any ideas?? unusual instrument request left me slightly confused

imalone

Make a fretless one, say it has infinite frets. Use a carbon fibre board for extra points.

welshboyo

Gassage said:

Have you considered sending him to Cleartone Conversions and taking a commission off the sale?

Have we considered that it could actually be him.....

xmrchi

It can't be cleartone, the chap who has asked for this is asking for frets not fretwires...

WezV

So anyway, i politely declined stating it was a bit too experiemntal and i wouldn't want to take any money without being confident of success etc...

Got a really snotty reply back.  The guy is claiming to be a luthier himself????

Antique_Guitars

If he is a luthier then why doesn't he build the bloody thing himself, armchair luthiers get well on my tits!

carlos

The right instrument to play this score

horse

WezV said:

So anyway, i politely declined stating it was a bit too experiemntal and i wouldn't want to take any money without being confident of success etc...

Got a really snotty reply back.  The guy is claiming to be a luthier himself????

Go on - share the reply!

WezV

I wouldn't normally as I don't usually mind unusual requests and don't want people to think I do.  I do treat all serious requests  pretty confidentially 

Not very professional of me, but go on then ....

I replied:

I am afraid that sounds  a bit too experimental for me.  I do like trying new things but i would have no idea where to start with that and would therefore not want to take any money without being confident of success.

and received:

Really? Judging by your other outlandish models it would imply that you could easily do this, Hell I'm a luthier and I know it can be done.

What exactly is the problem?

WezV

I have responded

I do use fanned frets on a few things, but if you are so familiar with my work you will have noticed I have not done Many extended range instruments.   I believe a small fan  on normal guitars can be of great use, bringing tension and tonal improvements.   I am doing a 9-string fanned fret acoustic at the moment, but that is strung double course on the high strings like a 12 string.   

That doesn't mean i won't consider ERG's, but i think jumping straight in with an 11 string would be a rather silly way to start!

I also think your concept needs more thought:

30" scale length feels flabby on bass for me. Some vintage basses can get away with it for some styles, but the whole point of fanned frets for me is improved clarity on the bass strings.  here you have 2 strings going an octave lower than standard bass tuning, I would not be happy with the way they played.   But then if we increased the fan  its going to compromise everything else.  Essentially i feel that the big jumps in tuning between your strings will make the fanned frets pretty meaningless, there will still be massive compromises in tension.

The design sounds like a nice idea, i like alternative shapes like you have described.

I have no experience with graphine

I have no experience with any 11 string trem that also has piezo saddles. 

48 frets???  why?   have you considered that this will only leave a few mm between the high frets on the high strings.  most instruments with this many strings have big frets to help with tapping styles. 48 frets would need tiny mandolin fretwire to even fit!

 I politely declined getting involved for the reasons above and the stream of consciousness style to your first email - it all seems ill thought out and when i read it I honestly thought it was a bit of a wind up! If you are a luthier I suggest you have a go yourself.  I would be more than happy to be proved wrong!

Octahedron

If this thread were to be made into an episode of Dragon's Den, where the luthiers of the forum (including WezV) were the 'dragons' and this guy was an entrepeneur - this would make for some interesting television!!!

randomhandclaps

It's kind of amazing how he know so much about what he wants but so little about what is actually possible.

Philly_Q

Very measured response, Wez, you've been nothing but polite to the chap.  He can't have been expecting any serious reply to the bit about graphene, surely.

UnclePsychosis

randomhandclaps;336974" said:

It's kind of amazing how he know so much about what he wants but so little about what is actually possible.

Its clearly a windup. Someone is pulling wez's leg.

Judging by the number of people taking it seriously, quite a successful windup at that.

WezV

UnclePsychosis said:

randomhandclaps;336974" said:

It's kind of amazing how he know so much about what he wants but so little about what is actually possible.

Its clearly a windup. Someone is pulling wez's leg.

Judging by the number of people taking it seriously, quite a successful windup at that.

if I was taking it seriously I never would have posted it here

ICBM

Antique_Guitars said:

If he is a luthier then why doesn't he build the bloody thing himself, armchair luthiers get well on my tits!

The one that really gets me is when one of them brings you something and says "I do all my own work…" and you look at the horrendous bodged mess and think "who knew?!". But those jobs are almost always a poisoned chalice because whatever you do is never "right" - they always think they know better than you how it should be done, even though they couldn't do it themselves!

I learned a long time ago that it was better to find a polite way of explaining that I was not the right person to do the job and they would be better finding someone who was. That was after I fell out with one who if I remember rightly wanted something that was physically impossible and didn't like being told so...

horse

WezV said:

UnclePsychosis said:

randomhandclaps;336974" said:

It's kind of amazing how he know so much about what he wants but so little about what is actually possible.

Its clearly a windup. Someone is pulling wez's leg.

Judging by the number of people taking it seriously, quite a successful windup at that.

if I was taking it seriously I never would have posted it here

You've certainly given them a very comprehensive response for a windup! I like to think it might be a genuine 'creative' type who was irritated by your inability to realise his vision.

WezV

well you never know, which is why i tried to go for polite refusal first

WezV

Just been sent this link as proof of concept, although I have declined in pretty clear terms at this point

scroll down for a pic of an 11-string which is apparently "very easy to play"

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/extended-range-guitars/103359-i-know-doesnt-really-apply-7-strings.html

fortunately the vid is private and I can't see it  

Philly_Q

Is that your man who wanted the guitar built?

stevenguitars

horse said:

WezV said:

So anyway, i politely declined stating it was a bit too experiemntal and i wouldn't want to take any money without being confident of success etc...

Got a really snotty reply back.  The guy is claiming to be a luthier himself????

why not point him in the direction of that guy from ebay that makes those really amazing easy to play wide nutted telebucker guitars