What is True Temperament?

Hello friends. This time I want to introduce you to the idea of True Temperament design for improved accuracy for playing in tune.

What Is It?

True Temperament is a company with patented designs that supplies luthiers and manufacturers. True Temperament is a methodology for placing and shaping frets in a neck to achieve more accurate tuning in any playing position. As guitarists, we all know that the common methodology of fret design is close but not bang on. We set intonation to try to bring this in line, but not all guitars can be fully intonated, particularly those that share a saddle position for different strings. This is common in most acoustic guitars and the incredibly popular Fender Telecaster with the three barrel saddles is widely known to not be fully intonatable.

How Does It Work?

Basically this system uses curved frets based on the Thidell Formula One temperant model. It works on any guitars using this design and allows each position to be in tune, regardless of the key the guitar is played in. This model is an evolution of and replacement for the older Mean Tone and True Temperament 12 Tone models. You can see what these frets look like in the example photo shown here, courtesy of True Temperament.

I’ve heard it said that these frets look like they are drunk. I don’t know about that, but I do know that you can hear the difference between the standard model and a True Temperament fretted instrument.

Where Can This Be Used?

The system is available on 6, 7, and 8 string electric guitars as well as acoustic steel and nylon stringed instruments. It has also been developed to work on multi-scale length instrument necks that have found favour with many players, particularly instruments with 7 and 8 strings where they want to down tune, and don’t want the low strings to flap about.

Why Does This Work Better?

The standard method of fret spacing is based on the scale length of the instrument. The frequency of the vibrating string is based on the scale length and is further affected by string tension and string weight. The height of the string also has impact. The higher the action, the greater the string tension must be increased and thus the more sharp the string goes as it is fretted. While most people think of action as being all about playability, it also has a significant impact on tuning accuracy when fretting a note.

The standard fret placement method is mathematical but generalized across all the strings. The scale length is determined, then the position of the first fret is determined by dividing by a constant. Once the first fret is positioned, that same constant is used again for the “new” scale length to determine the position of the next fret. It is a well proven system and it works. Multiscale instruments work the same way, but the fret position is different for each string because each string has its own scale length. It’s math. We are not talking about building rockets to Saturn, it is well established and well understood math.

True Temperament takes a different approach. First it takes into account that a fretted string has a shorter length, greater tension and less mass. Mass falls off at 50% per octave which will help you in your next game of fret placement trivia. Thus True Temperament defines the optimal placement for each fret for each string all along the fretboard. This is done by their patented model of Curved Frets and Dynamic Intonation.

Won’t Squiggly Frets Affect Playability?

The straight answer is yes, coupled with the fact that playability is a mental decision. This is not unlike the idea of multi-scale. I have had folks play my multi-scale instruments and fall in love and others who say that they hated it. The ones who spend a lot of time looking at the fretboard seem to struggle the most, but I do not have a sufficient data set to say that as a supportable hypothesis. My own exposure to True Temperament is significantly limited. I found it easy to get accustomed to the model, and it took about the same time as it took me to get comfortable with Multi-scale the first time that I tried it. Now I can switch back and forth between multi-scale and standard without thinking about it. I expect and will some day know for sure if that is true for a True Temperament fretboard.

But wait a second! I bend strings all the time! Won’t that sound bad?

Nope. It sounds similar to bending strings on a standard fretboard. I could not hear a difference, but I did not have opportunity to do side by side recordings for additional analysis, however there are players of this system who say that there is no difference.

Does this system necessitate a particular string gauge?

No it doesn’t. The acoustic and nylon string fretboards from the company have been specifically tested with different gauges without issue. This makes sense because intonation is a function of scale length. Once the string is intonated properly, that is what matters.

There has to be a catch..

There is a catch. Your standard guitar tuner is not going to do the job, although there are workarounds. The reason is that the open strings follow a nominally different model in tuning. There are tuners on the market, including tuner apps that already have the True Temperament model built in. The company recommends the Precision Strobe Tuner by James Campbell which is available for the iPad. There is also a physical tuner called the Sonic Research Turbo Tuner ST-300. You can use a high end standard tuner that allows you to set offsets for each string. How to do this is documented on the manufacturer sites that offer True Temperament fingerboards on their guitars, such as .strandberg

Sounds Pretty Unique, what About Playing with my Band?

The effects are subtle and you won’t sound weird in the context of your band. Remember that even stringed pianos are not perfectly in tune even when tuned. Pianos like guitars, use some slack to keep themselves in tune with themselves.

Summary

Your first question is likely, will this make a massive difference in my playing? The answer is yes and no. You will hear better tuning, and you will experience more sustain and more bloom in each note. If you use compressors and sustainers, the results become more obvious and beneficial. Any effect that uses the benefits of harmonics will be richer and fuller as well. That said, you are talking about a new guitar or a new fretboard on an existing guitar, or a zillion dollars to refit your existing guitar, coupled with the reality that most shops will not have the tools to cut the curved fret slots. I have had great success with my .strandberg guitars and when possible will look at a Boden+ True Temperament, probably a seven string.

Thank you for reading. If you have not yet been listening to The Podcast, click the link to head over to that page to see what’s been covered. The Podcast from That Guitar Lover dot Com is also available on Apple Music, Amazon Music, Google Play and Spotify. Until next time, peace.