Fanned Frets

[charic]

I'm just curious really, are they as usable on guitar as they are on bass?  I've seen a few floating around but not a great deal.  I'm guessing they could wreak havoc with chord shapes?

Is there as much benefit in fanned frets on guitar (or more?) vs the effect on bass? 

[Andyjr1515]

I've played a couple of moderately fanned ones and to be honest, 5 minutes and you completely forgot about it even with the more complicated chord shapes.

It does the same as on a bass in that it will tend to balance the volume and tone of the strings so the trebles are less jangly and the bass strings are less boomy.

I'm not fully certain about the very extreme multi-scales but I think it is broadly a sound concept (if you excuse the pun).

It worked brilliantly well, by the way on the piccolo bass I designed and built for our band's bassist - and that is basically a 4 string electric guitar.  It's pitched the same as the bottom four strings of an electric, it has electric guitar strings (albeit jazz ones), it has an electric guitar SD Cool Rails pickup and it goes from 26" to 25" scale length, so pretty covers scales similar to PRS and Fender strat, etc.. (at 25" and 25.5" respectively):

Edited August 22, 2018 by Andyjr1515

[Angel]

That bass looks awesome!

 

[Andyjr1515]

2 hours ago, Angel said:

That bass looks awesome!

 

Thanks

Pete our bassist was well pleased with it and it started a whole family of lightweight basses and electrics  

[Rick's Fine '52]

Fender and Rickenbacker both toyed with fanned fretted guitars in the late 60's, neither of which went anywhere. I've only played a fanned fret bass, and I didn't get on with it, probably because I'm not very good in the first place!  

[charic]

These popped up earlier... Oh my

 

[TrevorR]

Watched Gordon Giltrap playing a lovely fanned fret 12 string guitar that Fylde made for him. Sounded great. I think that the fanning helps with chording ergonomics as much a string tension stuff (which is more important on bass, I guess). 

 

From his website...

“On the standard 6 or 12 string guitar, the top and bottom strings are almost at the limits of tensions for their appropriate notes. By “fanning” the frets to meet the “swing” of the left hand up and down the neck, the resulting changes in tension and gauges of the strings helps to produce clearer notes and more accurate intonation, particularly useful when there are 12 strings involved!”

[EdwardMarlowe]

On 22/08/2018 at 16:36, Andyjr1515 said:

I've played a couple of moderately fanned ones and to be honest, 5 minutes and you completely forgot about it even with the more complicated chord shapes.

It does the same as on a bass in that it will tend to balance the volume and tone of the strings so the trebles are less jangly and the bass strings are less boomy.

I'm not fully certain about the very extreme multi-scales but I think it is broadly a sound concept (if you excuse the pun).

It worked brilliantly well, by the way on the piccolo bass I designed and built for our band's bassist - and that is basically a 4 string electric guitar.  It's pitched the same as the bottom four strings of an electric, it has electric guitar strings (albeit jazz ones), it has an electric guitar SD Cool Rails pickup and it goes from 26" to 25" scale length, so pretty covers scales similar to PRS and Fender strat, etc.. (at 25" and 25.5" respectively):

Very nice indeed. Does he play it through a guitar or bass amp? It would be interesting hear this paired alongside a traditional bass, perhaps with this one being used to play the root notes in the form of power chords / fifths. 

[Andyjr1515]

16 hours ago, EdwardMarlowe said:

Very nice indeed. Does he play it through a guitar or bass amp? It would be interesting hear this paired alongside a traditional bass, perhaps with this one being used to play the root notes in the form of power chords / fifths. 

We tend to play the bass through the PA so it probably is closer to bass amp than guitar amp.  I've played it through my guitar amp as well though and it sounds distinctly different to the bottom 4 strings of a guitar - mainly due to the choice of strings (flatwound) and the pickup (a SD Coolrails, much loved by a number of Jazz players for the neck position).  I've got some clips somewhere of it being played.  I'll try to find them.

[EdwardMarlowe]

Very cool, would like to hear that!