let me try that again. Thanks for your encouraging feedback about the string lengths. I was up all night playing my cardboard cutout.
I am dubious about the width of the fingerboard. My prototype was 68 mm or 2 & 5/8 inches a hair fat, at the nut; it was apparently not out of line with what other folks are using on ELECTRICS but I found it impossible for CLASSICAL and converted the prototype 9 to an 8. I am now working with a drawing with the fingerboard 80mm wide, or 3-1/8", and am considering whether to slim it down to 76mm or 3" even, which I think is the slimmest that I might find playable, giving an average 8.5mm from string center to center at the nut.
But you guys with electrics go much thinner than this, right? How do you manage, or is it just a question of getting used to it? I perceived the possibility of learning to deal with the close-set strings, but having a regular gig playing a guitar with regular classical spacing - which is what the 80mm would give me - made it impossible to switch back and forth and I passed a whole year of frustration with it before I packed it in and took the low F# string off of the prototype. Anyway, this is the point I am struggling with at this moment.
Hello Durero,
I'm busy drawing my next nine string (F# B E A D g b e a ) fanned fret classical. As with last time, agonizing over the specs. Main fear: it will be too big to play! However, the prototype of two years ago at 22" to 26 & 3/4" was not too big to play and in fact gets a little tight in the upper frets. The low F# didn't sound - string too fat and made severe clicking sounds on the frets.
Most optimum, I think for new fan may be 23-5/8" to 28-3/8" in terms of sound of the strings; this is still a 4-3/4 fan but an inch and a quarter longer overall.
On the other hand, to reduce the fan I could go
24-3/8 to 28-3/8 (which makes the high A string pretty maxed out)
or 23-5/8 to 27-1/2, which makes the low F# only 3/4" longer than the previous which was unsatisfactory.
Being an extremist, I want it all in terms of range!
Hey Durero, Would you care to share your thoughts on your possible design of an extended range nylon string? I was thinking about an 8, and since exchanging posts with Ethereal Entity find that I am actually considering a fanned 9-string. Totally a acoustic classical thing, intend to use a condenser mic. I´m psyched and also a little freaked out - way out of the classical comfort zone here.