but IMHO, if they catch on and gain more than a niche market share, the price will come down.
Great video Phil, thanks for covering everything so carefully.
In the A/B test I constantly preferred the intonation of the B guitar and I was sure it would be the TT neck at the reveal.... it wasn’t 😮
I think the cost ($3.5k+ for a Indonesian made guitar) is probable the greatest barrier to entry for most guitarist and if they had a way of being able to try it out cheaper I think people would do it (headless guitars are the proof of that).
True temperament sell fender necks with the system for ~500 USD which I think is pretty cool, although supposedly customer service isn't great.
Or try it out at all, because where I live the only way to get my hands on one of these is order online.
@@martyshwaartz971 Yeah, I have heard that to. But, despite probable make it a tid bit more accessible putting a new neck on your guitar often times it's a simple A -> B proposition or at the very least I reckon that majority of players would pay a tech which means your probable between $700-800 is the whole by the end. Sometimes for the sake of peace of mind I think most players just like to be able to walk into a store and play one (and it not cost as much as custom shop guitar).
@@edesbalazs To be honest I have only ever seen/played two and I had to be in a city were the population is several million, so I imagine most people haven't even seen one in person.
What a great video, Phil! Really well done and you've answered a lot of questions. Thank you!
I own a guitar with TT frets and Evertune. I always find weird that people seem to want to dislike it. These frets sound more in tune, and therefore better. Gotta be a real contrarian to not want to be in tune. The price is bad, but other than that, it's perfect.
In my personal opinion, I don't like how perfectly intonated it sounds. It sounds like a guitar plugin. I don't see why the sound would bug me, but it sounds soo odd to my ear. The sustain is definitely cool for those who like the sound though
@@djstringsmusic2994 yeah once again this is the only argument people really have as a personal conflict with TT; TLDR it basically amounts to "I'm used to how 'bad' sounds, and for that reason I refuse to change"
silliness.
@@dedompler I don't think sounds bad. I think it sounds odd. Like a guitar plugin. It could be cool for some things.
Perhaps this is a silly question, but since you noted that if you are in a two guitar band you would probably want both guitars to be TT because of subtle pitch differences, as a bassist I was wondering if there were any similar issues when using a TT guitar and a regularly tempered bass?
I can hear the difference instantly. It's like a breath of fresh air. I've always been bothered by the inconsistent intonation on guitars, didn't realize there was a ciure till now. Crap, that means I meed another guitar. Oh well, can't play money.
The TT one sounded unfamiliar but much better in the A/B tests. If I ever have the cash to spare, I'd like to build the ultimate practice guitar: something like an Aristides with Evertune and TT frets. Throw some nicely coated strings in there and you can just pick it up anytime, anywhere and it will always be perfectly set up and in tune.
11:10 - what I hear is a slight mismatch on the Guit B when I play the chords along with a Piano, and I think that is really important, how well does it harmonize with chromatic instruments, which are a staple with today's music production.
A couple of observations. In the comparison, the D chord stands out to me as much as the C in hearing the "beats". Maybe that's just me, I always have to tweak the B and high E strings to get an open D to sound in tune.
Also, I think the sustain difference could be that with the tempered frets the string frequencies are more closely in phase. I was recording a keyboard track on a DAW and had the raw audio and some monitored audio both playing through the headphones, so there was some latency between the two sources. I found that some notes were louder, and I actually couldn't hear certain notes at all. After verifying that the keyboard was working correctly, I killed the raw signal and everything was fine. I'm pretty sure that the latency caused specific frequencies to line up at close to 180 degrees out of phase, almost cancelling the note. With a physical string, I'd bet phase misalignments can actually dampen the vibration.
NGD today, just got her , exact model. Frets felt odd for about 15 min.sounds so much better!! Ola ought to give you one, I’m guessing you sold a few with this video.
