Menu Close

Just Intonation guitars

Projections libérantes and L’école-atelier Lutherie-Guitare Bruand have joined forces to carry out an unusual project: redesigning the positioning of the frets of a classical guitar.

The new positioning of the frets makes it possible to obtain natural pitches, i.e. pitches that are in proportions of whole numbers of frequencies, rather than corresponding to the division of the octave into twelve equal parts, as prescribed by the conventional system.

Compared to conventional harmony, the consonances of natural harmony are softer, but its dissonances are also rougher. In other words, it is a territory to explore.

Try it out! The Just Intonation guitar is now available to everyone!

Capsule #1

Capsule #2

Capsule #3

Presentation of the project

Manufacturing steps

Unveiling of the results

Esquisse #1

Esquisse #2

Simon Martin : artistic direction
René Wilhelmy : direction of lutherie, development and CAD/CNC programming
Dan Kelly : lutherie (apprentice-technician of l’école-atelier lutherie-guitare Bruand)
Maxime Baron : lutherie (apprentice technician of l’école-atelier lutherie-guitare Bruand)
Simon Jolicoeur-Côté : images and editing

The guitar used for the shooting of this video is the work of Julien Côté (graduate of l’école-atelier Lutherie-Guitare Bruand workshop in 2020)
The guitar used for the development of the project is the work of Élise Lacasse (graduate of l’école-atelier Lutherie-Guitare Bruand in 2018).

This project was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).

2