having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
- Thread starter B2D
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Gearjoneser
Gear Ho
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
I think they're a brilliant idea when they're built into a guitar, but may not be worth it to convert a regular guitar. I think the best idea is to have a completely pro setup done on your guitar, which includes a mild fret dress, and an intonation job so perfect that every note on your fretboard reads dead center on a strobe tuner. My technique is to intonate the notes from the 10th fret to the 20th against the open note, not just the 12th fret standard method.
I think they're a brilliant idea when they're built into a guitar, but may not be worth it to convert a regular guitar. I think the best idea is to have a completely pro setup done on your guitar, which includes a mild fret dress, and an intonation job so perfect that every note on your fretboard reads dead center on a strobe tuner. My technique is to intonate the notes from the 10th fret to the 20th against the open note, not just the 12th fret standard method.
DirrtyCraig
New member
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
Just make sure you have someone who knows what their doing do it for you.. someone who has a guitar hes done you can play and test out.
I know a guy who had his guitar done by a Buzz Feiten newbie who claimed he knew the method and ended up literally ruining the guys guitar.
Just make sure you have someone who knows what their doing do it for you.. someone who has a guitar hes done you can play and test out.
I know a guy who had his guitar done by a Buzz Feiten newbie who claimed he knew the method and ended up literally ruining the guys guitar.
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
Oh yeah haha I ain't just gonna take my babies to any old hack. looking at the phone number and seeing the 310 area code. If I'm not mistaken thats in Los Angeles which is the next county over from me, about a 70 mile drive! WOOT!
I can set up my guitars pretty much perfectly on my own, I'm just wondering about the possibilites soundwise of a guitar with this system applied to it.
DirrtyCraig said:
Oh yeah haha I ain't just gonna take my babies to any old hack. looking at the phone number and seeing the 310 area code. If I'm not mistaken thats in Los Angeles which is the next county over from me, about a 70 mile drive! WOOT!
I can set up my guitars pretty much perfectly on my own, I'm just wondering about the possibilites soundwise of a guitar with this system applied to it.
XSSIVE
OCDologist
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
i've been thinking about having one of my guitars done...but if i do one i may then hate the others lol that's a bit of a fear i have of the system (if you want to call it a fear). oh and DirrtyCraig how on earth did that guy mess up installing the feiten "system" all it is is a new shelf nut then inotate in their method...i was reading up on how to become an installer for the heck of it and it seems like if you can replace a nut on a guitar you can do this...unless i missread something or didn't see a step.
-Mike
i've been thinking about having one of my guitars done...but if i do one i may then hate the others lol that's a bit of a fear i have of the system (if you want to call it a fear). oh and DirrtyCraig how on earth did that guy mess up installing the feiten "system" all it is is a new shelf nut then inotate in their method...i was reading up on how to become an installer for the heck of it and it seems like if you can replace a nut on a guitar you can do this...unless i missread something or didn't see a step.
-Mike
DirrtyCraig
New member
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
Its a little more complicated than that but the nut he put in was too deep and he need to shim it to get it back. It was a mess. total horror story.
Its a little more complicated than that but the nut he put in was too deep and he need to shim it to get it back. It was a mess. total horror story.
Metalman_666
Well-known member
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
go the URL.. It's really quite informative
go the URL.. It's really quite informative
tone4days
Heel Whacker
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
i would recommend that you go to a store and play a guitar with the feiten system factory installed before deciding to mod your babies .. i played a gorgeous suhr that was pre-feitenized and honestly could not tell the difference ... the guitar played and sounded and looked like a dream, but the feiten itself didnt make a dramatic impression on me .. i understand the theory and it all makes sense .. and i believe that some guys can instantly tell the difference .. you might want to make sure you're one of them before you get someone to hack into one of your axes
cheers
t4d
i would recommend that you go to a store and play a guitar with the feiten system factory installed before deciding to mod your babies .. i played a gorgeous suhr that was pre-feitenized and honestly could not tell the difference ... the guitar played and sounded and looked like a dream, but the feiten itself didnt make a dramatic impression on me .. i understand the theory and it all makes sense .. and i believe that some guys can instantly tell the difference .. you might want to make sure you're one of them before you get someone to hack into one of your axes
cheers
t4d
danglybanger
ReelItInologist
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
this seems to be a bit of a mystery...
