Freenote Music's 19-TET Necks

Just got mine in the mail today. I have to say, this is an immaculate neck. Even better than the 22-TET neck John Carruthers made me, and a bit cheaper (not to mention that it arrived much FASTER, despite being backordered when I put my order in). $549 may seem a bit steep at first glance, but the neck is totally worth it. WAAAAY better than the 12-tone Ultra Plus necks he was selling 5 or 6 years ago--which were the same price, but were basically raw unfinished wood. And for an extra $300, I could have had it factory-installed on a G&L body, which would basically be the same price as buying a G&L guitar new off the shelf.

I hope Freenote sells a ton of these. If any guitar players out there are thinking of going 19, this is the way to go--SUPPORT THIS COMPANY. And maybe if enough people bug him, Catler will start making 22-TET necks or 17-TET necks or 24-TET necks, too.

Man, I can't wait to take this thing over to my guitar repair guy to have it installed on a body and setup. That dude is gonna get his mind blown.

-Igs

Congrats Igs! Catler is the man. -Carl

At 02:14 PM 2/14/2011, you wrote:
>Just got mine in the mail today. I have to say, this is an immaculate
>neck. Even better than the 22-TET neck John Carruthers made me, and a
>bit cheaper (not to mention that it arrived much FASTER, despite being
>backordered when I put my order in). $549 may seem a bit steep at
>first glance, but the neck is totally worth it. WAAAAY better than
>the 12-tone Ultra Plus necks he was selling 5 or 6 years ago--which
>were the same price, but were basically raw unfinished wood. And for
>an extra $300, I could have had it factory-installed on a G&L body,
>which would basically be the same price as buying a G&L guitar new off
>the shelf.
>
>I hope Freenote sells a ton of these. If any guitar players out there
>are thinking of going 19, this is the way to go--SUPPORT THIS COMPANY.
> And maybe if enough people bug him, Catler will start making 22-TET
>necks or 17-TET necks or 24-TET necks, too.
>
>Man, I can't wait to take this thing over to my guitar repair guy to
>have it installed on a body and setup. That dude is gonna get his
>mind blown.
>
>-Igs

That sounds great!!!

The more reliable microtonal friendly luthier's the better.

I am curious as to why you are not installing the neck yourself. I'm
assuming you had a bad experience somewhere - I've been toying with getting
some converted necks for my full strat copy and I was planing on installing
it myself. A guitar shop here sells the blanks fair cheaply.

Chris

On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 5:14 PM, cityoftheasleep <igliashon@...>wrote:

>
>
> Just got mine in the mail today. I have to say, this is an immaculate neck.
> Even better than the 22-TET neck John Carruthers made me, and a bit cheaper
> (not to mention that it arrived much FASTER, despite being backordered when
> I put my order in). $549 may seem a bit steep at first glance, but the neck
> is totally worth it. WAAAAY better than the 12-tone Ultra Plus necks he was
> selling 5 or 6 years ago--which were the same price, but were basically raw
> unfinished wood. And for an extra $300, I could have had it
> factory-installed on a G&L body, which would basically be the same price as
> buying a G&L guitar new off the shelf.
>
> I hope Freenote sells a ton of these. If any guitar players out there are
> thinking of going 19, this is the way to go--SUPPORT THIS COMPANY. And maybe
> if enough people bug him, Catler will start making 22-TET necks or 17-TET
> necks or 24-TET necks, too.
>
> Man, I can't wait to take this thing over to my guitar repair guy to have
> it installed on a body and setup. That dude is gonna get his mind blown.
>
> -Igs
>
>
>

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

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:
> I am curious as to why you are not installing the neck yourself. I'm
> assuming you had a bad experience somewhere - I've been toying with getting
> some converted necks for my full strat copy and I was planing on installing
> it myself. A guitar shop here sells the blanks fair cheaply.

I could do it myself, but there's a shop in San Francisco that does great work for a decent price and very quickly. Also the neck does not fit my strat body exactly, and doesn't come with pre-drilled screw holes. I'd rather just drop an extra hundo and get a top-notch setup than spend the next week agonizing over the setup myself.

A guitar shop near you sells blank necks? As in fretless? Do they have a finish on them? If so, that's awesome.

-Igs

I believe they are 12edo. I know they need tuners, etc. but do have a
finish.

