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Subject: Re: Earvana (Was... Re: Be that as it MAY....) - msg#00254List: music.equipment.midi-guitarThere is no need to mystify the intonation problems. For the guitar sound you need equal-tempered tuning or you´ll be out of tune most time. In midi you can use any tempering system, but you have to learn a lot of theory first. I guess it´s better you don´t even start... All guitars I ever bought had a "nut-problem". Mostly it was too high and too far from the first fret. Taking the nut out, removing some wood (about 0.5 mm) in direction first fret from the nut-slot solved it. I´ve bought better nuts in my local store and filed the slots for strings myself. If you are not sure how to do it, let a luthier do this job. I paid some USD 10 for it the last time. Don´t wanna advertize for Gore Co. here, but it is true that the intonation is much better with Elixir strings. Today you can use a software based chromatic tuner on your computer, so it´s not difficult to check it out yourself. Regards, George www.gpmusic.de.vu Thread at a glance:
Previous Message by Date: click to view message previewRe: Be that as it MAY....This is what I´ve read about Brian May´s self-made guitar in the magazine "Guitar Techniques": Because the body of his guitar is oak, it has a very dark sound. Brian had to use all the time a "treble-booster" - which is actually a "high-mid-booster". The secret seems to be in the possibility to split all pickups, use them in paralell and serial configuration, and the electronics. So much I know, there are about 30 pickup-configurations possible on his guitar. Copying his wood-work will be not enough to get his sound. Try some electronics instead. My humble opionion. George www.gpmusic.de.vu Next Message by Date: click to view message previewRe: Earvana (Was... Re: Be that as it MAY....)yeah, yeah,... having worked on and built instruments for 30 years, my only observation is "even if you give a gorilla the most advanced instrument in existence, he'll still use it to bust coconuts" Previous Message by Thread: click to view message previewEarvana (Was... Re: Be that as it MAY....)--- In midiguitar@xxxx, "Nik" <fluke@xxxx> wrote: > If you go to the Earvana (sp?) website, you will find some very convincing > arguments as to why their system of compensating each string individually is > rather better than the Buzz Feiten system. > Luthiers have been compensating for intonation by shortening the first fret > interval for many years. Buzz was the first person selfish enough to patent > the idea. This could easily get off topic here. To bring it back full circle, this discussion seemed to start with two topics, that of RMC asking for a marriage of physics and instrument building, and that of Brian May building his own guitars. In the interest of the former point, I feel it's important to keep our minds sharp and to question everything. Only in this way will we begin to understand our craft. When I first came across the Buzz Feinten hype, I knew instinctively that we were all being asked to swallow a load of horse dung. Checking out his website strongly confirmed that. The Earvana site seems to offer a good (and cheap) alternative to the BF system, even empowering the guitarist to do it themselves. Earvana also states (correctly) that any deviation from equal temperament will send some chords more in tune and others more out of tune. This is one of the major flaws with the BF system, not to mention his way of avoiding the truth by hiding behind the thin veil of "trade secrets". Just to be fair, Earvana have their share of inaccuracies on their website, though they don't seem to be hiding behind such a slimy trail of obfuscation. Don't get me wrong here, the BF system probably sounds better than a guitar with no compensations. As does the Earvana system. Something that neither system addresses, which is crucial to this whole discussion, is that no one system can work for every guitar. My guitar tech does a similar kind of nut work. He has done a lot of work all on the same model type of guitar. Each one requires a different nut compensation from the last one. This is due to several factors, the string gauges used, the tuning used, the height of the action at the nut and at the bridge, the fact that no two guitars are made alike, and whether you use a plain or wound 3rd string. The recent posting about how we don't need to worry about this because we can fix the tuning with software... is only halfway true. If we are mixing the sound of the guitar with the sound module, they should be in tune with each other. If we don't have that as a requirement, there is software out there that just needs a tonal center plugged into it, and it will shift all the pitches into Just Intonation. No more need for Equal Temperament! This would be a midi guitarists wet dream. Unless of course they need to play with other equal tempered instruments... SVG Next Message by Thread: click to view message previewRe: Earvana (Was... Re: Be that as it MAY....)yeah, yeah,... having worked on and built instruments for 30 years, my only observation is "even if you give a gorilla the most advanced instrument in existence, he'll still use it to bust coconuts" Loading Comments...
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