These fanned fret acoustic guitars are built with solid Sitka Spruce tops (painted transparent brown), Mahogany sides/back, Ebony fretboard, Ebony bridge, Ebony headstock veneer, Bone nut, and Bone saddle. 2. Carbon Fiber Guitar Neck Reinforcement Part 2 Design, 10 Awesome Tools To Supercharge Your Guitar Fret Installation. A fret is a raised element on the neck of a stringed instrument.Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. This would be the second guitar I build, but the first neck. That D will sound floppy and muddy at 25″ (with a standard gauge string). The idea of fanned frets is, in essence, to combine the baritone or bass guitar with the regular guitar in one instrument. While the myriad of components and other variables of the individual guitar will play a large roll in determining its final voice, the scale length will still set the main parameters that the rest of the system will have to work within. Smart luthiers out there realised that if they could angle the frets, bridge, & neck nuts outwards from the treble strings they could increase the length of the bass strings whilst retaining the same or very similar scale length on the treble strings. In the Fanned fret Guitar Course this section includes links to all material, tools and resources used by Tom to make his guitars and also those demonstrated int eh course itself. Learn How This Course Can Help You Build Your Own Fanned Fret Guitar! If you want to keep things from getting too slanty at the top end, you could put your parallel fret at the 12th or so, but then your nut is at a sharper angle, so you might want to do a little less fan. The Luthier’s Guide To Tape For Guitar Making, Hand Split Tone Bars (A simple way to improve your next guitar), Dust Collection – The Ultimate Luthier’s Guide. I started looking at making a Warmoth parts guitar and I was wondering if they can make a fanned fret neck? Tom is also the author of the guitar making book/DVD set - The Art Of Lutherie - published by Mel Bay, and has written for and been featured in may publications both in print and online as well as several television and film spots. As we explore the importance of scale length in establishing the guitar’s basic tonal properties, there are many factors that we have to think about, which are at play with the scale length to give the guitar its basic tonal or harmonic envelope. ... it seems daft to slice it up and make a laminated neck. Enter your name and email to instantly unlock this section from the ebook Understanding Fanned Fret GuitarsÂ. Making A Seven String, Multiscale, Fanned Fret Guitar Neck Part 1 … Of course there are many variable to consider and experimenting is important to getting a sense of how much control you have and how to balance it out. A Very Brief History Of Multi-Scale Instruments. Also I want to know who all has experience with Warmoth and if it's worth it or not. Enter the 'fanned fret' or 'multi-scale' system. Posted by Tom Bills | Education, Technique | 0. The first is that the extra mass helps the string get more volume and clarity, but the second side effect is increased stiffness. That helps to understand why changing the scale changes the sonic fingerprint of the guitar, but that’s not all! Two of those factors are: string tension and mass. Everything after that point can only be filtered or somehow modified, but not added to in any large way. Based on the Aries AM7, the NAM7 features the same aggressively beveled body with an ultra-comfortable deep body cutaway and forearm cutaway, with a smooth neck heel for easy playability high on the neck. I will use some CF reinforcement to ensure the neck stays stable. A thinner top will divide or fold more easily resulting in more audible high frequencies. That thin top will have less resistance to vibrating in smaller pieces in order to accommodate the shorter high frequency wavelengths.  This multi-scale arrangement applied to a fretted instrument has become known today as “Fanned Frets” or simply “Fan Frets”. Many luthiers contact me each month inquiring about fanned fret guitars, ranging from general questions like “what are they” to “how to make a fanned fret guitar”. Single dot fret markers at the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th frets ; A double dot at the 12th fret ; Single dots resume at the 15th fret and then appear on every odd numbered fret until the guitar neck ends at the guitar body. One of the best illustrations I have heard regarding the critical influence that the scale length has on guitar tone is from Ralph Novax, the father of the modern fan fret resurgence. 