Pex657 Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 This is a custom guitar of one of my favorite guitar players, Rusty Cooley. He has a custom 8 sting guitar, I am wondering how they measured the frets so he could play correctly. Conklin 8 String Guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axemannate Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 It is actually a fanned fret system, which there is a thread floating around somwhere in this forum that has more details about it. I am actually thinking about doing one when i get the time and a little bit of energy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGM Guitars Posted October 21, 2004 Report Share Posted October 21, 2004 It's really a very simple concept, it's just a progressive scale length. It starts with say 25.5" on the high E and ends with a 28" on the Low F# (if that's what he tunes to) If you look close the 12th fret is verticle, this is your half way point in a scale length. You split the scale length to each half of the 12th fret. Geometry could tell you what scale length each string in between is if you wanted to know (assuming you knew the 2 outside scales) The only problem with this fret system is of course the bridge, conklin has their own bridge design, which you could do something similar without any problem. Using the fanned fret system has it's only little snafu though in that Novak has it patented so if you want to use it you need permission from Novak and have to pay a royalty to actually do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DracWell Posted November 9, 2004 Report Share Posted November 9, 2004 (edited) How would one fix a bridge like that? I'm planning on doing some guitars with fanned frets. (No worry, the permission isn't needed outside the US, unless you sell it to the US). Also, how would one wich scales to use? would 25" and 27" be good for a 7-stringed dropped a half step? (Eb Bb Gb Db Ab Eb Bb) Edited November 9, 2004 by DracWell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
octavedoctor Posted December 30, 2004 Report Share Posted December 30, 2004 Using the fanned fret system has it's only little snafu though in that Novak has it patented so if you want to use it you need permission from Novak and have to pay a royalty to actually do it. Hard to see how they can patent prior art that first appeared in the renaissance! i think the US patent office needs educating... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Yeah, I have worked on a couple 19th century(reputed) balaliakas that had slanted frets and I saw it as a low-tech way to solve some major intonation problems. Go patent water or air or something. Maybe sex. LGM, have you really set any guitars up with this cause I would think it would take a lot of learning to get used to the scale differences you said are prevalent. I'm fasinated. Ok, so how do you spell "fasten8"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
octavedoctor Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 (edited) I experimented with reverse fan fretting (contracting the scale on the bass side) when I was a budding guitar maker. Keep the bridge straight, I thought I'd build the compensation into the scale instead. I thought it would solve the problem of the lower frets being overcompensated by the displacement needed to compensate at the higher frets. I built the damn thing before I did the maths that told me that contracting the scale was exactly the same in mathematical terms as moving the saddle by a fixed amount... Duh! Edited January 1, 2005 by octavedoctor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
octavedoctor Posted January 1, 2005 Report Share Posted January 1, 2005 Yeah, I have worked on a couple 19th century(reputed) balaliakas that had slanted frets and I saw it as a low-tech way to solve some major intonation problems. Go patent water or air or something. Maybe sex. LGM, have you really set any guitars up with this cause I would think it would take a lot of learning to get used to the scale differences you said are prevalent. I'm fasinated. Ok, so how do you spell "fasten8"? Fascinate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thedoctor Posted January 2, 2005 Report Share Posted January 2, 2005 She had nine buttons on her nightgown but could only fasten 8. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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