[dpm]

Originally Posted by darren

I know that dan (Oni guitars) is having his fretboards laser-cut for the fanned fret slots.

Interesting... i hadn't read that about Novax's patent expiring. There no longer appears to be anything on his site about licensing, so i can only assume it's true.

So it looks like fanned frets... er... a multi-scale fretboard just got $75 more feasible.

Actually Darren I'm not. I did have a sample done, and I was planning on having one cut by laser for an instrument I'm working on, but after the trouble I had with the templates I've decided against it. Laser has certain issues with tolerances that are hard to predict in various materials, wood being particularly difficult.

The real problem with fanned fret production is that there is no way (that I'm aware of, or can come up with) to make more than one at once. With a standard fretboard a big factory can slot many in one go. How many? Well, they have a long saw shaft with multiple blades that cut all 21, 22, or 24 slots at once. Depending on how they're set up they could potentially run those blades through dozens of boards in one pass.
With multi-scale production even if you can come up with some kind of machine that cuts 24 slots at once, which would be a tricky piece of engineering in itself, you'd still only be able to cut one board with it. And the alignment is critical.
From Sheldon Dingwall
"We have a couple of ways of doing it. For production we use a sliding compound miter saw with a custom cutter. The head floats over the already radiused fingerboard tracking the radius. The neck sits in a custom fixture with index holes for lining up under the blade.

For custom work we program the CNC and use a .025" bit to cut starter slots to be chased by hand afterwords."

Sheldon's method is still one slot at a time, but it's an indexed machine so fairly quick compared to lining it up by hand. My current method is to have my CAD layout printed full scale which I glue onto the fretboard then line up what is essentially a hand mitre saw type setup to each slot. I'll get something custom made eventually.

[urklvt]

Occam's razor.

[dpm]

Whilst investigating wtf Occam's razor is I came across this beautiful quote from Leonardo do Vinci

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

[urklvt]

Originally Posted by dpm

Whilst investigating wtf Occam's razor is I came across this beautiful quote from Leonardo do Vinci

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Awesome! And so true.

[bostjan]

Thanks Dan, that was very interesting.

Does anyone else find it odd at all that the first eight-string guitars appearing in the mass market are all running in the at or under $1000 range? Galveston and now Halo and Agile, perhaps one or two more. Looks like the big name companies of the nineties all lost their edge now.

[Karl Hungus]

Originally Posted by bostjan

Thanks Dan, that was very interesting.

Does anyone else find it odd at all that the first eight-string guitars appearing in the mass market are all running in the at or under $1000 range? Galveston and now Halo and Agile, perhaps one or two more. Looks like the big name companies of the nineties all lost their edge now.

Galveston have an 8 String? Linky?

[dpm]

8 string bass that I know of. They're all over ebay. Made by a korean factory I can't quite remember right now.

Ah, here it is http://www.unsung.co.kr/

[Karl Hungus]

Ah yeah, I've seen the 8 String basses alright. I think I'd draw the line at 6 strings for bass, as I have rather small hands, 6 is the most I can play comfortably with.

[bostjan]

Oh yeah, sorry, I forgot that they are basses only. I never played one, only saw them all over ebay. I played a Hamer 12 string bass once, it was a four course bass with three strings per course tuned in octaves over the course and fourths between courses. Pretty monstrous sound, but equally beastly to play.

I agree that six strings on a bass is just about right for me, too, but I'd like lighter strings and a longer scale: 40.5" or so

[Karl Hungus]

They're damn cheap though, and I have had a bit of an itch to get a new bass for recording purposes. I was thinking 6 Strings, but who knows, I might be perfectly at home with 8 strings?