If anyone wants to learn more about temperament, look up piano tuning temperament choices. Especially look for the videos that play the same song in the different tuning temperaments. Having watched those made me say "ohhhhhhh" and then come back to watch videos about the True Temperament Fret guitars.
This guitar is for someone like me, whose ears are very sensitive to tonal variations. I always preferred playing bass over guitar because I could never seem to get any guitar in tune. It was years before I found out the design of guitars is what makes them impossible to tune. I'd love to try one of these Strandbergs.
It would be interesting to see how this compares to the Buzz Feiten system. I have the BF system on my Tom Anderson & it has a piano-like sound as well, much like the true temperament system on the Stranberg
My two cents, I would buy the true temperament if I was doing a lot of session work. The overtones in the chords aren't fighting each other
The wiggly frets scare guitarists to play such an instrument.
I think there would be a good compromise straightening the many kinks on the frets, to have the frets in a smooth curve. The many kinks are just to the bits wich are connecting the perfectly intonated part of fret placement.
If the transitions are straightened out, the string still sits on a perfect intonated spot on the fret and only vibrato will sound slightly different for highly trained ears.
Ow well, the bends will need reprogramming muscle memory… that‘s the hardest part.
But I personally would have a higher interest playing on TT frets if the frets where just curved.
Cheers! And thank you Phil for this presentation!👍🏼
A compensated nut is a quite good halfway solution for better intonation.
Now I have the idea for both: slight curved frets AND a accordingly compensated nut.😃
Thanks for so many years of great videos. You are always able to put feeling into every part of your show and reviews. Its not all about money but do you really need it and why. In the end thats what matters. Putting common sense with want or need is so hard to do. All your how to videos have done wonders for me also. Thanks again.
Does that mean if you have a four hour gig tonight you would automatically pick up the squiggly fret version without giving it a second thought? Just thought this question might require a more carefully considered answer. NO?
I have a friend who lives in Chicago who owns one tenth of the true intonation system. No point..just sayin..He told me it wasn't an
easy sell in the beginning. I guess it's like anything that's new. (His initials are J. 19:28 19:28 E.
just for the sake of verifying what I'm saying.
I wouldn't make stuff up where you guys are concerned.
Has somebody explained mathematically how the seemingly random placement of each fret for each string is better? This reminds me of the controversy in Bach's day about the equal temperament tuning system which is used by all pianos today. (as immortalized in Bach's "Well Tempered Clavier"). Prior to that, keyboards were tuned in a way which sounded perfect when played in one or two keys, but sounded quite bad played in other keys.
The equal temperament system is a little bit out of tune in ALL keys, but all keys sound slightly out of tune. For most cases, the slight inaccuracies are outweighed by the ability to play in any key at any time.
I strongly suspect that "true temperament" system will have the same issues. Playing in some keys will sound really great, but there will be other keys that sound really bad. I'll check Andfe Fludd's video to see if he actually addresses the math problem.
I have one of the replacement strat necks so I have experience with it..This idea of perfectly in tune is absolutely wrong as you say. What this system does from what I see is like more well tempering the equal temperament system to the guitars eccentricities and more common keys. Just like regular equal temperament you are still sweeping some stuff under the rug, but it comes off as less and its hiding in different places.
