Hmm, interesting. How would chording work, though? I guess just light up the highest fret?
If you wanted to go all out, you could use both ideas: measure thumb position using conductive paint on the back of the neck, then use a very small constant current power supply with resistors between frets to determine the highest fretted note, and then light up everything in between, so your hands your be backlit with RGB.
Wiring the frets in from underneath before setting them in could be tricky, yes, since there is bound to be some wood dust capable of interfering with your electrical continuity, but maybe you could increase your chances of keeping a good connection by using stranded wire and flattening it out, or maybe painting in the fret slots with conductive paint after removing the dust with compressed air, or both.
Also, be mindful that different metals can react in peculiar ways sometimes. Nickel-steel frets with silver paint and copper wires might corrode one or more of the metals when they come in permanent contact with one another, due to a galvanic reaction.
Yes, with chording it will light up the highest fret but I'll program it so that it "blurs" the position a little bit. It will then light up not a single fret but rather the area where my hand is. This is also due to the fact that I intend to use a LED strip with a discrete distance from one LED to another so the frets won't necessarily line up with the LEDs, also considering that it's a multiscale so the fret spacing itself isn't consistent.
Painting the fret slots with conductive paint sounds like a really, good idea
![Yes Way :yesway: :yesway:](http://www.sevenstring.org/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/yesway.gif)
Fascinating thread.
FWIW, I'd vote on the second inlay design. Having them start from the bass end of the board and go down feels more natural.
Yes, this is the design I'm going for... But I thinned out the connecting strip which makes it look more "natural"