Microtonal And Fretless Guitars

A microtonal guitar and a fretless guitar solve the same problem in two different ways: how to play the quarter-tones and microtonal intervals of Turkish, Arabic, and other maqam-based music on an instrument built for the 12-note Western scale. Sala Muzik specialises in both — adjustable microtonal guitars whose frets slide to any pitch, and true fretless guitars with a smooth fingerboard for unbroken slides and vocal-like phrasing. We offer classical (nylon), acoustic, and electric models, from accessible student instruments to fully adjustable professional guitars, all hand-built in Istanbul.

Quick picks by player type

Microtonal or fretless — which guitar do you need?

Both let you play notes that a standard guitar cannot, but they feel completely different. A microtonal guitar keeps frets — they simply move, so you set them to the exact quarter-tones of a maqam and then play with normal fretted accuracy. A fretless guitar removes frets entirely, so you find every pitch with your finger, like a violin or an oud: total freedom, but no fret to guide intonation.

The adjustable microtonal fret system

The defining feature of our microtonal guitars is a fingerboard cut with channels so each fret can slide sideways and lock at any position. This lets you place frets on the exact micro-intervals (komas) of a maqam — Rast, Hicaz, Saba, and others — and then play them with the speed and accuracy of a normal fretted guitar. Reset the frets to equal spacing and it is a standard 12-tone guitar again. The modern adjustable microtonal guitar was developed in Istanbul in the 2000s by guitarist and academic Tolgahan Çoğulu, and it has since become the standard tool for playing maqam and microtonal repertoire on the classical guitar.

What makes a quality microtonal or fretless guitar

• Fingerboard accuracy — on microtonal models the fret channels must be cut precisely so frets lock firmly and hold pitch; on fretless models the board must be perfectly level and sealed so notes speak cleanly all the way up.
• Tonewoods — a solid top (spruce or cedar on classical and acoustic models) drives tone and projection; the neck and fingerboard wood affect feel and durability under string tension.
• Electronics — the EQ / pickup models (CP-4, CP-5, KG-5) let you amplify cleanly on stage and record direct, which matters for fretless and microtonal tones that are hard to mic.
• Setup — string action and nut height are critical: too high and microtonal fretting is a struggle, too low and a fretless board buzzes. Every guitar is set up and inspected in our Istanbul workshop before dispatch.
• Build — these are specialist instruments. A poorly made microtonal guitar with loose or imprecise frets will never play in tune; the fret-channel work is the hardest part to get right.

A short history

Western guitars are built around 12 equal semitones, which cannot produce the quarter-tones and micro-intervals at the heart of Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and Greek maqam music. Players solved this for centuries with fretless instruments like the oud; applying the same idea to the guitar produced the fretless guitar, with its smooth, vocal slides. The adjustable microtonal guitar took the opposite route — keeping frets but making them movable — and was developed in Istanbul in the 2000s, turning the classical guitar into an instrument that can play any maqam with full fretted precision. Sala Muzik builds both families in Turkey for players worldwide.

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