My first involvement with the Buzz Feiten system was when asked to set up a couple of “John Suhr” and “Tom Anderson” guitars (Buzz Feiten intonated as standard). I had heard and read a little about the system but when faced with setting a couple of them up in a hurry and with little knowledge available in the public domain I was forced to go back to first principles and try to work out what was going on.
Ok! so the nut is closer to the first fret than normal so its going to flatten notes within the first position, so that should get rid of the sharpness often occurring when fretting close to the nut. If that’s so, the saddle position where the 12th fret intonates is going to have to move – this is where the going gets tough. Because I had little time I decided the only thing to do was set the intonation with octaves and not 12th fret comparisons. Top E string – compare G 3rd fret and G 15th fret – D’s on the B string etc.). once intonated in this manner the instruments were pretty close, but who knows at this point what Mr Feiten and his team had in mind.
There was only one thing for it, call the guys! – soon we were discussing the pros and cons of the system and covering ground I had only theorised about. In short, since that time I have set up and fitted many Buzz Feiten systems and am completely convinced of it’s effectiveness.
The “Feiten” nut creates a shelf over the fingerboard so there is no invasive work necessary which could devalue a vintage instrument. It is fitted in the normal way, however the string take off point is adjusted for that particular guitar with reference to fret width, scale length and string gauge. The intonation (Saddle positions) are then adjusted with offsets designed to even out fretboard anomalies associated with traditionally intonated guitars.
My personal experience as a player of guitars fitted with the system has proved to me that not only do you get better intonation it also appears to be more stable, chords hang together more tunefully, there appears to be fewer wolf notes beating in dissonance. Initially you would think the improved intonation would only benefit clean rhythm work but you would be amazed how overdriven crunchy power chords improve as well – after all the amp clipping is squaring off better source material with less dissonance.
I’ve fitted the system to a number of guitars, Les Pauls, Strats and a number of archtop instruments, all have benefited (instruments and owners!). I know a lot of players are going to turn round and say why fix something that wasn’t broke - "guitar greats of the past didn’t have it so I don’t need it" – all I can say to these guys is that you are missing out on something. If your aim is to get to, or stay at the top of your game, it’s useful to take in new developments especially when it’s something as fundamental as your chosen instruments tuning and intonation.
Take a look at the list of users on the “Buzz Feiten” website, you will be staggered , - some of the best ears in the business can't be wrong!