Hey! A lot of information to unpack here for a RUclips discussion - as a slight reference point my Post Grad degree was *in* Temperament, history of tuning systems etc etc so some context I can add here! :)
1) "Seemingly Random" I get what you're saying and I know you're not saying it "is" random but these are adjusted to try and more generally improve the intonation of the guitar vs a fixed fret instrument. You cannot achieve "pure" tuning for all notes at all times on fixed pitch instruments, it's not possible - hence why we have "temperaments" to "temper" parts of the tuning (ie kind of trading how pure one note will be tuned vs another on the instrument which is a contextual decision as you say, such as for what key the instrument was in as an example, many years ago)
2)There's a lot of misconception about the Well Tempered Clavier, which was not in Equal temperament (and actually 12TET didn't become "standard" until the end of the 19th C but still wasn't "fully" adopted (at least as a piano tuning) until the 20th C where stretching octaves was still the norm in much of the world. These pieces were written for exactly as the name suggests, a Well Temperament, which is a subclass of tuning system (with the aim of being able to playing in all major and minor Keys without any notable inconsistency for a specific interval/key). It's not unlikely this was either a Werckmeister temperament or something very similar to it. Bach's family was key in spreading Well temperaments, and his son JC Bach was a key figure in this in the London scene (which would form a key import/export relationship.) I don't have my old research notes to hand but I believe JC Bach was the son that was a huge proponent of selling keyboard instruments with the advisement of using Well temperaments, though I think I am right in saying JS Bach started that ball rolling with his history in working as a sort of sales agent for makers too - though I may be getting Bach's wrong as to be frank there was many of them!
3) It's also worth noting for anyone reading this and finding it interesting "True Temperament" is also a Temperament (I believe it's also a Well Temperament), not some "fix all solution" which I think isa trap many fall into when discussing the Frets. It's a system designed to try and correct some bigger tuning inconsistencies on guitars, as well as actual be favourable for "common" guitar playing - so for the example I was given when discussing the system with the inventor Anders Thidell (who sadly passed away last year) was that the TT system will let you swap from G major to A minor chords on a standard tuned guitar, with less clashing of tuning/intonation. They were not designed to be "perfect in all instances everywhere on the neck" but an extremely considered general "improvement" in many situations. I discussed if for example, the "stock" TT system would suit instruments in various open tunings, and Anders said probably not depending on specifics and it may be better to engineer a specific lay out for said tuning. Anders and their company actually used to offer a large number of necks in various historical and microtonal tunings, which they have phased out over the previous few years/decade or so. I've to contacted anyone there in a few years but I don't think they would special order them either sadly.
Another fun thing - Anders of TT Frets before developing the 12 tone TT system, built a 31 note per octave (I don't believe 31 Equal but possible, 31 and 19 Equal are very commonly used "close to 12" tunings that were more common before settling on 12 Equal as the most practical to play vs using subsets and specifically tuned instruments) which inspired how he defined his Well Temperament that would become the True Temperament system eventually. I've never sat down to do the maths and didn't think to ask him about it before he passed sadly, but I suspect the TT system is heavily influenced by 31 EDO guitar layouts and systems.
There's some info on the link here about the Tuning system that effectively is True Temperament that Anders developed and some of the maths behind it in terms of what specific adjustments have been made vs 12TET :) Was looking for this why writing my first comment and found it! You'll see this system was heavily inspired by what is suspected to be the Well Temperament Bach used for The Well Tempered Clavier so you were definitely on the money!
www.guyguitars.com/truetemperament/eng/tt_techdetails.html
It's rigorously explained on their sight.
You also miss the point, it's not an alternative to equal temperament, it is an attempt to solve the physical problems achieving equal temperament on guitar
Aesthetically I prefer the green one, but I would prefer the tobacco burst one as well. It’s not often we hear something truly different but to me this was and I would someday love to own one.
I don't know how minor it is. To me, it's pretty clear. The intonation of even the best set-up guitars has always niggled at me. Certainly, all the guitars I've owned have been not-perfect, and it bugged me. Some were better than others, but nothing was right. Now I have a TT neck fitted to my Strat, and I can tell you, I will never go back.
i primarily play rhythm guitar with a piano player and this would be perfect!. just needs to be an acoustic or at least a hybrid for my style though.
