MarkKirkwood Posted August 16, 2014 Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 I had an idea... turns our some one else also had the same idea. Basicly... the way we do frets is absurd from a builders perspective. WHY OH WHY must a fret have such a tiny fin on the back? Unless there is a tone issue I see no reason why frets can not have a much easier mounting system. as I see it. I can take a sheet of stainless steal. bevel the edge cut it to desired depth and inset it with glue. Am I wrong here? Or are my ideas to dangerous for this world? Here is the link to the patent I found that covers what I wanted to do with frets. http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=07507888&homeurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO2%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-bool.html%2526r%3D6%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526co1%3DAND%2526d%3DPTXT%2526s1%3D%252522guitar%252Bfrets%252522%2526OS%3D%252522guitar%252Bfrets%252522%2526RS%3D%252522guitar%252Bfrets%252522&PageNum=&Rtype=&SectionNum=&idkey=NONE&Input=View+first+page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted August 17, 2014 Report Share Posted August 17, 2014 Isn't that what Parker already do (or at least did when they first arrived on the scene in the mid 90s)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkKirkwood Posted August 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2014 Thats new to me. I have never seen any one do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted August 17, 2014 Report Share Posted August 17, 2014 Had a quick scout around the net and it turns out that Parker use (or used?) tang-less stainless steel frets that are simply glued to the face of the fretboard. There seem to have been a few stories of some Parker Flys where the glue gives way and the fret just drops off the fretboard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkKirkwood Posted August 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2014 If you look at the patent it shows a triangel shape that would be milled into the fret board. one dab of glue and that is never coming out unless you use a hammer and a pin. I think a nice square glued into the neck would do just fine. It would have a whole lot more surface area then a single fin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted August 17, 2014 Report Share Posted August 17, 2014 What you describe is more or less the old time bar frets used around the turn of the last century. Frank Ford covers refretting a bar fret Martin here. The patent you linked to are a totally different animal. I imagine that it would need considerable force to press one of those in from the top. Sideways mounting would be my choose for those frets. At the same time I see something I interpret as a "depth stop", so that there would be a bit of metal protruding out from the fret on the top of the fretboard. I think that in that case somebody is trying to invent something very complicated to compensate for their own bad fretting technique... I don't see the patented fret addressing any *real* problems that a bit of practicing can't overcome. Regarding your original idea, I don't see why it shouldn't work. The tangs were probably introduced to keep the frets from popping out of the board as the glues we have today weren't available. So probably a metal barb (the tangs) were introduced. Why we went from the bar frets to modern frets I cannot say, maybe to save some material? Or possible that the modern version just covers up any tiny mistakes in cutting the fret slots? Anyway, with modern production methods, and modern glues I cannot se that it wouldn't work. On top of that is would be easier to bend sheet metal to conform to any "non-straight" fretting method (I didn't mention True Temperament, did I?). Using stainless steel should also mean the refret issues should be minimized as refretting a board with glued in bar frets might mean you had to scrap the board altogether on behalf of some massive chipping, or having to stand some nasty fumes created by heating the frets to soften the glue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkKirkwood Posted August 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2014 refreting would be an issue I agree. The fret design in the link has a few upgrades. First the triangle base would be side mount. Second the metal wings are there to add sustain. Apparently adding more metal surface area created more sustain. I thought it was odd but worth a try. If gluing the frets in makes regretting harder then the triangle option makes much more sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted August 17, 2014 Report Share Posted August 17, 2014 Apparently adding more metal surface area created more sustain. Hm, I dunno... Maybe, maybe not. I tend to go for light weight hardware as my feeling (no science anywhere around that statement) is that lighter instruments make for more resonant and better sustaining instruments. But there are the granite guitar fender made in the 70s that was reported to have sustain to the next week. Anyway I feel that the extra mass added by the tiny little wings on the frets might or might not make a very big difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.