Blackmachines' and fanned fret guitars

[DevourTheDamned]

Ive wondered since I first looked at Blackmachines website what the purpose of the fanned frets is?
does it affect the sound any? or the playability?
or is it only to look pretty?

 

[-Nolly-]

Off the Blackmachine website:

Scale Length:

This is the most fundamental aspect of the design. It defines the character of the whole instrument. The main objective is good response for all strings. Problems generated here are often impossible to engineer out later so this subject requires careful consideration.

Long scale gives the benefit of more sustain due to increased tension. Bottom and top end harmonics are boosted but mids are reduced. So there is more cut and boom but the sound is twangier, purer. Short scale gives fatter mids with less bottom and top end. You can get loads of character this way due to the abundance of midrange harmonics to which the ear is most sensitive.

If you hear long and short scale guitars acoustically together you will notice the long scale has more piano like highs and crispness but the short scale to be more banjo like. That’s the easiest way I can describe it.

...

[Referring to the F8]

The solution was to keep the treble side short to preserve the mids of a conventional guitar whilst maintaining the string tension required to achieve good definition on the bass side. Scale length is 25.5" to 28".

I've played one of the F8s, and although the fanned frets feel a little strange at first, it's nothing you can't get used to within a few minutes (remember that although the angle between the nut and 24th fret is quite large, the angle between adjacent frets is really very small). In many ways the fanned fret system it is the ultimate approach for extended range guitars and basses.

 

[rasav]

I friggen love the Novak system!!! It throws you at the very first. If you look at your wrist position throughout the length of the neck you'll see that as you move your arm your up and down your hand is going to have to be at diffrent angles to the neck. With the Fanned frets you are pretty much able to keep your hand straight in line with your arm.

The multi scale nature of fanned frets allows for (In my non professional opinion.) better sound. It also looks really,really cool.

 

[ElRay]

I friggen love the Novak system!!!

It's not a Novax invention. All he did was trademark the term "Fanned-Fret" and patent an all-but worthless method for laying out the frets. His "patented system" only works for Classical (parallel string) guitars. In fact, those that pay his licensing fee, are taught the parallel scale method of fret lay-out.

Ray

 

[rasav]

It's not a Novax invention. All he did was trademark the term "Fanned-Fret" and patent an all-but worthless method for laying out the frets. His "patented system" only works for Classical (parallel string) guitars. In fact, those that pay his licensing fee, are taught the parallel scale method of fret lay-out.

Ray

Nope,Nope...I have a reasonable level of confidence that such instruments do sound better,they sound much better. I can't speak to the parallel vs. individual scale fret layout. But it seems to get the job done well and in a practical manner that does not involve cutting up individual frets for custom scales on each string.

On a more practical note as far as production instruments go it's not a bad way to give someone something that does sound better without having some poor luthier sitting there dressing the hundreds of frets it would require to pull off a true 1 scale per string instrument.

so neener neener!

 

[MF_Kitten]

Nope,Nope...I have a reasonable level of confidence that such instruments do sound better,they sound much better. I can't speak to the parallel vs. individual scale fret layout. But it seems to get the job done well and in a practical manner that does not involve cutting up individual frets for custom scales on each string.

On a more practical note as far as production instruments go it's not a bad way to give someone something that does sound better without having some poor luthier sitting there dressing the hundreds of frets it would require to pull off a true 1 scale per string instrument.

so neener neener!

i think he meant that there are better ways of doing fanned frets than novak´s method, and that novak didn´t invent the fanned frets technology, he just ran off to patent one of the ways of doing it, when the technology is old as hell, and dates back to classical instruments.

 

[ElRay]

Nope,Nope...I have a reasonable level of confidence that such instruments do sound better,they sound much better.

Wasn't arguing that

On a more practical note as far as production instruments go it's not a bad way to give someone something that does sound better without having some poor luthier sitting there dressing the hundreds of frets it would require to pull off a true 1 scale per string instrument.

Again, not at all what I'm talking about. The parallel scale method works, with both parallel and non-parallel (as long as they slope proportionally), and predates Novax by centuries. Novax's patented method is invalid and produces instruments that will not intonate when used on typical electric guitars where there strings are not parallel. Hence, he doesn't even use his patented method.

There's plenty of info out there about what Novax uses and teaches his licensees, the FUD spewed by his business manager, threatened lawsuits that are essentially extortion attempts, etc. It's not too tough to find it via Google.

Ray

 

[rasav]

Wasn't arguing thatAgain, not at all what I'm talking about. The parallel scale method works, with both parallel and non-parallel (as long as they slope proportionally), and predates Novax by centuries. Novax's patented method is invalid and produces instruments that will not intonate when used on typical electric guitars where there strings are not parallel. Hence, he doesn't even use his patented method.

There's plenty of info out there about what Novax uses and teaches his licensees, the FUD spewed by his business manager, threatened lawsuits that are essentially extortion attempts, etc. It's not too tough to find it via Google.

Ray

Oh...Got you...

But in business the art of laying claim to an idea is nothing new and while a scummy thing to do there's no law that says the you or anyone can't trademark and then license a commonly used idea method or phrase. Gene Simmons has trade marked the term orange juice and according to the show has ownership of the Monybag logo...Something which has been in use for almost a century!

More relevant to ERG Chapmann tried to lay sole claim to tap style instruments and any variation thereof stylistically or instrumentally.

...and don't even get me started on Microsoft!!!

I agree that the idea has been around since the first troubador knocked his tied on fret sideways. But did it make him any money?