Kite Guitar: Difference between revisions

TallKite (talk | contribs)
For Luthiers: added a paragraph about string gauges
TallKite (talk | contribs)
About 41-EDO: added the JI errors for each prime
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== For Luthiers ==
== For Luthiers ==
To place the frets on a Kite guitar, simply replace the 12th root of 2 = 1.059463 with the 41st root of 4 = 1.034390. Or purchase a pre-slotted fingerboard from [https://precisionpearl.com/ PrecisionPearl.com] . It comes radiused, tapered and inlaid, so all you need to do is glue it on and put in the frets. Replacing 24 old frets makes 41 new frets, but the last few are very tightly spaced. One might instead replace 21 old frets to make 36 new frets. Every 4th fret has a dot, and every 12th fret has a double dot.
To place the frets on a Kite guitar, simply replace the 12th root of 2 = 1.059463 with the 41st root of 4 = 1.034390. Or purchase a pre-slotted fingerboard from [https://precisionpearl.com/ PrecisionPearl.com]. It comes radiused, tapered and inlaid, so all you need to do is glue it on and put in the frets. Replacing 24 old frets makes 41 new frets, but the last few are very tightly spaced. One might instead replace 21 old frets to make 36 new frets. Every 4th fret has a dot, and every 12th fret has a double dot.


To find the saddle compensation on a standard guitar, one compares the harmonic at the 12th fret with the fretted note at the 12th fret. For the Kite guitar, by a weird coincidence, one does the same! But the 12th fret now makes the 3rd harmonic, not the 2nd. Thus the two notes should be an 8ve apart, not a unison. To get a unison, when you fret the string, play the 2nd harmonic with your other hand. With your forefinger or middlefinger, touch the string midway between the 32nd and 33rd frets. Then stretch your hand and pluck with your thumb as close as you can get to the midpoint between your finger and the bridge. If this isn't feasible (e.g. with a bass guitar), you can capo the string at the 12th fret and use both hands to play the harmonic. And to be extremely precise, the fretted note should be 0.48¢ sharper than the harmonic.
To find the saddle compensation on a standard guitar, one compares the harmonic at the 12th fret with the fretted note at the 12th fret. For the Kite guitar, by a weird coincidence, one does the same! But the 12th fret now makes the 3rd harmonic, not the 2nd. Thus the two notes should be an 8ve apart, not a unison. To get a unison, when you fret the string, play the 2nd harmonic with your other hand. With your forefinger or middlefinger, touch the string midway between the 32nd and 33rd frets. Then stretch your hand and pluck with your thumb as close as you can get to the midpoint between your finger and the bridge. If this isn't feasible (e.g. with a bass guitar), you can capo the string at the 12th fret and use both hands to play the harmonic. And to be extremely precise, the fretted note should be 0.48¢ sharper than the harmonic.
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== About 41-EDO ==
== About 41-EDO ==
The 41 notes can be named with [[Ups and Downs Notation|ups and downs]]:  
[[41-edo]] approximates just intonation very closely. Prime 3 is extremely accurate, and primes 5 and 7 are both flat, which means their errors partially cancel out in ratios such as 7/5. Unfortunately prime 11 is sharp, so the errors add up, and 11/10 is nearly 11¢ sharp. 
{| class="wikitable"  style="text-align:center;"
|prime
|2/1
|3/2
|5/4
|7/4
|11/8
|13/8
|17/16
|19/16
|-
|error
|0.0¢
|<nowiki>+0.48¢</nowiki>
|<nowiki>-5.8¢</nowiki>
|<nowiki>-3.0¢</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+4.8¢</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+8.3¢</nowiki>
|<nowiki>+12.1¢</nowiki>
|<nowiki>-4.8¢</nowiki>
|}
The 41 notes can be named with [[Ups and Downs Notation|ups and downs]]:. One sharp equals four ups, thus ^^C = vvC#. One minor 2nd equals three ups, thus Db = ^^^C = vC#.


P1  ^1  
P1  ^1