0 LOL 0 Wow! Let’s say I decide that for my new client the best scale length to get the sound he wants for a steel string high E might be 25″, but he also wants to tune down to a dropped D on the low E string. One reason we commonly wrap the lower strings is to try to increase mass but at the same time add as little stiffness as possible. Then we have steinberger tuners and a hipshot 18 degree fanned fret bridge. The experience of building fanned fret guitars caused a serious improvement to all my guitars regardless of design, because it helped me to understand scale length and what was happening inside the string itself on a deeper level than I had in the past. Do you notice how your fingers are actually fanned out, emanating from a common point? In this next section we will look at how stiffness and mass effect the ability of the guitar string to divide into different overtones and guess what, the other parts of the guitar like the top behave this way too! Sometimes they are installed perpendicular to the center line of the neck, other times at angles. Fanned Frets Explained: Everything You Need to Know - Guitar … Harley Benton launches new MultiScale fanned fret models - … This is in contrast to the standard perpendicular arrangement of other guitars. With guitars and bases being tuned lower than ever before and more strings being added on sometimes a regular neck just can't keep the tension up. No permanent modifications are required to switch to this neck. This is one reason why players most often use larger gauge strings for the lower notes of the guitar. Videos are broken in to short bit sized pieces for better retention of material, more convenient viewing and to assist in easier future reference. I did mark the blank up, but have changed my mind on which side i want to start from.. Design choices such as choosing scale lengths and how to lay them out for the best sound and play-ability. Should You Seal The Inside Of Your Guitar? Cutting your fret slots is done before fixing your fretboard on your neck. As the stiffness is increased, the string’s ability to divide into complex high frequency nodes decreases. Natural Note Intervals. Required fields are marked *. Voila! Here's an example from Salvador Cortez guitars: If you change your mind, you can unsubscribe anytime. GET 4 FREE Video Lessons From the exclusive Luthier's EDGE Video Library & More Just Enter Your Info Below To Get Started! That is why Ibanez have introduced a multi scale fanned fret neck on this 5 string bass the SRFF805 so you don't have to feel out of control any more. Getting a firm grasp on this concept helped me understand WHY I was getting the results I perceived from my experiments in bracing and other guitar design elements, and was instrumental (pun intended) in empowering me to push my designs further and get better results. The upper partials present in the harmonic structure of the longer scale Strat string tone give it a cutting clarity that distinguish it from the sweet, round, lower partials that dominate the shorter scale Les Paul string tone.”. If you are building a fanned fret instrument with an angled nut, make sure to lay the pieces out to check the layout. There just isn’t much info out there about the topic of multi-scale or fanned fret guitars. Notice I said “well thought out and implemented fanned fret fingerboard”, there are some critical points to consider when laying out and designing your fanned fret fingerboard that can make or break the comfort and playability of the guitar. This is where you will make the jump from designing on paper to actually making your fanned fret guitar fingerboard. This is where you will make the jump from designing on paper to actually making your fanned fret guitar fingerboard. In this episode of From The Luthier's Workbench, I finish carving and sanding a Due to the rapidprototyping and build, The fret dressing was rushed, the satin finish was rushed, etc. Fanned frets enable strengthening the tone of the lower strings by giving them a longer speaking string length. You can view and learn more about his guitars by visiting his website: tbguitars.com, Your email address will not be published. Without getting into the mathematics of it (see this link for further reading) the basic premise is that each time we increase the diameter of the string, thus increasing its mass, we also increase the amount of tension required to bring it to pitch. Novax Guitars now has the Fanned-Fret retrofit bass neck, a bolt-on neck that fits most common Fender-style bass models and similar instruments or clones. