Microtonal Guitar (Adjustable) - Tolgahan Çoğulu - Part 1 - Makam Music
Why Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange recommends it
Music Stack Exchange answerers point people to it when questions about just intonation, non-Western tunings and guitar intonation need a concrete example of frets that can be repositioned to any microtonal pitch.
Recommended by 4 people across 4 different months, 2013 to 2021.
What it is
A demonstration by Turkish guitarist Tolgahan \u00c7o\u011fulu of his adjustable microtonal guitar, which has small partial frets in slots under each string that can be moved to any pitch. He explains and plays it in the context of Turkish makam music, which uses intervals outside twelve-tone equal temperament.
What people said
Recommends user1044 · 2013-09 · Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange · on “Why Is Just Intonation Impractical?”
I have come across an even more astonishing system for producing pure intervals on a guitar. A Turkish guitarist, Tolgahan Çoğulu [LINK] , has patented a system for building a guitar that has channels under each string position that allows the quick installation or removal of any number of tiny partial frets, each one string-space wide, which can be adjusted up or down to any arbitrary microtonal position by hammering on them with a small "spudger" tool. The performer would be able to recalibrate all the fret positions and intervals of the entire fingerboard any time the performer wishes to play in a different tuning system. Apparently it was developed for the Turkish style of music called m
Recommends Basstickler · 2014-03 · Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange · on “Decide which chord to use”
Essentially, chord progressions are not a common thing in Eastern music and when they do occur, there are not as many possibilities due to the tuning. You can certainly use notes outside of the raga but if you are playing with a natural tuning, a lot of the notes will be out of tune with each other. This video shows a way around the natural tuning for a fretted instrument which may give some insight: [this video]
Recommends Scott Wallace · 2017-01 · Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange · on “How to tune a ukulele to compensate for intonation issues”
@DavidEhrmann- this is indeed a rabbit hole. Theoretically, you really need moveable frets to get perfect intonation, even equal temperament, on the guitar, because of having strings of the same material, but different pitches at the same length. If you want a look at what can be done with such a guitar, with frets tuned to "funny" temperaments, check out the wonderful music of tolgahan çoğulu- [this video]
Recommends Theodore · 2021-11 · Music: Practice & Theory Stack Exchange · on “Can I change the location of my guitar frets so that I play korons?”
Yes! You could always have a custom guitar built, or modify an existing guitar: Have the fretboard replaced and have the frets set to match the spacing on a Setar. But then the guitar would not be usable as a standard guitar. In order to allow for different intonations, some innovators (like Tolgahan Çoğulu in the video below) have devised ways to make movable frets on a guitar. In the first one, individual partial-width frets move in slots for adjustment: As you probably know, there are instruments from other traditions with movable frets (e.g. Sitar, Bağlama). The methods used on those instruments could also be adapted to a guitar-like instrument. You may also notice in the description are