but exactly what is it that they have to do to these guitars when they get them? wouldn't it just be a new nut, like the earvana system? what's the deal?
slade
this seems to be a bit of a mystery...
but exactly what is it that they have to do to these guitars when they get them? wouldn't it just be a new nut, like the earvana system? what's the deal?
slade
T
TheArchitect
Guest
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
Sorry to ask the obvious question as you seem a an experienced player but,
Did you use the tuning intervals as well?
tone4days said:
Sorry to ask the obvious question as you seem a an experienced player but,
Did you use the tuning intervals as well?
MattPete
New member
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
According to the patent, it's two parts: (1) a shelf nut, (2) Feiten's special intonation.
The shelf nut really isn't anything special. Imagine the Earvana nut, but it's flat across the strings instead of staggered. It hands slightly over the fretboard, effectively bringing the nut a mm or two closer to the bridge.
danglybanger said:
According to the patent, it's two parts: (1) a shelf nut, (2) Feiten's special intonation.
The shelf nut really isn't anything special. Imagine the Earvana nut, but it's flat across the strings instead of staggered. It hands slightly over the fretboard, effectively bringing the nut a mm or two closer to the bridge.
T
TheArchitect
Guest
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
A shelf nut is really a work around for those that don't want to permanently mod their instrument. Actually the mod involves shortening the fingerboard a tiny amount depending on the type and scale length of the instrument.
MattPete said:
A shelf nut is really a work around for those that don't want to permanently mod their instrument. Actually the mod involves shortening the fingerboard a tiny amount depending on the type and scale length of the instrument.
tone4days
Heel Whacker
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
i am not sure i understand the question, sorry ... i'll tell you what happened and maybe i'll answer your question by accident
i went to a music store on a weekday about 30 minutes after they opened ... my hope was to have the store to myself with an unhurried salesman, and it worked ... this guy was very knowledgable and helpful and low-pressure ... he handed me the axe and went to get a special tuner (korg, i think) that had the buzz feiten 'preset' .. i tuned the guitar using that tuner and then played ... i started with open chords (the way i would with any guitar i am trying out) ... strumming slowly between chords and listening intently (i was playing through a really sweet dr z amp) ... then i moved the chords up the neck .. so i'd play a C open, then a barre chord C at the 3rd fret, then some other C shapes, then another C barre at the 8th, then the octave of the open C at the 12th ... i did this for other major chords as well ... i rechecked the tuner to make sure i was still in tune, and it was rock solid ... so then i started playing major scales in a handful of positions ... no matter what i did, i just didnt hear anything different about the guitar being 'more' in tune than a regular guitar wouldve been ... all positions of the neck sounded in tune just as much as a regular guitar sounds in tune to me
let me be clear, the suhr guitar sounded and felt and looked TONS better than any of the fenders i had tried .. if $2200 was no object, it wouldve come home with me in a heartbeat ... i'm just saying that the feiten thing didnt make an impression on me
as i understand it, in addition to the new nut placement, the feiten system features a precise 'offset' used when intonating .. so intonation is not set as a rock solid perfect octave to the 12th fret, but rather each string carries an intentional 'error' that distributes the compromise more pleasingly across the whole fretboard
i am pretty sure that there is at least one feiten certified tone bro on this forum, maybe he can enlighten us
cheers
t4d
TheArchitect said:
i am not sure i understand the question, sorry ... i'll tell you what happened and maybe i'll answer your question by accident
i went to a music store on a weekday about 30 minutes after they opened ... my hope was to have the store to myself with an unhurried salesman, and it worked ... this guy was very knowledgable and helpful and low-pressure ... he handed me the axe and went to get a special tuner (korg, i think) that had the buzz feiten 'preset' .. i tuned the guitar using that tuner and then played ... i started with open chords (the way i would with any guitar i am trying out) ... strumming slowly between chords and listening intently (i was playing through a really sweet dr z amp) ... then i moved the chords up the neck .. so i'd play a C open, then a barre chord C at the 3rd fret, then some other C shapes, then another C barre at the 8th, then the octave of the open C at the 12th ... i did this for other major chords as well ... i rechecked the tuner to make sure i was still in tune, and it was rock solid ... so then i started playing major scales in a handful of positions ... no matter what i did, i just didnt hear anything different about the guitar being 'more' in tune than a regular guitar wouldve been ... all positions of the neck sounded in tune just as much as a regular guitar sounds in tune to me
let me be clear, the suhr guitar sounded and felt and looked TONS better than any of the fenders i had tried .. if $2200 was no object, it wouldve come home with me in a heartbeat ... i'm just saying that the feiten thing didnt make an impression on me
as i understand it, in addition to the new nut placement, the feiten system features a precise 'offset' used when intonating .. so intonation is not set as a rock solid perfect octave to the 12th fret, but rather each string carries an intentional 'error' that distributes the compromise more pleasingly across the whole fretboard
i am pretty sure that there is at least one feiten certified tone bro on this forum, maybe he can enlighten us
cheers
t4d
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
The article mentioned that most people didn't really notice a difference with the system unless they had spent a lot of time with a Feiten-ed guitar and then gone right back to their old guitars without them. And granted if the guitar has a bitchin setup already then the difference will probably be less as well.
