Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup tuning Wim Hoogewerf's moveable-fret guitar

[Howard Rovics, TD 193.4]
> I enjoyed hearing Dowland played by Wim Hoogewerf in what was
> described as Dowland�s favorite tuning but I had no way to
> compare the effect to that of standard guitar tuning.

[Darren Burgess, TD 194.1]
> Does anyone have further information or contact information on
> this guitarist [Wim Hoogewerf] and his "movable fret" guitar??
> Did anyone get a real close look at this instrument and if so,
> please take some time to describe it to the list.

I'm not sure, but I believe the company which made
the guitar is called Vogt and is now out of business.

I have Wim's address and phone number and will ask him on
Thursday for permission to post it or send it privately.
He lives in Paris.

The guitar has six grooves running the length of the fingerboard,
one under each string. The frets are individual for each string,
in other words, six of them placed at the same position would
look like a regular fret. But because they slide in the grooves,
they may be placed anywhere on the fretboard. I'm not sure
how many frets there are, but I think there are at least 30
(for each string, that is).

To play quarter-tone music, Wim simply places the frets evenly
across all six strings, with a set between each of the regular
fret positions, to give 24 audibly-equal divisions of the 'octave'
on each string. From a distance, it looks like a 'regular'
refretted guitar.

Tuning the guitar to play in just-intonation, which he used
for the Spanish Renaissance pieces, is easy: he just plays
harmonics and moves the frets to give notes that are in tune
with the harmonics.

Dowland's tuning is much more complex, and Wim uses an electronic
tuner to speed the process. [Plug alert] I've got an explanation
and diagram of the complete Dowland lute fretboard on my website:

http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/fngrbds/dowland/dowland.htm

I'm working on a MIDI sequence of Dowland's _Lachrymae_, one
of the pieces Wim plays, in this tuning, which will go up on
my site. There are several MIDI versions of it available on
the web in regular 12-eq tuning.

Of course, when the frets are placed for JI or a non-equal
temperament (Dowland's tuning could be defined as both),
they are staggered all over the fretboard.

There is a description of either this guitar or one like
in an old issue of _1/1_ from the early or mid 1990s.
I believe it was an advertisement. Sorry I don't have
more details on getting this info, but I think SEJIS has
all the _1/1_s. Rummage around, you should find it.
I'll also ask Wim for more details.

-monz

Joseph L. Monzo monz@juno.com
http://www.ixpres.com/interval/monzo/homepage.html
|"...I had broken thru the lattice barrier..."|
| - Erv Wilson |
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monz@juno.com wrote:

> To play quarter-tone music, Wim simply places the frets evenly
> across all six strings, with a set between each of the regular
> fret positions, to give 24 audibly-equal divisions of the 'octave'
> on each string. From a distance, it looks like a 'regular'
> refretted guitar.

Except he wouldn't have to - he also owns a quarter tone guitarthat he used
for Microthon.

> --

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Wim Hoogewerf's moveable-fret guitar

🔗monz@xxxx.xxx

🔗David Beardsley <xouoxno@xxxx.xxxx>

🔗Darren Burgess <dburgess@acceleration.net>