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Buzz Feiten Tuning System: Yes or No?
Poll ended at Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:58 am
The Real Deal 50%  50%  [ 1 ]
Smoke and Mirrors 50%  50%  [ 1 ]
Total votes : 2
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Post subject: Buzz Feiten Tuning System
Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 11:58 am
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I've been reading a lot lately about the Buzz Feiten guitars, his tuning system, and that led me down the path of reading the "how it works" of BFTS. Seems that most of the concept revolves around the idea of placing the nut a few thousandths closer to the bridge, setting individual string 'shelves' of the nut closer to the strings. Supposed to make the intonation better, make the sound of the instrument more 'accurate'. Earvana is similar; intonation accuracy to a few cents here and there.
Well, that got me to thinking, and dangerous as that is...I started thinking about Jeff Beck and the nut on his guitar. I remember seeing his guitar on the Live at Ronnie Scott's. Sir Jeff is playing his Strat using an LSR Roller Nut. So? So, Jeff Beck sounds great, after all he's Jeff freakin' Beck! And I can almost guarantee that that nut on his guitar isn't set up to be accurate to anything other than "somewhere around A440".
.
My point? The way you play, the way you phrase and your technique matter a heck of a lot more than any (here goes!) Gimmick.
.
I said it. GIMMICK. Foolishness. A waste of $150.00 or so dollars. Better spent on pups if you need then, or a mic or even a better speaker.

Just my $0.02.

Thoughts?

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Post subject: Re: Buzz Feiten Tuning System
Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 1:40 pm
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I haven't tried the Buzz Feiten or the Earvanna nut, but it seems to me that a properly intonated guitar with good tuners is more than adequate for most applications. I wouldn't go as far as calling these compensated tuning systems, but most of us will probably get along fine without them.


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Post subject: Re: Buzz Feiten Tuning System
Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 1:46 pm
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Buzz has his shtick......so what?

Leo Fender had one. So did Jim Marshall. Orville Gibson and Paul Reed too.

What's the problem?

If you don't happen to subscribe to a particular theorem, why waste vitriol (and bandwidth) bitching about it?

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: Buzz Feiten Tuning System
Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 2:08 pm
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Retroverbial wrote:
Buzz has his shtick......so what?

Leo Fender had one. So did Jim Marshall. Orville Gibson and Paul Reed too.

What's the problem?

If you don't happen to subscribe to a particular theorem, why waste vitriol (and bandwidth) bitching about it?

Arjay


Amen!

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Post subject: Re: Buzz Feiten Tuning System
Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 2:22 pm
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From the demos I can certainly hear a tuning difference with guitars using the Buzz Feiten system but I don't feel it's important enough to make me want to chisel wood out of my guitars in order to install.

I think it's a problem with guitar "innovations" now; manufacturers seize upon a minor defect in guitar construction, invent a "cure" then talk up the "problem" so people start to think their product is indispensible.

See also roller nuts, no-load pots, paper in oil capacitors, custom taper pots, true-bypass effects, oxygen free copper cables, the list is endless. Guitars work just fine without all that crap.

Some people believe advertising hype, some manufacturers overstate the benefits of gizmos.

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Post subject: Re: Buzz Feiten Tuning System
Posted: Thu May 15, 2014 3:49 pm
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Hi sbrenn01. I certainly used to share your scepticism about the various versions of intonated nuts, which is what Buzz's "system" is. And then Forum user Nikininja made me an intonated nut for my Telecaster, with the mathematics of the thing worked out afresh for that guitar's idiosyncratic string speaking lengths (a Tele with traditional barrel-type saddles, this is). And damn me, even I could instantly hear the difference.

Since then I've made several intonated bone nuts myself and also tried out the Earvana nut for Strat. I consider them all a small but distinct advantage over a normal nut. To be sure, not enough of a difference to modify my Reissue spec guitars, where I feel it would spoil the traditional vibe of those vintage flavoured instruments. But significant enough that as an occasional guitar maker I'd never nowadays build a new one without an intonated nut.

In the same way I wouldn't have a modern car without, say, electric windows. A similar level of importance.

Intonated nuts really only contribute to good tuning on the lowest five frets or so, and most audibly on open chords. Try this. Tune your guitar perfectly and then play an open E chord. Now play an open D chord. Does your ear find the second chord ever so slightly discordant? Nothing to scare the horses, but just a little bit... meh? If not, then intonated nuts probably have nothing useful to offer you. But if when you try that test you find you do indeed detect something a tiny bit off, well, that's the small correction intonated nuts put right.

It comes down to individual players and their ears. No rights or wrongs, and of course, some of the finest guitarists in history have done perfectly well without corrected intonation at the nut.

Your choice - but not a gimmick, IMO.


sbrenn01 wrote:
I started thinking about Jeff Beck and the nut on his guitar. I remember seeing his guitar on the Live at Ronnie Scott's. Sir Jeff is playing his Strat using an LSR Roller Nut. So? So, Jeff Beck sounds great, after all he's Jeff freakin' Beck! And I can almost guarantee that that nut on his guitar isn't set up to be accurate to anything other than "somewhere around A440".


Ah, now of all the players to pick to support this point, Jeff Beck is probably the worst one to go with. For starters, Jeff is constantly adjusting his intonation with his fretting hand: if you watch closely he's forever pulling his strings around even just minutely to tweak the pitch. Further, more than any other player I can think of, he uses his whammy to find notes, as well as to bend them. And the extreme way he uses his whammy means what he needs from a nut is the best possible return to pitch he can get: a far higher priority for him than perfect low position intonation. (By the way, he uses an original Wilkinson roller nut, not its LSR successor, since he believes the Wilkinson returns to pitch better.)

What's more, Jeff's unique playing attack means his guitar goes out of tune very fast, so the micro corrections offered by an intonated nut are completely beside the point for him. I once had the opportunity to spend an evening with a small group of people in the company of Trevor Wilkinson. As well as being the designer of Jeff's roller nuts Trev has worked very closely with him on guitar set up and related issues, often side-by-side with Jeff's tech at the edge of the stage. He said that by the end of the first number Jeff's Strat is so far out of tune it would make an electronic tuner pack up and go home in a sulk.

Jeff's entire playing style is about coping with these tuning difficulties and making something positive come out of them. He ain't interested in perfect pitch at the third fret - Buzz Feiten and Jeff Beck are both superb players and about as opposite as you can get in that department.

A long post, but then I think it's an interesting subject.

Cheers - C

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Post subject: Re: Buzz Feiten Tuning System
Posted: Sat May 17, 2014 12:59 pm
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Jeff is a genius at making real time corrections to string tension through fine bending adjustments. Eric Johnson is no slouch either. When a top player is in command of his instrument, we all know it, and sigh that we can't be that brilliant.


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Post subject: Re: Buzz Feiten Tuning System
Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 12:56 pm
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I bought one Washburn electric that came with quite a few bells and whistles and one of them was the Buzz Feiten tuning system incorporated into the guitar. I think it did make a difference as far as intonation, but not enough for me to mod any of my other guitars to install it.

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