Re : [tuning] Re: Sabat-Garibaldi's Dinarra (was: A new era in JI guitar design!)

I actually played a little on the Dinarra after the Microthon 2000 concert.
Eduardo told me that the system was not exactly 53-tet and that the main
musical purpose was to give expression to intervals in the same way singers
can do, even when they are accompanied by a 12-tet instrument like the piano
or a guitar. This is exactly what was happened during the concert, even if
one of the background-guitars had an E-string which didn't stop to slip
away. Eduardo's guitarist mainly played latin-jazz standards, I think there
was even The Girl from Ipanema.

The guitar itself was not really difficult to play. It had extremely heavy
strings, which made it impossible to play bends. However, it didn't mater
how narrow the space was between two frets. The string picked it up always
very neatly. So it felt almost like a fretless guitar with a very good
sustain, no special electronic devices needed, just the clean sound,
straight from the pick-up. I don't think you get lost on this guitar. With a
good background harmony, your ears tell you where to go and you don't really
need to look at your fingers. Playing for instance a 24-tet guitar is much
more difficult in my experience.

--Wim Hoogewerf

----------
>De : "Paul Erlich" <paul@stretch-music.com>
>À : tuning@yahoogroups.com
>Objet : [tuning] Re: Sabat-Garibaldi's Dinarra (was: A new era in JI guitar
design!)
>Date : Mar 14 aoû 2001 1:04
>

> Yes, I met Eduardo at the Microthon, where he had (Dave, you're not
> going to believe this) one guitarist playing chords on a 12-tET
> guitar, and the other guitarist playing lead on the Dinarra. We've
> known about his 53-tone, 1/9-schisma tempered guitars for a long
> time . . . it's logical to have all 53 frets because the smallest
> (~1/53 octave, or a comma) interval will pop up between some pair of
> frets even if you plan to play in only one key! You don't get lost
> because (a) the fretting is unequal, and (b) color coding is used.

--- In tuning@y..., "Wim Hoogewerf" <wim.hoogewerf@f...> wrote:

> I actually played a little on the Dinarra after the Microthon 2000
concert.
> Eduardo told me that the system was not exactly 53-tet

Right, it's a 53-tone chain of 52 fifths tempered by 1/9-schisma.
It's certainly not 54, as Johnny suggested . . . correct?

> and that the main
> musical purpose was to give expression to intervals in the same way
singers
> can do, even when they are accompanied by a 12-tet instrument like
the piano
> or a guitar. This is exactly what was happened during the concert,
even if
> one of the background-guitars had an E-string which didn't stop to
slip
> away. Eduardo's guitarist mainly played latin-jazz standards, I
think there
> was even The Girl from Ipanema.
>
> The guitar itself was not really difficult to play. It had
extremely heavy
> strings, which made it impossible to play bends. However, it didn't
mater
> how narrow the space was between two frets. The string picked it up
always
> very neatly. So it felt almost like a fretless guitar with a very
good
> sustain, no special electronic devices needed, just the clean sound,
> straight from the pick-up.

That was my impression from the concert. And I clearly heard a
distinction between major (9) and minor (8) whole-tones, both in the
concert and in the tape Eduardo sent me.

Eduardo wrote:

> Wim,
> Merci beaucoup for your comments.
> We took two Dinarras to Microthon 2000.
> Alejandro Sanchez preferes strings "11" instead of the "9" ones.
> ("11" stands for 0.011 inches for the first string, E).
> Like you and me, all the other guitar players that have played electric
>
> Dinarra prefer strings number 9.
> I would like to know what do you mean by the word "bend",
> I guess it means bar of finger, am I riight?

Eduardo, I don't remember trying bar-chords (using one finger on different
strings at the same time). However, I think that's very well possible on the
dinarra, since the strings are very close to the fretboard. By 'bend' I mean
moving a string sideways, in the same direction as the fret, so you change
the pitch. (This is what David Beardsley indicated.) I tried to 'bend' but
needed too much force, because of the 0.011 inch E-string. Strings had
really extremely heavy tension.

-- Wim

--- In tuning@y..., "Wim Hoogewerf" <wim.hoogewerf@f...> wrote:
> Eduardo wrote:
>
> > Wim,
> > Merci beaucoup for your comments.
> > We took two Dinarras to Microthon 2000.
> > Alejandro Sanchez preferes strings "11" instead of the "9" ones.
> > ("11" stands for 0.011 inches for the first string, E).
> > Like you and me, all the other guitar players that have played
electric
> >
> > Dinarra prefer strings number 9.
> > I would like to know what do you mean by the word "bend",
> > I guess it means bar of finger, am I riight?
>
> Eduardo, I don't remember trying bar-chords (using one finger on
different
> strings at the same time). However, I think that's very well
possible on the
> dinarra, since the strings are very close to the fretboard.
By 'bend' I mean
> moving a string sideways, in the same direction as the fret, so you
change
> the pitch. (This is what David Beardsley indicated.) I tried
to 'bend' but
> needed too much force, because of the 0.011 inch E-string. Strings
had
> really extremely heavy tension.
>
> -- Wim

I find that strange because I have little trouble bending a 0.011
inch high E string by a whole tone. Then again, I'm used to bending
all the time, even on 0.013s; Wim, as a classical player, may not
exercise the bending muscles much (Wim?)

I find that anything thinner than a 0.010 inch set gives poor tone,
even on my nice electric guitars.