OpinionRAISING THE TONE
Years ago, I was offered the opportunity to have a Buzz Feiten conversion performed on my acoustic guitar. The process involves installing a new nut with a ‘shelf’ that lips over the end of the fretboard and shortens the distance between the take-off point of the open strings and the 1st fret. The saddle is also relocated and carved for carefully calculated intonation offsets.
Feiten’s tuning system is designed to overcome well-known issues with standard equal temperament tuning, and promises more in-tune-sounding open chords, as well as improved keyboard compatibility. I can report that it performed as promised, but once the novelty had worn off I noticed that the guitar’s tone had become thinner and a bit sterile.
Since then, I’ve observed that