The article mentioned that most people didn't really notice a difference with the system unless they had spent a lot of time with a Feiten-ed guitar and then gone right back to their old guitars without them. And granted if the guitar has a bitchin setup already then the difference will probably be less as well.
Johtosotku
New member
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
How do these Feiten-equipped guitars come out in a band situation? For example, if your 2nd guitarist doesn't have one? Or when you have to use multiple guitars and only one has it? What about bass? Seems to me it would be a real pain.
How do these Feiten-equipped guitars come out in a band situation? For example, if your 2nd guitarist doesn't have one? Or when you have to use multiple guitars and only one has it? What about bass? Seems to me it would be a real pain.
T
TheArchitect
Guest
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
Not true. We are only talking about a couple of cents in pitch here. you alter pitch that much by altering finger pressure of fretted noted. If all the instruments are properly setup and intonated its fine. PRS has been using a similar system for 20 years now and no one has problems with them.
Johtosotku said:
Not true. We are only talking about a couple of cents in pitch here. you alter pitch that much by altering finger pressure of fretted noted. If all the instruments are properly setup and intonated its fine. PRS has been using a similar system for 20 years now and no one has problems with them.
Lee_M.
Brockburst Toneologist
Re: having a guitar set up with the Feiten system...
I recently spoke at great length with Randy Wood, one of the world's foremost Martin repairmen, about having the Feiten system installed on my 6 and 12 string Martins. The intonation on my acoustics had gotten so bad that I could barely play them. He said that in the long run that the system wasn't worth it and that a properly set-up acoustic or electric should intonate properly on its own. That in mind, my acoustics required extensive bridge, fret and nut work to get them back to shape.
Anyway, having known Randy for a number of years, I pushed back and told him that I was willing to pay any amount of money to get my Martins back in shape and he still said it wasn't necessarily worth it. In the end I agreed because when my Martins were shipped back from his shop, they sounded great and were "in tune" as Robben Ford might say.
My recommendation is to do as you wish, but realize that in order for the system to work, you have to purchase a tuner that has the Feiten Presets already programmed. According to their website, that is the key to the whole system.
DLM
I recently spoke at great length with Randy Wood, one of the world's foremost Martin repairmen, about having the Feiten system installed on my 6 and 12 string Martins. The intonation on my acoustics had gotten so bad that I could barely play them. He said that in the long run that the system wasn't worth it and that a properly set-up acoustic or electric should intonate properly on its own. That in mind, my acoustics required extensive bridge, fret and nut work to get them back to shape.
Anyway, having known Randy for a number of years, I pushed back and told him that I was willing to pay any amount of money to get my Martins back in shape and he still said it wasn't necessarily worth it. In the end I agreed because when my Martins were shipped back from his shop, they sounded great and were "in tune" as Robben Ford might say.
My recommendation is to do as you wish, but realize that in order for the system to work, you have to purchase a tuner that has the Feiten Presets already programmed. According to their website, that is the key to the whole system.
DLM