visually it looks silly as hell, but the idea of not having to constantly compensate for the flaws in guitar construction without any noticeable drawbacks would be a dream come true. It's become so ingrained in my style to bend and wiggle everything trying to disguise the nasty beating between intervals that aren't consistent across the fretboard I don't even know what it'd be like to not have to do it
I can tell you that having had a TT neck fitted on my Stat for the last few years, straight frets look a bit old-hat to me now. :)
Phil, it reminds me of the digital vs vinyl of recordings, the digital is exact but sort of has a missing element. To my ears, the standard has a warmer, more inviting sound and i know that the tremolo and pickups factor in to that. I just believe that the slight imperfections is the secret in the sauce. Great vid Phil as always
fully agree with this. The slight variances and imperfections are what makes a guitar unique. although its not 'perfect', our ears have gotten really used to those dissonances subconsciously and its what makes guitar so enjoyable to listen to. This guitar, while sounding really good, also sounds a bit synthetic, and too perfect. Digital vs vinyl is a great analogy - digital sounds technically better, but people miss the vinyl/tape saturation so much that they now use digital effects to emulate it. I can totally see producers using this guitar to create really lush, resonant chords and then add slight vibrato effects on it to make it sound more organic.
Wonderful rundown on this. I have a Singularity 7 and love it for the same reasons.
As a guitarist, and i do mean a guitarist who plays jazz and fusion, this sounds GREAT to me!
Dear Phil;
You have Stu Hamm Urge Signature Bass?
Have done a video on it?
Link please?
Sincerely
Mike B. B. From Philly, P.A. U.S.A.
Swell…first time I’ve ever heard a guitar that actually sounds in tune. Now I want one. As in really, really, really want one.
Beautiful words man, as a producer I have always thought about intonation on guitars, since sometimes you look for long sustained notes/chords and there is just a kind of presicion you get from a normal electric guitar let alone an acoustic guitar, I would love to try a guitar with that system. And love your opinion about how it feels, not as a guitar that makes every other obsolete, but as an instrument for a kind of sound and feel, and you are right, as one that excites the harmonics or resonate more and makes you play different.
true temperment is tricky. We got so used to the intonation being out of tune with the tempered scale, that we have a hard time appreciating true temperament. But its a funny relation... true temperament gives really great harmonics and long ringing "in-tune" chords, while the standard 12tone temperament gives that familiar chiminess of chords, a little bit off, but ringing with some disfuntion that we are used to. For me it was an eye opener for me listening to Jon Catler, to appreciate true temperament, but e warned, it will twist your music taste in a similar manner, than indian scales and tuning do.
I think piano players would absolutely love it if guitar players used these more often.
Why? Pianos are tuned to equal temperment,
@@cchavezjr7 you have completely misunderstood the point of true temperament. The point is that it's closer to equal temperament compared to linear frets.
@@gonzoengineering4894 "equal temperament" IS "linear frets". I think you have misunderstood the point of "true temperament", which is just a marketing buzz word and not a real music theory thing. It makes certain keys/chords slightly more in tune at the cost of making other keys/chords worse. That is all.
Sounds like the perfect guitar for EHX’s organ, synth, and piano pedals.
I use these pedals at church and they really make the band fuller.
We have a piano player. Everyone thinks she is playing the B3 and synth too.
I tell them it’s me and they are shocked.
my budy has a Strandberg with fanned frets and at first it was weird to play, but once I stopped thinking about it, it was great. That neck shape is really comfortable!
Thank you for yet another very interesting video! 🤩
If I may, possibly this explanation can explain the reason for difference in sustain and richness:
..if you study the magic overtones in barbershop. No joke!
Not being a fan myself but my wife was part of a Swedish choir which came second in the world championship in the USA. Her quartet practiced at our home for years so I was unintentionally “educated” in; tonality, interference waves, overtones, scales and most importantly - that everyone of these four members had to know at which note at certain chords, they individually had to raise or lower the pitch a bit. Or more! In one certain chord, the lead maybe had the exact pitch whilst the tenor hade to pitch up and baritone down and the bass did her particular pitch.
When succeeding, the chord “rang”. A fifth tone could be heard. Although only four singers! Sometimes more than five tones.
