Will a multiscale guitar sound tighter? What are my options?

Jonathanthomas83

From the explanation videos I'm watching, it stands to reason that the longer scale length on the thicker strings should help the guitar sound tighter for palm muting and chunky chord work...is this true? 

Anyone out there play multiscale fanned fret guitars? What are your thoughts?

Who are the big names in multiscale guitars? Mayones/Ormsby etc?

WezV

The same string at the same tuning will be physically tighter on a longer scale length.  It certainly helps prevent the flabbiness you can get when downtuning.

Roland

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Who are the big names in multiscale guitars? Mayones/Ormsby etc?

WezV

Jonathanthomas83

Haha!

WezV said:

The same string at the same tuning will be physically tighter on a longer scale length.  It certainly helps prevent the flabbiness you can get when downtuning.

Thank you! What guitars you got WezV?

sweepy

Be prepared to buy an Axe Fx if you have a Fan Fret Multiscale Guitar otherwise they are a bugger to amplify, I’ve been there with my Strandberg 

Jonathanthomas83

In what way, @sweepy? Funny you should say that, I'm a Fractal user anyway and am saving for the Axe FX III.

sweepy

The multiscale guitars need a cleaner bottom end that can often elude a normal guitar amp, the Axe Fx and even the Helix give you more control over the dynamic range and eq necessary to stop it farting like a Saturday morning curry 

sweepy

The buyer of my Axe Fx is a Strandberg 8 string user and he found similar issues when amping before he bought mine 

Jonathanthomas83

I see, makes sense. You getting the new Axe FX @sweepy?

sweepy

Jonathanthomas83 said:

I see, makes sense. You getting the new Axe FX @sweepy?

I have gone back to valves, picked up a Bad Cat 30r and a pedalboard, I enjoyed my regular dabble with Modelling through the Axe Fx and 2 Helixes but it’s the sound of a warm Valve for me these days 

Jonathanthomas83

sweepy said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

I see, makes sense. You getting the new Axe FX @sweepy?

I have gone back to valves, picked up a Bad Cat 30r and a pedalboard, I enjoyed my regular dabble with Modelling through the Axe Fx and 2 Helixes but it’s the sound of a warm Valve for me these days 

Furry muff, mate, can't argue with that!!

WezV

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Haha!

WezV said:

The same string at the same tuning will be physically tighter on a longer scale length.  It certainly helps prevent the flabbiness you can get when downtuning.

Thank you! What guitars you got WezV?

Just ones I have made, hence Roland’s comment above.

somebody lolled it, worth pointing out I have been making fanned frets for about 14 years I think... although I have only done 6 or 7 of them in that time.  

blackmachine was definitely before me ( and a main source of inspiration), obviously Novax was.  Perry ormsby was starting to do some at a similar time, I remember lots of discussions with him on the topic via project guitar.

GSPBASSES

I'm not making fan frets at the moment and have done for a couple of years, the only reason I'm commenting on this post is that my customers have never mentioned they had to have a different rig amplifier or Fx wise when they switch to a fan fret halfway through a gig. The same can be said for the 5 string basses I used to make.

Jonathanthomas83

WezV said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Haha!

WezV said:

The same string at the same tuning will be physically tighter on a longer scale length.  It certainly helps prevent the flabbiness you can get when downtuning.

Thank you! What guitars you got WezV?

Just ones I have made, hence Roland’s comment above.

somebody lolled it, worth pointing out I have been making fanned frets for about 14 years I think... although I have only done 6 or 7 of them in that time.  

blackmachine was definitely before me ( and a main source of inspiration), obviously Novax was.  Perry ormsby was starting to do some at a similar time, I remember lots of discussions with him on the topic via project guitar.

Do you still make them? Have you got any pictures or a website by any chance?

Many thanks

TTony

Jonathanthomas83 said:
Have you got any pictures or a website by any chance?

This is a @WezV build ...






It's not half bad.

I've not noticed the amplification issues that you mentioned - although (tbh) it doesn't get anywhere near as much play time as it deserves.

WezV

Jonathanthomas83 said:

WezV said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:

Haha!

WezV said:

The same string at the same tuning will be physically tighter on a longer scale length.  It certainly helps prevent the flabbiness you can get when downtuning.

Thank you! What guitars you got WezV?

Just ones I have made, hence Roland’s comment above.

somebody lolled it, worth pointing out I have been making fanned frets for about 14 years I think... although I have only done 6 or 7 of them in that time.  

blackmachine was definitely before me ( and a main source of inspiration), obviously Novax was.  Perry ormsby was starting to do some at a similar time, I remember lots of discussions with him on the topic via project guitar.

Do you still make them? Have you got any pictures or a website by any chance?

Many thanks

I am making one right now, but I don’t have time for commissions anymore.  Although that one is spoken for.  Search the site for fanned fret Firebird 

website is wezvenables.co.uk.... but it’s mostly just a load of pictures of random builds at the moment.  Needs a serious rebuild and update at some point.

Vola-Martin

You might like to check out the Vola Eve:
https://www.volaguitar.com/guitars/vola-eve.html

DanR

TTony said:

Jonathanthomas83 said:
Have you got any pictures or a website by any chance?

This is a @WezV build ...






It's not half bad.

I've not noticed the amplification issues that you mentioned - although (tbh) it doesn't get anywhere near as much play time as it deserves.

That looks stunning.

prlgmnr

I had the Ibanez M80M Meshuggah sig 8 string, the low strings, especially the low F#, sounded absolutely killer with the 29.4" scale, the high strings sounded shrill and the high E...let's just say it didn't like much in the way of being bent.

A multi-scale should go some way towards solving this problem.

I also think anything less than 29" for the low F# sounds terrible* but I seem to be in a minority with this opinion.

*Not exactly terrible, just that you either have to have such a thick string that it sounds more like a bass than a guitar, or such a floppy string that you can't strike through it crisply in the way that I like.