any ideas?? unusual instrument request left me slightly confused

SteveRobinson

I think he's changed to wanting a hard tail. I received this email yesterday and recognise the style:

What would it cost to get my guitar, or just the neck built ? Its a 48 curved fret, 5.5 or 6.5 inch fan with eleven/twelve strings. 25.5"-31" or 25.5”-32”. 

These are the specs. Just line up the strings with the new curved nut, and the new measurements should become more obvious after. The 7th fret will be perpendicular and straight. And the width and depth remain the same. Just refer to this scale suggestions chart to see where the curve should go. (I assume this is changeable.) 

the curved frets COULD be done if the tang on the fret wire was clipped into small slits. I mean, ultimately it is just an elongated and bendy nail with a rounded top. The “slots” could be cut in small angular straight lines, or small holes for a clipped fret tang.

 

(12)-------(0C#) - 32” -  .232 (ck or O4p)

(11)------ (0F#)  - 31” -  .145-.175 (circle K or O4P or regular) 

(10)------ (0B)   -  30” -  .120 (la bella stainless underlay.) 

(9)-------- (1E)   -   29” -  .080-.090  

(8)-------- (1A)    - 28.25” -  .059-.068  

(7) ------- (2D)    - 27.5” -  .046  

(6)-------- (2G)    - 27” -  .035

(5)-------- (3C)   - 26.6” -  .026-.028

(4)-------- (3f)     - 26.25” -  .016-.018

(3)-------- (3a)   - 26” -  .012-.013

(2)------- (4d)   - 25.75” -  .010

(1)------- (4g)   - 25.5” -  .008

SteveRobinson

continued:

5.5” fan, (from the highest to the lowest string).

The 7th perpendicular fret

Neck width at nut (perpendicular) 82mm or 92mm. Designated string placement for nut (Perpendicular measurements 82mm).. 1- (2mm), 2- (8.5mm), 3- (15mm), 4- (22mm), 5- (30mm), 6- (37-38mm), 7- (44-46mm), 8- (51-53mm), 9- (60-62mm), 10- (68-71mm), 11- (76-80mm)…. 12- (85- 90mm)

 

Neck width at bridge (perpendicular)- 122mm or 137mm.

Designated string placements for bridge (perpendicular measurements 123mm).. 1- (5mm), 2- (15mm), 3- (26mm), 4- (36mm), 5- (47-48mm), 6- (58-60mm), 7- (68-70mm), 8- (78-81mm), 9- (89-92mm), 10- (101-105mm) 11- (115-120mm)..

Nut end neck thickness- 18mm-20mm ‘S’ bend (see pics).

Radius 17” 

Stainless steel fret wire, about .050 tall... With-

Chunky guitar fret wire 0-24th frets.

Medium or small fret wire from 25th to 36th frets.

And vintage thin banjo/mandolin tall fret wire for the 37th to the 48th frets. (Fret height? .080 wide and .050 tall)

Maybe leave the fingerboard on a piece of uncut neck (with truss) esp. at the body end, for easier rejigging.

By the way do you sell individual locking bridge tuners? Strandberg or Steinberg style? But without the difficult ball end specifics and bass string hole width problems?

xmrchi

Wow who is this crazy kid!

WezV

Well it looks like he took on board my comments about fret width on a 48 fretter.

 

curved frets is an interesting addition, but your going to need a cnc or a lot of patience with a dremel to do the fret slots the way he suggests.

 

0.232 string on a 32" scale, thats a major issue for me

SteveRobinson

WezV said:

curved frets is an interesting addition, but your going to need a cnc or a lot of patience with a dremel to do the fret slots the way he suggests.

Yes that made me smile.

juansolo

Wimps the lot of you....

guitarfishbay

WezV said:

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  

Those last frets on the low strings don't look usable except for as a guide for a slide or thimble (like Ron Thal uses in Guitars Suck).  I have no idea how you'd fit your finger tip in them accurately - I have played a guitar fretted for quarter tones before and it was very difficult higher up the neck.

FWIW Ibanez and Schecter have been doing 9 string models lately.  I personally couldn't get comfortable on an 8 string, playing these (or those with more strings) must require very advanced muting technique to not cause a mess of sound.

Philly_Q

SteveRobinson said:

WezV said:

curved frets is an interesting addition, but your going to need a cnc or a lot of patience with a dremel to do the fret slots the way he suggests.

Yes that made me smile.

I've got a "History by Fujigen" guitar where they used the "Circle Fretting System", I think they still use it on some guitars.

Unless I've totally misunderstood the idea, the frets are ever so slightly curved to compensate for the fact that the strings splay out a little from the nut to the bridge.

I can't say that I notice any difference at all, to be honest.

WezV

oh yeah, i get asked to do 9 strings quite often.  at lest often enough for me not to consider it an unusual request.  I may do one one day as I know a local player who is after a 9 and it would give me a better opportunity to test and tweak it rather than doing a long distance commission.  

I do think they should be fan fret though, I firmly beleive that parallel frets are a massive compromise on string tension, the equivilent in other intruments would be a piano where all the strings are the same length - it just wouldnt work.  Parallel frets do obviously work fine on 6 strings, mostly because we are used to the compromise and its part of the sound we expect. But the more range you try and add the more the compromise becomes evident

WezV

yeah, the circle fretting system is interesting and its hard to argue with the logic of it. In reality the slight difference in scale length caused by string splay is not worth worrying about, unless you have a massive string splay the differences are too tiny to make much difference

 

Does yours sound more in tune on the outer strings than your other guitars?

 

 

Philly_Q

WezV said:

yeah, the circle fretting system is interesting and its hard to argue with the logic of it. In reality the slight difference in scale length caused by string splay is not worth worrying about, unless you have a massive string splay the differences are too tiny to make much difference

 

Does yours sound more in tune on the outer strings than your other guitars? 

Not with me playing it!    >:D<

But I'm someone who never finds Les Paul Juniors particularly "out of tune" sounding, so I'm not to be trusted.