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Fanned Frets?!


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Regarding the Buzz Feiten system and zero frets.  I was a non-believer until I got off my arse and tried it and it is amazing.  If you've got any kind of ear at all you WILL hear a difference.

No offence, but only amazing if, like Buzz, you've haven't been tuning a guitar properly in the first place.

The Feiten System has no sound technical rationale and he's made a tremendous number of errors of technical fact, history and assumption, especially on the subject of string tension and equal temperament; in fact he doesn't even seem to know what equal temperament is! He appears to be confusing it with either Mean tone or Just Intonation.:D

I've seen many of these guitars and the first thing that I find is that the owners don't know how to tune them anyway (which makes it all a bit pointless) and the second thing is that they don't sound any better or worse than a standard strat which i've tuned and intonated myself using a true tempered intonation protocol. One guy I know had all his guitars modified by a major UK repair shop but was then given no guidance as to what was involved in tuning them and in his words "they didn't sound much different to me".

When an Ibanez that had been modified arrived on my bench the intonation was noticeably false. The shop where I work also had two Fylde Calibans in stock; we couldn't sell them because they sounded so bad and we couldn't get them in tune. When I investigated I found that they have a zero fret which is set about 2mm forward of theory and this was the cause of the intonation problems.:D

There are better and simpler ways to acheive satisfactory intonation without modifications but it involves educating people to a more technical level than they are currently used to. B)

See my posts here:

http://p068.ezboard.com/fthecrossroads1973...opicID=21.topic

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What exactly do you mean by don't meet at the 12th?

Surely you would mark out the scale on each side of the fingerboard and then join the dots.

The way I would do it would be to work outwards from the 12th so you have an angle on the nut and on the bridge while the 12th is straight.

Your fret positions measured from the bridge should be this:

sorry I haven't worked out how to tabulate in post format :D

24 (nut)

22.65

21.38

20.18

19.05

17.98

16.97

16.02

15.12

14.27

13.47

12.71

12

11.33

10.69

10.09

9.52

8.99

8.49

8.01

7.56

7.14

6.73

6.36

6

23.5(nut)

22.18

20.94

19.76

18.65

17.61

16.62

15.68

14.80

13.97

13.19

12.45

11.75

11.09

10.47

9.88

9.33

8.80

8.31

7.84

7.40

6.99

6.59

6.22

5.87

Edited by octavedoctor
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hey I just calculated the fanned frets with a 24" on the fat E and a 23.5 inch on the skinny E.(dont tell me it's too short) The only problem is the frets dont meet at the 12th fret. It's fanned all the way to the 24th fret. is this a problem?

I guess I'd have to say "go play around with FretFind."

Just for the record I like shorter scales. I have a little 22.5 inch acoustic. My next project is going to be a short scale bass. Nothing to be ashamed of. I used to think longer meant better. Perhaps I'm getting old but comfort is king. No more 35 inch basses for me.

I'm guessing you mean that the 12th fret isn't perpendicular. No problem in theory. This is an art form after all. The question should be how you want it.

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