Why?! Because when four (or more or less) voices, vocal or instrumental, interact at exactly the right frequencies, they:
A) amplify the sound energy of the other tones
B) create overtones (plural)
That was called “ringing” if I remember correctly. The sound mixture then filled the room or “enveloped” the listeners. Even in big theatres one whould experience the sound surrounding one’s head instead of being projected from the stage!…😮🤯
So… With the exact pitch of each tone in every different chord the energy of all tones will add to one another thus creating more sustain, a more full bodied sound and a richer sound.
Conclusion: The closer one can get to “an ideal combination of tone pitches” for a chord, the richer sound is created/transmitted!
So, any enlightenment? 😅
Kind regards
Anders
Sweden
PS. If anything is unclear just give me a shout. English is not my native language. I’ll try to clarify if needed.
So here's the thing with True Temperament. TT = 12 TET and not just intonation. There are chords on standard frets that are (or can be) more consonant and some that are more dissonant. The benefit of TT is that it is consistent. That's not true on standard frets.. and especially not true while using sweetened tunings where you can nudge a string to nudge notes to the just intonation internal.
The 7 string version of this is still my dream guitar. I love the way they sound.
Thanks for the video. This may clear up the way outher musicians, pianist trumpet violinist hear when they play with a guitar in the band . Might be a must for rhythm players.
Great review. I appreciate you took the tiiiiiime to review it and think about it.
$200 for the green one, cash in hand!!
I wasn’t expecting to like the squiggly one as much as I did. It has that thing where the chords have this big looping sound like a piano does. I really love that.
More than likely CNC? You can particularly hear the waver of the C chord. You can hear it on both guitars but not as much on the adjusted fret guitar.
In the ab test, the regular guitar had what seemed like a slight tremolo effect and the true temperament guitar had some kinda of organ sounding overtones that were amazing.
My only beef with headless guitars is that I just absolutely love the way guitar heads look. I won’t even buy a guitar if I don’t like the head. But I’m a weird like that. Would really like to own a strandberg one day
its a relief for my ears to hear an in tune chord on these guitars. not to speak of my probs when tryin to tune a non tt guitar. the c-chord was most prominent and its almost like a very slight chorus effect is drivin the chord an the non tt. if strandberg would make a archtop with these frets...geez. i wonder if theres any luthier who makes selmer-style gutiars with these frets. great video
Listening to the AB test, the clarity of the true temperament guitar looked as if it were a clear glass of water or something. The normal guitar had a ringing of clashing waveforms, which I don't dislike at all. I could see how you could love or hate it. The clarity of true temp could feel sterile if not used correctly.
Just as a regular guitar can be sterile. That's on the player, not the instrument (in this case).
@@Vykk_Draygo I was speaking on taste, so obviously. I used a glass of water as an analogy
what about string changes, if I go from 8 to 10 do I lose the sustain? how about just individual strings vs. a normal pack? different string types, flat would, metal material?
Are there any acoustic guitars with TT frets? Should be a no-brainer?
??? Kool Phil. Have you tried delay, flanger, phaser with this guitar? I am wondering if the sound is less ~muddy / notes are more distinct because of the 'true temper' ? I play with lots of delay, flanger, phaser combos and ~muddiness / clarity of notes might sound better with this system. Thanks Phil!
Great video! I think with distorted sounds the difference is probably much bigger.
This sounds like a dream for me. I'm very sensitive to out of tune chords. I could easily tell which guitar was which in the blind examples
Now i see (hear) way the chords on regular frets sounds for me always off.
They are off.
That was a valuable lesson.
Thank You
This may be a dumb question, but why is increased sustain so important or sought after? When’s the last time you played something that required you to hold a chord or note for as long as possible?
I wonder how they re-crowned these frets after leveling. Btw, that can be a downside, if you'll ever need to re-level or re-fret it, it's gonna be expensive. You might not even find a luthier who will take the job. Though, since it's stainless steel, you might not even need it, but it's something you should consider
Probably so. Would be interesting to see how they actually do it
I prefer the pickups in the regular one so much more that I find it too hard to compare the sound. I would love to hear two otherwise identical guitars with the only difference being true temperment frets vs regular straight frets.
