# Anyone have a true temperament neck?



## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I was watching a few YouTube videos and saw this fancy true temperament neck. Just wondering if anyone has tried it. I've only been playing sporadically for a few years, but even I have noticed that no matter how often you tune your guitar it is not always in tune when you play different chords along the fret board. I'm just curious if there is a learning curve to playing with the bent frets.


----------



## cheezyridr (Jun 8, 2009)

i can't imagine it being all that different to your fingers, although i've never played one. i always figured that if it wasn't for ocd people, more big names would play them.


----------



## Guest (Jul 27, 2015)

I had to blink a few times thinking my eyes went out of focus. lol.
It must of been a pain setting in the frets.


----------



## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

I heard it took the guy 6 years to figure it out. All of Steve Vai's guitars use this


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

But what the hell happens when you bend strings? The frets are calibrated for a string in resting position, pressed vertically, and not moved from the spot. That's fine, but how many of us actually play like that?


----------



## 335Bob (Feb 26, 2006)

mhammer said:


> But what the hell happens when you bend strings? The frets are calibrated for a string in resting position, pressed vertically, and not moved from the spot. That's fine, but how many of us actually play like that?


My thought exactly. It might be a plus for rhythm guitarists but I'm assuming lead players would probably need a drastic adjustment to bending technique. And just sayin', guitar players for decades have made great music with the same old fretboard design.


----------



## knight_yyz (Mar 14, 2015)

Steve Vai doesn't seem to have a problem bending strings. Also, if you notice above the 12th fret where most soloing is done, the frets are not as squiggly as near the first few frets. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8EjCTb88oA
I'm not sure how this guy does what he does, but it sounds cool. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uehDWQNActA
Steve Vai's take

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6PtMIxLzhQ
this guy shows some normal playing and lots of bending


----------



## Rick31797 (Apr 20, 2007)

I will stick to playing my old geetar the old way...the millions of concerts that have been played the old way, all those recordings the old way...and all that music who would have thought the guitars were not true from 1 to 22..


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The adjustments to the frets are, not unlike the setting of the saddles, commensurate with the action and gauge of string that one uses. That is, they adjust for the difference in string length arising from the thickness of the string, relative height, and the difference between the width at the nut and width at the saddle. And yes, I realize that "true temperament" is a lot more than that. But _achieving_ true temperament on a 6-string fretboard requires that one also take those other things into account. So, the bending of the frets attains true temperament partly by compensating for those things.

All of which means that you can't just stick that sort of fretboard on any old guitar, with any old scale length, any old string gauge, any old action, and any old neck width, and expect to get the flawless intonation that Steve Vai demonstrates.


----------



## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

There are 3 common things I see when people have trouble keeping their guitar in tune.
1) Poor guitar setup - Whether it's a bad nut, bad tuners, bad string trees, bad intonation, old/dirty strings, or worn frets. It all negatively affects tuning.
2) Poor technique - Pushing way too hard on the strings or bending some strings slightly when forming certain chord shapes.
3) Bad tuning methodology - Without getting too technical, there are commonly used tuning methods that produce poor results every time. For the sake of everyone's ears, please avoid using the following methods:

Harmonic Method: Matching 5th and 7th harmonics and 4th and 5th for G/B. Believe it or not, the harmonics are NOT perfect intervals above the fundamental notes.
Beatless Intervals: Tuning open strings to their proper intervals (4ths and major 3rd for G/B), but trying to eliminate the beats (wavy sounds) while doing so. Eliminating beats is fine when tuning in unison or octaves, but the beats are supposed to be there in other intervals.
Chord Tuning: Playing a chord, and tuning to remove the beats between each interval in the chord. If you got the previous point, this goes without saying. Tuning to a specific chord will ensure that every other chord will be completely out of tune.

From all the reviews I've seen of the TT system, it feels no different when playing/bending than any other guitar. It is an interesting system and I was really attracted to it for a long while, until I considered the drawbacks.

1) You will be out of tune with every other instrument in the band, unless they also have true temperament frets. Even then, if you have a piano/keyboard player, you'll never be in tune with them. The TT guys claim that it isn't a problem, but if the small out-of-tuneness of your straight frets bothers you, then you will still be bothered by the small out-of-tuneness playing your TT fretboard with other straight fretted instruments.
2) You have to stick to concert pitch (or close to it). So, no low or awkward/creative tunings allowed.
3) The system is designed to be most effective with one string gauge (10-46 with a plain G) and is loses it's effectiveness the further you are from that.


----------



## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Thanks jbealsmusic...very informative!

Cheers

Being the curious person that I am, is it possible to do the typical "maintenance" (i.e., not replace) type of fretwork on the TT system?

Dave


----------



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

The problem of one instrument being intonated better than the rest of the band is one I've heard is shared with the Feiten system as well. That is, the individual player with a Feiten nut/adjustment loves the improvement in intonation, but unless the other players in the band also have it, it sounds disconcerting when they all play together.

Ah well, I guess you can't get something for nothing, eh?


----------



## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

To add, there's a quote I heard somewhere that sums it up for me. Don't ask me where I got it from because I can't remember.

"Train your ear to accept tempered intervals and you will be much happier with your instrument!"


----------



## jbealsmusic (Feb 12, 2014)

greco said:


> Thanks jbealsmusic...very informative!
> 
> Cheers
> 
> ...


According to their FAQ, yes. Any decent luthier/repair guy should be able to do it. However, it is much more time consuming, thus much more expensive.
http://www.truetemperament.com/faq/#A8


----------



## DrHook (Oct 28, 2013)

Being a rhythm player with King Kong hands...I could never use one, chords would be impossible especially barre chords.


----------



## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

knight_yyz said:


> Steve Vai doesn't seem to have a problem bending strings. Also, if you notice above the 12th fret where most soloing is done, the frets are not as squiggly as near the first few frets.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8EjCTb88oA
> I'm not sure how this guy does what he does, but it sounds cool.
> ...


Most soloing is done above the 12th fret?

I think I'll stick with conventional frets.


----------