On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 8:39 PM, cityoftheasleep <igliashon@sbcglobal.net>wrote:

>
>
> --- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...>
> wrote:
> > I am curious as to why you are not installing the neck yourself. I'm
> > assuming you had a bad experience somewhere - I've been toying with
> getting
> > some converted necks for my full strat copy and I was planing on
> installing
> > it myself. A guitar shop here sells the blanks fair cheaply.
>
> I could do it myself, but there's a shop in San Francisco that does great
> work for a decent price and very quickly. Also the neck does not fit my
> strat body exactly, and doesn't come with pre-drilled screw holes. I'd
> rather just drop an extra hundo and get a top-notch setup than spend the
> next week agonizing over the setup myself.
>
> A guitar shop near you sells blank necks? As in fretless? Do they have a
> finish on them? If so, that's awesome.
>
> -Igs
>
>
>

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

Hey Igs,

I bought one of the necks today. $40 because it has a funny headstock.
Normally $99.

A picture is here

http://notonlymusic.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=764&p=4427#p4427

I think what I'm going to do is ask Brad to make this into a neck to replace
the neck on the fretless squire. I need to figure out what edo first though.

chris

On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 9:01 PM, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...>wrote:

> I believe they are 12edo. I know they need tuners, etc. but do have a
> finish.
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 8:39 PM, cityoftheasleep <igliashon@...>wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> --- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...>
>> wrote:
>> > I am curious as to why you are not installing the neck yourself. I'm
>> > assuming you had a bad experience somewhere - I've been toying with
>> getting
>> > some converted necks for my full strat copy and I was planing on
>> installing
>> > it myself. A guitar shop here sells the blanks fair cheaply.
>>
>> I could do it myself, but there's a shop in San Francisco that does great
>> work for a decent price and very quickly. Also the neck does not fit my
>> strat body exactly, and doesn't come with pre-drilled screw holes. I'd
>> rather just drop an extra hundo and get a top-notch setup than spend the
>> next week agonizing over the setup myself.
>>
>> A guitar shop near you sells blank necks? As in fretless? Do they have a
>> finish on them? If so, that's awesome.
>>
>> -Igs
>>
>>
>>
>
>

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

I'd recommend 19, 22, or 24. Yes, 24--it's an awesome 2.3.11 subgroup with some interesting 13 implications, and it's got two of my favorite xenharmonic MOS scales: 0-200-350-500-700-850-1050-1200 "Mohajira-ish" 3L+4s, and 0-200-250-450-500-700-750-950-1000-1200 "Island" or something, 5L+4s. I'm contemplating going for 24 at some point soon, too, just because there's so much nasty quartertone music out there and it's high time someone attempted to do something accessible and xenharmonic with it. Or, if you're feeling really adventurous and are ready to get away from a near-pure 3/2, I'd say 15 and 18 are the strongest contenders. I don't think I've heard you do anything in 15, so you should try it out first, but I really liked that one piano piece you did in 18. Some time in the next few months, I'm gonna get in touch with the guy who did your 17 refret and send him a guitar to convert to 18 for me.

-Igs

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, Chris Vaisvil <chrisvaisvil@...> wrote:

> I think what I'm going to do is ask Brad to make this into a neck to replace
> the neck on the fretless squire. I need to figure out what edo first though.

Good to see some positivity about 24EDO. My latest experiment with conventional 12EDO 6 string bass is to tune it in 350c neutral-thirds to play in 24EDO. Open notes are tuned ...

1200+550c
1200+200c
1050c
700c
350c
0c

It sounds awkward but mapping out scales and chords it is surprisingly intuitive to play. Straight across one fret you can play neutral triad, neutral seventh, neutral ninth and neutral eleventh (with 11th harmonic as top note) chords.

Since it is an all 350c tuning everything can be transposed / modulated to any quartertone. The pitch range is reduced so guitars or basses with 7, 8 or more strings would be ideal.

I'm using 24EDO to approximate a 3-11-prime JI tonal lattice to within 4c. 7 tones from 12EDO and 10 quartertones.

In addition simply retuning the quartertone strings to 386c 1086c and 1200+586c allows Just major scales to within 4c. Similarly 316c 1016c 1200+516c for Just minor.

Mat Cooper (aka ixlramp)

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "cityoftheasleep" <igliashon@...> wrote:
>
> I'd recommend 19, 22, or 24. Yes, 24--it's an awesome 2.3.11 subgroup

Update:
So I took the guitar into my repair guy, turns out he has a guy on staff by the name of Benjamin Strange who's actually into microtonality and he knew exactly what was up with the neck (so that saved me the "why are there so many frets?" spiel). That's the good news. The bad news is that he called me the day after I dropped it off and said that the frets were in horrendous need of a level and dress. He strung it up and said that a good 1/3 of the notes were unplayable. Mind you, this guy is the best in the SF Bay Area, his turn-around time is usually 2 days tops for most work and I've used him for years, and he's never tried to talk me into getting more work done than my guitars absolutely need. So if he says the fretwork on a neck is a disaster, I know he's not just yanking my chain.