The comparison at end was enlightening. The std guitar sounded a bit flat on the mid tones, okay on the tonic. Sure enough, the second guitar sounded a bit sharper, brighter and had some shimmer to the harmonies. Wow.
Question: if a guitar has the multiscale bridge system with fanned/slanted frets (for the purpose of better intonation of each of the 6 strings) why does it also need the True Temperament frets (for the purpose of better intonation) also? Isn't that redundant? I didn't hear if you addressed this specifically, because I was wondering this the whole video.
I don’t think fanned frets are meant to improve intonation (not that I’m any sort of expert). I thought the purpose was to create the multiple scale lengths for better string tension, especially with lower tunings. I.E., I don’t think fanned frets and True Temperament are meant to solve the same problem.
Multi scale is just that multi scale length for even tension across the strings it has little to do with intonation. It just makes it easier to use a lighter guage string for lower notes and not have a 27" scale length on the high E. It's beneficial on extended range guitars.
I don't think multiscale affects intonation, it's about tone and string tension. Think of a piano. The lower the pitch, the longer the string length.
No because the intonation is better not trying to compensate for the equal temperament system. 3rds sound dissonant on multiscale but sound "perfect" on True Temperament
As has been said, multi scale instruments are meant to better balance the tension between high and low strings. It's even mor eimpactful for bassists that play 5+ string instruments. That low B string can sound (and feel) flabby at 34".
Great review, Phil! It would be really interesting to do a comparison between a true temperament guitar and a guitar set up with a Buzz Feiten shelf nut, intimated and tuned per his specifications. Much lower cost and less intrusive to the feel of normal frets. I retro-fitted a PRS Custom 22 and purchased a John Suhr Modem carve top that came with this tuning system and have loved both guitars.
Finally! A look at True Temperament fret system! Good for you, Phil!
'A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing' I love the sound of those wonky frets. Thanks Phil.
The AB comparison was a little tricky. I was kind of going back-and-forth. Although, I am driving in my car; but I have it up pretty loud. Strangely, in the beginning, the true temperament guitar was very wavering. I thought you were about to comment, or say that it might be out of tune. Every time you strummed it, it would waiver. And then it would kind of even out and go into that long sustain. Sounded better the longer the chord rang out.
Who knows. I really don’t have any interest in trying it anyway. I’m still having too much fun on my traditional guitars. Not looking for anything different. 😝🤘🏻🎸🇺🇸
Good job at being open minded about this guitar. I'd like to try one someday.
It seems to me that on the true intonation guitar there is less of the harmonics fighting each other that's causing the "wavering" on the standard guitar. I think that's the secret to the clarity - less harmonic interference.
As others have already said, thanks for thinking outside of the box for this content!
I was really tempted to install this (or buy a guitar directly from Paul Guy Guitars with TT already installed) way back in 2006/2007 but I had the same concerns about not being able to play and enjoy a non TT gutar afterwards. I ended up not installing/buying it and haven't really considered it again. I suspect it would make it a bit easier on my ears though. I'm quite sensitive to how certain chords always sound slightly out of tune on a normal guitar.
How about alternative tuning, does the sound of the intonation stay consistent or does it introduce wavering frequencies?
Digging around in the market place now for one following this video. My guess is it will break the bank, but pretty nifty instrument that appeals to the physicist in me. Thanks Phil!
Any chance of you doing a video on the Music Man Kaizen?
Is the intonation better because the shape of the frets put your fingers in the right place in relation to the fret and the string, because the frets compensate for the pressure of your fingers on the string, or is it both?...Or neither?
Sorry if you answered this before but I don't think you did.
BTW awesome of you to give a shout out to Andre Fludd's channel.