True Temperament Explained

After conversations with Anders Thidell

True Temperament is a fretting system invented by Anders Thidell in Sweden, with curved frets laid out to achieve a high precision in intonation on the guitar. This article looks at different kinds of temperaments and examines the reason behind these eye-catching fret shapes.

What is temperament

Temperament is a system of tuning. If we imagine the first and last note of a musical octave as the start and end point of a line, there would be infinite points between these two. Temperament is the system which defines the exact interval or space between any two notes of the octave.

Tempering

Tempering changes the position of a note to adjust for its musical context. Historically, there have been different systems for adjustment (eg: Just or Pure Temperament, Meantone Temperament, Pythagorean Temperament, etc).

Equal Temperament

Equal Temperament is the most commonly used system of tuning today and what we are most used to hearing. This is 12 notes or pitches equally divided between the octave. Between each pitch is a semitone. Each semitone is equal in size.

Inaccurate Equal Temperament on the guitar

Equal Temperament is relatively easy to achieve on a keyboard. However on the guitar, perfect equal temperament is normally impossible to achieve.

Many factors determine the exact pitch of each note on a guitar. As the the action of a guitar gets higher along the fretboard the intonation is effected as the string is pressed down. Further, each string responds to this pressure differently because of difference in weight and tension. Therefore with straight frets we can only achieve a rough compensation of this.

For many guitarists this can be frustrating in particular when playing with other instruments. With careful tuning, the guitar can be made to sound more in tune at a particular position, while playing at other positions may still be imprecise in intonation.

True Temperament System

True Temperament Fret System for guitars does not compromise on intonation. It ensures that each note is accurately equal tempered and perfectly in tune.

This system takes into account that pressing a string to the fret stretches the string slightly, increasing the tension and thus sharpening the notes produced. So the only way to have equal tempering under these circumstances is to adjust each and every string-to-fret contact point on the fingerboard separately, until each and every note plays the desired frequency exactly. This is impossible to achieve with traditional one-piece straight frets.

The science of True Temperament

As mentioned earlier, most luthiers rely only on one mathematical formula with some broad compensations like placing the bridge so that it is angled closer to the higher strings. However the weight of each string is different, and the pressure applied to each fret would be different at each point, so the guitar is never in perfect tune.

True Temperament Frets on a guitar are not calculated mathematically. The rough position of each intersection point of string and neck is pre-determined for each scale-length type of guitar (electric, acoustic, classical). This is marked with a small piece of metal on the neck.

This exact position of each fret is determined after careful analysis, adjusting the intersection point several times until there is a satisfactory and stable result. This is Dynamic Intonation™.

Curved Frets™

Once the points on a fret line are determined, the coordinates are then entered into a CNC (Computer Numerically Controlled) machine that builds together the accurate shape of line for the Curved Frets™.

What lies ahead

True Temperament Fret System is one of the most significant contributions to the development of guitar-making in recent times.

Most guitarists who get used to instruments with True Temperament frets find it hard to go back to 'regular' frets. The precision in intonation begins to make a big difference.

Still a new invention, the impact of True Temperament on the guitar world is yet to be seen. It may very well become a standard for professional guitarists and recording artists in the relatively near future.