EZ-Bender

New gear alert for guitarists:
To see a picture (no description yet!?!) of a device that allows "regular"
guitarists to bend strings in a steel-like manner, and might possibly be
adapted to microtonal use, point your browser to

http://www.epiphone.com/products/epiphone/inst/Gig-Rig/

and click on the EZ-Bender button. Curiously, the device was invented by
Richard Bowden of country parody group Pinkard and Bowden. He demonstrated it
this morning on The Johnboy and Billy Show (a syndicated morning show for
rednecks - don't ask ). I plan to check it out at MARS music store next
week and will update you then if somebody doesn't beat me to the punch. Cross
your calloused fingers!

David J. Finnamore

In response to my questions about her version of a neo-Gothic tuning, and
about how to distinguish between diatonic and chromatic intervals in a 12-tone
tuning, Margo Schulter wrote:

>I followed the usual Gothic rule that small
>semitones should be placed at diatonic locations, that is, where mi-fa
>or fa-mi would be sung: e.g. a-bb, eb-d, f#-g, c#-d, g#-a. Here I take
>the small 21:20 semitone as the counterpart of the usual limma
>(256:243, which occurs at e-f and b-c'), and accordingly place it at
>these locations. Note that "diatonic" semitones in this sense may be
>defined by the rule that a flat tends to descend, and a sharp to
>ascend.

If I'm not mistaken, that would only apply if c were assumed to be the
starting place of the tuning. If any tone of the 12-tone tuning might be
chosen as the first tone of a scale then that could change which (absolute)
tones were considered which type, right? Perhaps that's one place that my
approach deviates from the Gothic. Still, the tuning you originally specified
has some real merit, and could never be achieved using my methods.

I really like the idea of the 17-tone tuning you proposed, which should allow
both approaches. Though my keyboard's tuning table only handles 12 tones, I
might be able to visualize a fantasy harp with 17 strings to the octave and
compose for it under the assumption that no more than 12 tones would be used
in any given composition.

Thanks for fully answering my questions, and for yet another brilliant
analysis!

David J. Finnamore