A microtonal 31EDO electric guitar. What does it sound like?

[@rrr00bb1]

It took me about 6 months to be proficient on a 24-ET guitar. Good luck!

[@teddydunn3513]

4:32 I was waiting for you to bring up the harmonic seventh

[@peterwilson4503]

I couldn't hear any sound, but was amazed by the idea & the work.

[@brettlarson4327]

Very good description and details. Even a non-expert like myself can get a good idea of how it works and the advantages.

[@michaelm4153]

I know I’m 4 years late, but have you checked Levin McClain’s deep dive into 31-EDO and his way of modulating keys in that system? And have you applied that knowledge into this instrument? (If it’s still in your possession) I’m one of those dudes that want Microtonality to gain more prevalence over western music and I appreciate anyone who contributes to it

[@JedShura]

For sure, I like McClain's stuff. I've tried similar modulation myself. I actually mostly try to apply Bach counterpoint techniques in a microtonal realm, which actually works. Bach basically offers musical universal truths, that keep expanding outward...

[@pauldoffing]

smashing, i want to try it!

[@JedShura]

Yeah, for sure! Playing it is a nice mix of fascination and frustration.

[@NateSassoonMusic]

nice

[@silentgloria]

8:40 these notes high on the fretboard look extremely hard to play 😂 coz these frets are so narrow 🐧

[@JedShura]

Yes indeed. although it's only the front edge of your finger that it "fretting" the note, so your finger doesn't actually have to fit inside the fret space. It's a problem playing several notes that are close together though... gotta do some crazy sliding and/or tapping to make it happen.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

I am beginning to think that distortion might have to be reduced for notes that are closer together, to keep the notes from just running together. Not sure if this is something that can be controlled adequately by just using the distortion pedal (something I have no experience with myself) or if the distortion circuit needs to go easier on the distortion at higher amplitudes than it normally would, thereby requiring modifications to the distortion circuit. Of course, 31EDO does have scales (pentatonic and wider) that skip many of the increments, and the problem would be mitigated for those scales, but you wouldn't want to restrict yourself to those scales.

[@dustinl6047]

Awesome! How did you calculate the fret distances?

[@JedShura]

I used an online calculator.... think it was this one... www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/ (pretty nerve racking to make sure it was all correct before starting to cut the fret slots!)

[@dustinl6047]

@@JedShura I bet! I'm super interested in this as well and researching. Seems like the next place to go after jazz and serialism haha. Thanks for the link.

[@brettlarson4327]

Are guitars like this sold off the shelf or are they only custom made?

[@JedShura]

A couple of small companies make microtonal guitars/neck. DIY is best though... mix and match...

[@nuodso]

What was it about 31 over 22, 19 or 17 just to name a few? It looks quite unwieldy so I'd love to hear your thought process.

[@JedShura]

Yep, the frets are very close together higher up on the neck, thus a bit unwieldy... although, when I play above the "12th" fret (octave), the neck is effectively a continuous fretless guitar (but the sustain is way better because the frets sustain the notes). 31edo gets close to most of the pure ratios and in my opinion a clear choice. Check out the graph on this page www.jedshura.com/music-sound/microtonal-music/