Buzz Feiten Tuning

[Zona Mona]

Does anyone have their guitar/bass fitted with the buzz feiten tuning system? How is it? I just wanted to know before I drop 125 clams to get my ax fitted.

 

[skime]

i have it and ive only had to return my guitar when i change strings, plus the harmonics sound really good as does the intonation

 

[Zona Mona]

what do you mean you have to return it when you change the strings. To the retrofitter?

 

[Aaron Cheney]

I think skime meant "retune" it.

I've never had a guitar retro-fitted with the Buzz tuning, but I own a Melancon strat that was built with a compensated tuning, and it is without a doubt the most well-intonated and most in tune guitar I've ever owned.

A

 

[dirtythermos]

I have a Washburn USA Custom Shop bass with the Buzz Feiten system, and it is always in tune and the intonation is great. It came that way from the factory, so I don't know if it's the Buzz or if it's just a well-made bass... probably a bit of both.

 

[lykwydchykyn]

I've got a washburn electric with it; I've enjoyed it, though since all the other guitars I've owned are basically crap, I don't have much to compare with. I do a lot of recording with synths, but I don't feel the guitar is that much more "in tune" with the keys than any other guitar...

 

[Hard2Hear]

BUT

For you owners and users, do you find that in a band with multiple guitars that yours doesn't play well with others? I don't know how many of you guys are actually in touring or playing bands. But I have heard that if one guitar has Feiten, and the other(s) don't that there are conflicting sounds in the band....that the other guitars (or yours) sounds out of tune, even if its not. I've never had it, but I've heard this to be true and the main reason I havent done it to any of my guitars, because I play with several groups and don't want to mess everything up for myself.

H2H

 

[mshilarious]

In a live performance there are so many variables that screw with tuning--lights, sweat, string bending, divebombs, your nerves which cause you to pull notes one way or the other . . . even if you played the exact same note as another band member, and it was slightly out of tune, it's so transitory no one is going to notice.

Anything equal temperament sounds out of tune to me anyway. It's all relative.

 

[lesterpaul]

can i ask...

what exactly is it ...i've heard of it but don't know any specifics

 

[Hard2Hear]

I'm sorry to have to say this, but none of those things really affect tuning in a professional concert. I do not play talent contests and I'm not a high school kid. I do not have nervous issues when playing, I don't sweat much, I don't "divebomb", and the PA and lighting are always run by professionals who do it right or they get fired. My guitars are professionally set up to where pulling and bending notes have little or no effect on the tuning.

The two things crucial to professional performance are tuning and timing. That's why I use several guitars and have them tuned several times during a show by someone just off stage. They have to be perfect.

Just wondering if anyone with the feiten has experienced tuning issues with other band members.

LesterPaul-

It is a modification for guitars that replaces the nut and sometimes bridge/saddles or fret spacing to get a guitar that is in tune more fret to fret and not just with open chords. Kind of a system trying to make up for intonation issues built into a guitar. Thats as simply as I can think to put it.

H2H

 

[Zona Mona]

Thanks everyone

 

[mshilarious]

I'm sorry to have to say this, but none of those things really affect tuning in a professional concert. I do not play talent contests and I'm not a high school kid. I do not have nervous issues when playing, I don't sweat much, I don't "divebomb", and the PA and lighting are always run by professionals who do it right or they get fired. My guitars are professionally set up to where pulling and bending notes have little or no effect on the tuning.

The two things crucial to professional performance are tuning and timing. That's why I use several guitars and have them tuned several times during a show by someone just off stage. They have to be perfect.

Well you've got a much better situation than most, certainly. But obviously, something is affecting your tuning, or you wouldn't have to retune several times a show.

But I still don't think you need to worry. Look at it this way: whether you use Feiten or not, some notes are still out of intonation with equal temperament; it's just that Feiten spreads the errors in such a way as to make the average error much smaller.

Thus, under either system at times you will still be out of tune with a keyboard player. Again, these differences are so small and so transient I really don't think they are of concern in a live show. Have you ever been worried about being out of tune with your keyboardist due to your intonation system before?

My perspective is that the listener is accustomed to hearing such variations in pitch. What is perfection anyway? Equal temperament? A perfect compromise, perhaps.

 

[Aaron Cheney]

Hey H2H...

I know what you're talking about, and I have experienced it many times, not in a live environment but in a recording environment.

Talk about frustrating!!

The first time I experienced this( and before I understood what was happening) I had recorded one guitar part and was trying to double track it with another guitar so that I could pan the tracks in teh classic L and R configuration. After recording a couple takes I noticed a kind of warbly, chorused, out of tune sound in spots. I figured I must have not tuned properly, so I retuned and recorded again.

Same problem.

I must have retuned and retuned again about 10 times before it hit me what was going on. The original track I was trying to match was recorded using the guitar with the compensated tuning. I ended up retuning the other guitar (an American Standard Strat) so that it was out of tune with itself, but in tune with the first guitar at the spot on the neck where I was playing the parts at, and then re-recording the track. Bingo.

Nowadays, I never mix Buzz and non-Buzz guitars when I intend to double track a specific part. It's alwasy all Buzz or no Buzz at all.

Based on my experience I can only conclude that two guitars playing live would yield a similar result.

A