Elite Model: The Signature Elite Tops the Offerings from Buzz Feiten's New Eponymous Brand of Guitars
Over the past half century, Howard "Buzz" Feiten has played guitar for dozens of the greatest rock, pop, and soul artists. His credits include stints as a member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (with whom he appeared at Woodstock) and the Rascals, as well as session turns on albums by Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and Gregg Allman, among many others.
But for all his credentials as a player, Feiten is best known in guitar circles as the inventor of the Buzz Feiten Tuning System, a revolutionary tempered-tuning system that, through the deployment of patented pitch offsets, corrects intonation challenges innate to stringed instruments, like guitar and bass. For Feiten, the development of the tuning system stemmed from his desire to offer musicians an improved playing experience. "If I think that something's not as good as it can be, it drives me crazy," he says. "I can't sleep. It messes me up completely and I have to try to fix it. That's just my nature."
That mindset fuels his latest endeavor, Buzz Feiten Guitars. The brand currently offers five models, including the top-of-the-line Signature Elite shown here. Feiten designed each guitar with an eye toward maximizing comfort, tone, and playability, "employing ideas that address a number of issues," he says. Some of these ideas, as displayed on the Signature Elite, include a unique rhythm/lead switch, G&B-designed hum-canceling pickups, and a custom top-loading bridge.
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