new member

Hello all--

My name is DaveX, and I have come to this list from OddMusic, because of
a post within OddMusic where someone asked about tuning bells they were
making out of oxygen tanks. That person was referred to "tuning" proper,
but after looking at the digest, I realized that this might be more
helpful of a list for me.

My first question is this-- I have an electric guitar that I have
recently made fretless, having yanked the little frets out with a pair
of pliers. I did a little filling with wood putty, and I am interested
in putting new frets in to create a micro-tonal guitar. I realize that
with it fretless, I can get any note I want, but I'd like the frets.
Does anyone know of any calculation programs that could help me do this?

On another note, what happens to the notes of a standard acoustic if one
was to tune the strings in such a way that the first fret of the 5th
string is the note between the first and second frets of the 6th string?
I had thought this would be a way to make a microtone guitar, but then I
realized that the spacing of the frets would probably contribute to
notes eventually becoming "off"... I am curious what they do...

Well, I should be going now. Goodbye!

DaveX

--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., Dave X <davex@s...> wrote:
> Hello all--
>
> My name is DaveX, and I have come to this list from OddMusic,
because of
> a post within OddMusic where someone asked about tuning bells they
were
> making out of oxygen tanks. That person was referred to "tuning"
proper,
> but after looking at the digest, I realized that this might be more
> helpful of a list for me.
>
> My first question is this-- I have an electric guitar that I have
> recently made fretless, having yanked the little frets out with a
pair
> of pliers. I did a little filling with wood putty, and I am
interested
> in putting new frets in to create a micro-tonal guitar. I realize
that
> with it fretless, I can get any note I want, but I'd like the frets.
> Does anyone know of any calculation programs that could help me do
this?

Many of us here (and many more on tuning@yahoogroups.com) could
easily calculate fret positions for whatever tuning you want!
Question is, what tuning to you want? I myself have microtonal
guitars fretted in 22-tET and 31-tET (by John Starrett, who did a
great job).
>
> On another note, what happens to the notes of a standard acoustic
if one
> was to tune the strings in such a way that the first fret of the 5th
> string is the note between the first and second frets of the 6th
string?
> I had thought this would be a way to make a microtone guitar, but
then I
> realized that the spacing of the frets would probably contribute to
> notes eventually becoming "off"... I am curious what they do...

Well, using both the 5th string and the 6th string, you'd be able to
play a full 24-tET scale melodically, though you'd be severely
limited in the 24-tET harmonies you could play . . . not that 24-tET
is such a great scale for harmonies anyway . . .

>
>
> Many of us here (and many more on tuning@yahoogroups.com) could
> easily calculate fret positions for whatever tuning you want!
> Question is, what tuning to you want? I myself have microtonal
> guitars fretted in 22-tET and 31-tET (by John Starrett, who did a
> great job).
>
>
> Well, using both the 5th string and the 6th string, you'd be able to
> play a full 24-tET scale melodically, though you'd be severely
> limited in the 24-tET harmonies you could play . . . not that 24-tET
> is such a great scale for harmonies anyway . . .

Well, first, maybe I failed to mention that I am totally self-taught. So
far, that hasn't included learning many standard things, like reading
music, or knowing any scales at all. I just usually know how to play
what I want to hear. I also don't generally play anyone else's
material... so this whole 24-tET thing is going over my head. What I am
wanting to do is use an extraordinarily cheap Fender knockoff electric
guitar (called a Saturday Night Special) that had 22 frets-- and turn it
into something with the same range, but having all the frets "in
between"... I'm not sure what this is called. I think of it as: 1st
fret, 1.5 fret, 2nd fret, etc... How is this accomplished? Are there
tables that I can use?

Also, when you were discussing my idea for the 5th and 6th frets, did
that mean that I was correct, and that this would work (although
decreasing the range of the guitar)?

Curious,

DaveX

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

> What I am wanting to do is use an extraordinarily cheap Fender >
> knockoff electric guitar (called a Saturday Night Special) that had
> 22 frets-- and turn it
> into something with the same range, but having all the frets "in
> between"... I'm not sure what this is called. I think of it as: 1st
> fret, 1.5 fret, 2nd fret, etc... How is this accomplished? Are there
> tables that I can use?
>
> Also, when you were discussing my idea for the 5th and 6th frets,
> did
> that mean that I was correct, and that this would work (although
> decreasing the range of the guitar)?
>
> Curious,
>
> DaveX

Hi Dave. What you are looking for is a 24tet guitar, and you could
cetainly describe the modification as adding the 1.5 fret, 2.5 fret
etc. I have instructions here for refretting your own guitar:
http://www-math.cudenver.edu/~jstarret/guitar.html
and they include formulae for calculating the fret positions. On the
other hand, I would be glad to print a chart and post it in my folder
if you will tell me the distance from the nut to the 12th fret on the
guitar you wish to refret.
Staggered frets like you propose in the last part of the quote are
very difficult to cut, and I don't recommend it unless you are making
a justly intoned guitar a la Jon Catler (in which case you have no
choice). For an equal temered 24 fret per octave number like you
propose, the best way is to just put in 24 frets straight across.

--- In MakeMicroMusic@y..., Dave X <davex@s...> wrote:
>
> Also, when you were discussing my idea for the 5th and 6th frets,

strings?

> did
> that mean that I was correct, and that this would work (although
> decreasing the range of the guitar)?

Yes. Not very efficient, but it would work.