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, *Included With Your Luthier’s EDGE membership, My Story: The Fanned Fret Guitar Breakthrough, Course Outline: How To Make A Fanned Fret Guitar. Videos are delivered via our premium online streaming service in HD quality. No need to scrub though long videos, with just a couple clicks you can find just the information you need and get back Cutting perfect dovetail joints for your guitars. Project guitar. The process doesn’t need to be so tough or scary for you through, with the right information you can confidently embark on the journey of designing and making your own fanned fret guitar. Tom Bills has been hand crafting one of a kind custom guitars for the top players and collectors around the world since 1998. Unless we know how to accurately cut the fret slots then all our hard work and double checking would be in vein. I am so glad I did though, because today they are some of my favorite guitars to build.  Just Enter Your Email Below To Get Started!  Yes, it is actually more ergonomic than playing a standard single scale instrument! Using only one scale length causes us to compromise overall. That breakthrough discovery came when I realized just how much control I could gain over the tone of my guitars by being able to precisely control the scale lengths for each string. Bracing changes are examined as well as compensation and other important design factors. Fanned Frets, Fanned Fret System Tech Article Page From Ed … Longer strings are easier to bend, but they do have inherently higher tension. The Fanned-Fret neck offers several advantages including: accurate intonation, balanced string tension, even response over the entire neck and a low E string scale … NAM7 Overview: The 24-fret neck-through Aries NAM7 7-string multiscale fanned-fret guitar from the Kiesel Custom Shop is the latest addition to our popular Aries Series lineup. AM7 Overview: The all-new 24-fret Aries AM7 7-string multiscale fanned-fret guitar from the Kiesel Custom Shop is the latest innovation in bolt-neck guitars. This is an example for a slight angle that puts the holes in line with each other and the strings at a 7 mm spacing. The concept of the multi-scale musical instrument (one in which each string has its own scale length) is not new by any means. Your email address will not be published. One thing I've noticed though with other such guitars is that sometimes the pickups (humbuckers) are slanted with … We can get that great mellow treble at 25″ AND that clear powerful bass note at 26″. You get it. While “fanned fret”, or multi-scale instruments have been around in one form or another for close to 150 years, Ralph Novak explored and popularized it in the 1980s. We could put the Les Paul pickups in the Strat and vice-versa, then take the screws out of the Strat neck and glue it in, and break out the Les Paul neck and screw it back in. You have just created a 20-fret 24" scale Strat with really screwed up position markers. Mobile Friendly Videos To View Anytime Anyplace, Videos Designed For Convenience & Easy Reference. Making Master Guitars: An Awesome Book Every Luthier Needs!  He described this in his Fan Fret Technical Lecture as follows: “The familiar example might be the “Strat vs. Les Paul” comparison: as stock instruments they have distinctly different voices. Thanks for reading this post and I look forward to the replies. All the while keeping in mind the effects of string gauge, tension, and mass. 2019 Agile AL-3010SE 2527 Multiscale Fan fret 6-String | Reverb This resembles the angles on a well thought out and implemented fanned fret guitar fingerboard and in most cases requires less of that awkward wrist tweaking we guitar players all hate as we strain to make our “fanned fingers” go in parallel lines perpendicular to the strings like a traditional single scale fingerboard.  It wouldn’t have enough tension to sound in the overtone series and it also wouldn’t have enough mass to give it any volume. The Strat still maintains much of its clear, cutting quality, although a bit “fatter,” and the Les Paul still has a round attack and mushy bass, although “thinner.” We’ve discovered that the pickups and construction can’t override the tonal effects of scale length. They can also enable a high string that can be tuned higher than is possible on a conventional guitar by giving it a shorter vibrating length, enabling a higher-tuned string that won't break under the tension. The parallel fret is at the bridge. I don't tend to go very far up the neck generally, so I put my parallel fret at the 7th, which keeps the angle at the nut reasonable, at the expense of a pretty sharp angle at the bridge. Inspired by the previously covered Crimson Guitars’ 05Ric Extended Range Bass, John Garncarz set out to build his very first custom guitar based on this design.With mainly a background in lathe turning it’s quite a first guitar project – taking about 9 months to … In order of the fanned fret guitar to be a successful project, the fingerboard must be properly aligned with the body in relation the desired bridge location. Pretty simple. Prepare the Fretboard Make sure that your fretboard has a straight edge and that the underside is flat.