53edo (Turkish Classical) Intonation?

Hello,

I'm new to the group/list and I'm wondering if anyone here has
experimented with the 53edo pythagorean approximation (from Turkish
classical music) in other musical contexts?

For those not familiar, you divide the octave into 53 equal commas and
each diatonic whole tone is 9 commas and each diatonic semitone is 4
commas. The accidentals are in four degrees: 1 comma, 4 commas, 5
commas and 8 commas. (Note that e.g. C+1 = D-8.) You end up with 24
tones that are actually used in the scale.

Here's an instrument that's fretted to facilitate this intonation:
http://tinyurl.com/293te
Some others have movable frets.

And here's a website with general -information on the scale:
http://website.lineone.net/~david.parfitt/notation.html
http://website.lineone.net/~david.parfitt/turkishnotes.html

In a message dated 4/22/04 3:42:16 PM Eastern Daylight Time, heytud@yahoo.com
writes:

> and I'm wondering if anyone here has
> experimented with the 53edo pythagorean approximation (from Turkish
> classical music) in other musical contexts?
>

Yes, I use it for performances of Charles Ives. We just finished printing
Ives's "Universe Symphony" last night, ready for final mastering. Live, I have
used it for "The Unanswered Question" and "String Quartet #2". Ives gave
evidence for this tuning of some of his music throughout his life. Sharps were
higher than flats and Fb was an eighthtone lower than its nearest E. I have
written a chapter on this in a book on Ives, unpublished, if you feel it
important to you.

best, Johnny Reinhard
Dirctor, American Festival of Microtonal Music, Inc.