cherokee6 Posted January 1, 2007 Report Share Posted January 1, 2007 Here's a site if no one has picked it up already: http://www.mikeyguitar.com/ Mike is a luthier in Toronto who, with an engineering friend came up with this device. With the flip of a switch you can go either fretted or non fretted. The mechanism , if you can picture, is made up of half round frets, such as a dowel cut in half from its center leaving 2 half moon pieces, and sort of rocks into place. He happens to be a friend of my buddy Dave Wildsmith http://www.davidwildsmith.com/home.cfm Dave tells me that Mike and his partner are in the process of negotiating with some of the major manufacturers; tricky stuff as they're known to take ideas without giving compensation. I hope to be building, or rather completing a build with Mike (believe it or not I haven't met him yet), of a Strat with 3 lo-imp pups as used in the LP recording. The project was started a year ago by my late good friend Mark Severn (see Dave's site), who was the premier guitarist in Hamilton, Ontario. He was untimley killed in a car wreck on July 2nd. of 2006. Anyway, as I refurbished a LP Recording with Mark's help, I was asked by Dave to complete the job on Mark's git. I'll eventually set up a short tutorial when I gat started on it, as the git is not in my possession yet, since I live in the Hudson Valley of New York and don't get to see Dave too often. (We did take Mark's goldtop LP and had Les Paul sign it for us this past Sept). Anyway check the site it's pretty cool to see it in action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
low end fuzz Posted January 2, 2007 Report Share Posted January 2, 2007 cool idea?; i dont like it personnally, but what ev does the action set itself too? are the suggested strings flatwound so they dont eat into the board when the frets are down? wouldnt the intonation be off after the frets were raised? although i guess if you set the int. for the frets it wouldnt matter for the fretless? what happens when they need to be dressed? they explain nothing on their site (that i found) and it seems like an idea that i hope dosent take off; i cant beleive this is going on in my backyard eww Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted January 2, 2007 Report Share Posted January 2, 2007 Couldnt find a patent under either the domain registrants surname, nor the website copyright holders surname. Of course, im only guessing either of these will be the luthiers name, because he doesnt actually have his name on the website... Without that, he will be in trouble. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherokee6 Posted January 2, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2007 Don't know any of the above; I'm getting it all third hand. But what 2 sources tell me (both whom have worked for the Big name companies) that the companies will steal the idea right out from under you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted January 2, 2007 Report Share Posted January 2, 2007 yup, thats what patents are for, to protect you (if you have the money to back you up that is) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherokee6 Posted January 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Hah!! Many times patents don't even help that much! You need a very strongly described one and not put your whole formula on paper for all to see (check pups patents such as Kinman's Bartolini, etc; they don't give out the # of windings, wire gauge, etc.) And as you rightly stated even then you have to have massive $$$ to enforce it. Remember the guy who sued Ford for the patent on the intermittent windshield wipers? He eventually won, but shelled out a few hundred thousand dollars to prove his point! Look at Fender and Gibson. You should be able to use the pegheads, designs, etc. as they've been in the public domain for more than 50 years!! Yet, they intimidate us all into not using their designs. Even Paul Reed Smith lost recently against Gibson! I wish the guys all the luck and hope they are successful, it's a pretty innovative gadget and they deserve the fruits of their labors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 Certainly not a case of "Now why didn't I think of that ?", for me, at least. I guess the frets need pins on the ends which requires some serious binding on the board edge, which I don't like (especially since the fret can't go over the binding). Now, if you can have a setting where the frets just continue to rotate, I might have fun playing on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 I want to see a guitar with frets that randomly drop into the board. You'll never know which one will disappear, or reappear next. That'll sort out the hacks from the REAL guitarists Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doeringer Posted January 3, 2007 Report Share Posted January 3, 2007 So for this to work, the fretboard would have to be flat (no radius) right? or am I missing something. I didn't get to dig too deep into the site. To me this would knock out most of their potential buyers, patent or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherokee6 Posted January 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 Probably a radius on the flatter side; but not neceesarily. The frets crossection could be a bit more oblong in shape. I think Perry's idea for randomly dropping frets would be interesting. It would be pretty challenging. I suppose even the greats could look foolish with that design! , Tom PS I do like the idea for use on a bass though; nothing like a fretless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vinny Posted January 4, 2007 Report Share Posted January 4, 2007 I want to see a guitar with frets that randomly drop into the board. You'll never know which one will disappear, or reappear next. That'll sort out the hacks from the REAL guitarists You're a sic pup Perry. -Vinny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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