I came across this the yesterday and remembered a discussion with a guitarist friend about the importance of getting the fingertips in exactly the right spot re the fret. Apart from the non-standard fret positions this guitar has two frets for some notes - presumably to allow for modulations - or even perhaps just for the specific notes and modulations that occur in this particular piece ( the frets are apparently adjustable) or could it even be that the strings themselves are not tuned EADGBE?. I can't see the pattern with the notes with two frets. Maybe someone brighter than me can explain?
But even leaving aside the extraordinary virtuosity, I just can't get over how beautiful this tuning sounds on guitar. Interesting that this a Bach piece and that Bach is generally credited with starting the process that ended in our modern equal temperament tuning - which this performance very definitely isn't in.
While I kind of understand the theory of this stuff, in practice I can rarely hear whether a piece is played in one of the non-standard temperaments (the exception being the - to me at least - almost unbearable barber shop tuning). This seems to be something called Kirnberger III - whatever - it's a revelation.
Can't imagine a mandolin fretboard working quite like that though - fret spacings too close together?
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