So I think I have to retract my recommendation, as this is adding a good $200 more onto the price-tag. I thought I was getting a ready-to-play neck. For the total amount of cash I'm putting into this, I could have gotten two re-frets done by Chris V.'s guy. Bummer.

-Igs

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "cityoftheasleep" <igliashon@...> wrote:
>
> Just got mine in the mail today. I have to say, this is an immaculate neck. Even better than the 22-TET neck John Carruthers made me, and a bit cheaper (not to mention that it arrived much FASTER, despite being backordered when I put my order in). $549 may seem a bit steep at first glance, but the neck is totally worth it. WAAAAY better than the 12-tone Ultra Plus necks he was selling 5 or 6 years ago--which were the same price, but were basically raw unfinished wood. And for an extra $300, I could have had it factory-installed on a G&L body, which would basically be the same price as buying a G&L guitar new off the shelf.
>
> I hope Freenote sells a ton of these. If any guitar players out there are thinking of going 19, this is the way to go--SUPPORT THIS COMPANY. And maybe if enough people bug him, Catler will start making 22-TET necks or 17-TET necks or 24-TET necks, too.
>
> Man, I can't wait to take this thing over to my guitar repair guy to have it installed on a body and setup. That dude is gonna get his mind blown.
>
> -Igs
>

Update Update:

Jon Catler contacted me to let me know that I could send the neck back for corrections free of charge if I had issues, but sadly it was after I already ordered the work done by my repair guy. I probably would've gone ahead and had the work done anyway, because sending the neck back to Maine, waiting for it to get fixed and then mailed back would probably have taken forever. But it's good to know he stands behind his products, and if I lived on the east coast I probably would have taken him up on it. I suppose it's possible that the fretwork on the neck was fine when it left the factory, but the temperature changes during shipping may have caused things to go a little out-of-whack. I know that when I've had conversions done by Ron Sword, they've arrived in dire need of a setup, despite the fact that he sets them up meticulously before sending them out from Florida.

So, my final verdict is: Freenote is good to do business with, but if you live on the west coast, it may or may not be a hassle depending on variables beyond Freenote's control. I can't fault the company since they offered to repair or replace for free.

-Igs

--- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "cityoftheasleep" <igliashon@...> wrote:
>
> Update:
> So I took the guitar into my repair guy, turns out he has a guy on staff by the name of Benjamin Strange who's actually into microtonality and he knew exactly what was up with the neck (so that saved me the "why are there so many frets?" spiel). That's the good news. The bad news is that he called me the day after I dropped it off and said that the frets were in horrendous need of a level and dress. He strung it up and said that a good 1/3 of the notes were unplayable. Mind you, this guy is the best in the SF Bay Area, his turn-around time is usually 2 days tops for most work and I've used him for years, and he's never tried to talk me into getting more work done than my guitars absolutely need. So if he says the fretwork on a neck is a disaster, I know he's not just yanking my chain.
>
> So I think I have to retract my recommendation, as this is adding a good $200 more onto the price-tag. I thought I was getting a ready-to-play neck. For the total amount of cash I'm putting into this, I could have gotten two re-frets done by Chris V.'s guy. Bummer.
>
> -Igs
>
> --- In MakeMicroMusic@yahoogroups.com, "cityoftheasleep" <igliashon@> wrote:
> >
> > Just got mine in the mail today. I have to say, this is an immaculate neck. Even better than the 22-TET neck John Carruthers made me, and a bit cheaper (not to mention that it arrived much FASTER, despite being backordered when I put my order in). $549 may seem a bit steep at first glance, but the neck is totally worth it. WAAAAY better than the 12-tone Ultra Plus necks he was selling 5 or 6 years ago--which were the same price, but were basically raw unfinished wood. And for an extra $300, I could have had it factory-installed on a G&L body, which would basically be the same price as buying a G&L guitar new off the shelf.
> >
> > I hope Freenote sells a ton of these. If any guitar players out there are thinking of going 19, this is the way to go--SUPPORT THIS COMPANY. And maybe if enough people bug him, Catler will start making 22-TET necks or 17-TET necks or 24-TET necks, too.
> >
> > Man, I can't wait to take this thing over to my guitar repair guy to have it installed on a body and setup. That dude is gonna get his mind blown.
> >
> > -Igs
> >
>