What does everyone think about this True Temperment necks that Vai talks about

[Smitty]

Has anyone thought that he goes out of tune all the time?
He bangs on his Floyds like crazy, and of course they'll always go slightly out of tune. So for this whole fret thing to work, your guitar has to be in perfect tune, does it not?
So that's crap, atleast for Vai. He needs to listen to ol' Frank and just Shut up n play his guitar!
smitty

[wilch]

Originally Posted by Smitty

Has anyone thought that he goes out of tune all the time?
He bangs on his Floyds like crazy, and of course they'll always go slightly out of tune. So for this whole fret thing to work, your guitar has to be in perfect tune, does it not?
So that's crap, atleast for Vai. He needs to listen to ol' Frank and just Shut up n play his guitar!
smitty

There's a video of him somewhere playing, breaking a string on good old evo, then bending each note from then on to compensate the fact that everything's out of tune.

So slightly out of tune still means that Vai can compensate on the fly somewhat.

I think maybe with this system he wouldn't have to compensate as much when playing around other instruments?

But again, I have no idea how the man thinks. Maybe he reckons it just looks cool. Or maybe he thought him talking about such a thing would create some interesting/funny stuff for him to read about on the net.... lol

[Phishphood42]

Originally Posted by Smitty

Has anyone thought that he goes out of tune all the time?
He bangs on his Floyds like crazy, and of course they'll always go slightly out of tune. So for this whole fret thing to work, your guitar has to be in perfect tune, does it not?
So that's crap, atleast for Vai. He needs to listen to ol' Frank and just Shut up n play his guitar!
smitty

I can bang on my floyd really hard and nothing goes out

[trynyty]

The law of diminishing returns applies here. When you are at my level, small improvements can make a big difference in your playing. At Vai's level, big improvements only make a small difference. He has to do more and more to just progress a little beyond his current abilities. This is why great artists starting going to further & further lengths to impact their playing. There is no harm in it and it does not impact the vast majority of us. We still have finger stretching & picking technique to work on before anything like this is even on the horizon.

[rvai]

well i think this is crap, im not saying it doesn´t work but i mean i wouldn´t want my guitar to look like that, like some donkey ate it for breakfast, besides you ruin your whole fretboard.

[pawel]

I don't see anything that ridiculous about it. Of course, for an average guitarist, the cost-benefit of going with a true temperament neck would probably suggest against it, but I don't see a reason why someone like Vai shouldn't go for it.

Fwiw, probably nobody here played a guitar like this, so we really can't tell how much of a difference it makes. I would personally think that there would really be some difference when playing chords, probably enough for Steve to justify the switch.

That said, if I was to go this route, I'd probably just ditch 12 TET alltogether for something more adventurous, like just intonation.

[Ki swordsman]

Originally Posted by rvai

well i think this is crap, im not saying it doesn´t work but i mean i wouldn´t want my guitar to look like that, like some donkey ate it for breakfast, besides you ruin your whole fretboard.

posts like this make me think.. what's your alternative? are you saying they shouldn't make it anymore?
it doesn't hurt anyone that someone is trying to create technical advances on the guitar. you don't have to play it if you don't like it..
it deserves respect as an amazing invention and advance in technical guitar design that could well influence the future evolution of electric guitar.

[rvai]

Originally Posted by Ki swordsman

posts like this make me think.. what's your alternative? are you saying they shouldn't make it anymore?
it doesn't hurt anyone that someone is trying to create technical advances on the guitar. you don't have to play it if you don't like it..
it deserves respect as an amazing invention and advance in technical guitar design that could well influence the future evolution of electric guitar.

well i guess you´re right, i mean it IS an amazing invention, it kind of weird

[elcid]

Guitar players are too anal about stuff like this. The guitar has been around as it is for a long time and it works great.

[Mister CCJ]

I think it would be interesting but I'd only buy it if it came on a wizard neck. Wouldn't hurt to try it; I'd actually be pretty interested to hear the dissonance of playing it through different keys. I wouldn't go as far as converting all my guitars (if i had more than one of course) but just to have something a little different or to even layer on top of a standard fret guitar part to get that out-of-tuneness on random chords etc. I really don't see a problem with not having perfect tuning, and Vai's EVO doesn't stay in tune as well as my guitar does anymore, so I don't think its about that. I'd just like to hear a chord progression sound a little different than how it would sound in your head; how you expect it to ring. Its exercising your mind I think. Just like that 6-piece floyd thing that you can bend any one string instead of them all, its different. Even if I used it on one song it would be worthwhile to me.

[AmazinAzian12]

So do they sell guitars like to guitar center? or can you only get them online??

id like to try these necks. even tho that they look very weird.

[DavyH]

Originally Posted by elcid

Guitar players are too anal about stuff like this. The guitar has been around as it is for a long time and it works great.

What Cid said.

Perfect musical instruments sound sterile. Who wants to take a hands-on, visceral instrument and turn it into a synth? Bollocks.

[Ki swordsman]

a piano has tempered tuning, does that make it sterile to you?

[GTR-MAN]

I'm a "if it's not broke, don't fix it" kind of guy, and to me the guitar is not broke. The guitars imperfections are part of it's charm and sound, why mess with a good thing?

That being said I'd have to reserve my judgment until actually playing one...who knows maybe it would sound good, maybe it would just piss me off.
I thought the monkey grip was stupid as hell when I 1st saw it, but it grew on me after awhile. Then once I owned a Jem I realized how functional the monkey grip is , I now like it. So who knows.

Vai's a smart guy and may be on to something....BUT there is a fine line between genuis and insanity....which way has Vai slipped?

[wilch]

That's the thing, the guitar can still be improved.

So you guys have never noticed that fretted guitar notes are "slightly off" when you're playing with other instruments?