#gitpr0n

I posted this as a reply on YouTube, but I thought I should save it here as well: Guitars are theoretically set up for "equal temperament" pitches. For each note, the next half step up should be 1.059 times that pitch (or 2^(1/12). Many fretted and keyboard instruments are set up like this. This is different from "just intonation", which is based on whole number ratios. E.g. a perfect 5th up from A=440 in just intonation would be 440 * 3/2, or 660. In equal temperament, a perfect 5th is 440 * (2^(7/12)) or 659.3. So there is always a slight "error". But equal temperament is what lets us play in different keys, b/c in just intonation the right notes for one key might be wrong for another. Fret positions on a guitar involve even bigger compromises, because the correct position of a 2nd fret for the 3rd string is not necessarily the same as for the 2nd fret of the 1st string, so fret placement is a "good enough" affair. With True Temperament the 2nd fret on the 3rd string is the right equal temperament pitch, and the 2nd fret on the first string is right too. This then also fixes problems with unisons and octaves between strings, so things sound smoother all along the fret board. So "True Temperament" isn't meant to change guitars over to "Just Intonation" but to fix errors in their "Equal Temperament" pitches. What stuns me is that there are people who prefer having their guitar out of tune because that's what they're used to. This is where habit and tradition become bad things.