Chriskanluthier - *First Fanned Fret Build!*

[Chriskanluthier]

Hey there!

My name is Chris, I am from Montreal, Canada. I graduated from a luthery school in Quebec where I built 3 guitars (2 classicals and 1 acoustic). A year later, I decided to build myself my first electric guitar. My friend Oremus91 suggested me to show my work-in-progress in this thread/forum for any curious eyes to take a look and get some feedback from you! Here are my first steps into my work: neck and head angle, starting the fretboard and getting the body ready for more work to come.

Enjoy! and Merci!

The neck blank 3 piece flamed maple

Ebony fretboard

12 degree headstock angle cut

Flamed maple top + alder body

 

[Chriskanluthier]

This weekend, I progressed as much as I could. The fretboard has been slotted for the frets, I still have to sand the thickness down a little though. The top has been glued to the body and the neck is waiting for the headplate and it is all traced up to the final dimensions. Also some templated has been designed but not yet finished. A little detour to the shop will be needed to continue!

 

[oremus91]

The neck looks fantastic. I'm interested to see how the headstock turns out too, it looks like it might be a 2+4 to get straight string pull like an inverse JP6 sort of style layout.

 

[Chriskanluthier]

It will be a 6 in line on the left side of the headstock. I don't mind that the strings aren't straight pull, many builders do it like that.

 

[ikarus]

I don't mind that the strings aren't straight pull, many builders do it like that.

Which builders? Invictus, Roter,...?

Are you sure you want to follow in those footsteps?

 

[polish_sausage]

Which builders? Invictus, Roter,...?

Are you sure you want to follow in those footsteps?

Ya no one likes Gibson. I'm looking forward to see how this turns out man!

 

[ikarus]

Ya no one likes Gibson. I'm looking forward to see how this turns out man!

fair enough, but it would like as going from the d string tuner to the high e string nut slot., a little exaggerated but still....

 

[Chriskanluthier]

if you look at most acoustic or classical guitars, the strings doesn't always follow a straight line, even on electric guitars they are not 100% straight. never had any problem with that! But I will take any advice in consideration and my headstock is still not cut so I am not that worried at the moment

 

[jbealsmusic]

Looking great so far! That flame maple should pop nicely when it's finished.

 

[Chriskanluthier]

Hey there jbdealsmusic! I bought my hardware at nextgen! Thank you for your quick shipping and great price!

 

[jbealsmusic]

Hey there jbdealsmusic! I bought my hardware at nextgen! Thank you for your quick shipping and great price!

Awesome, thanks! I'm the CEO at Next Gen. Good luck with the build.

 

[HaMMerHeD]

Looks crisp and clean. I like it.

I think the 'straight string pull' thing is one of the single most over-rated features of guitar construction.

 

[Chriskanluthier]

Little update: the very flamed maple head plate is glued. A little black veneer in between to make a nice contrast with it. Next steps: shaping the head stock, channel the neck for the truss rod and glue that fretboard over. After that the fun part: shaping the neck!

 

[Thrashman]

Really excited to see how this turns out!

And yeah, that headstock design is not suitable for a 6 in line config. The strings don't need a straight pull, sure, but yours would be overdoing it in that state.

 

[Chriskanluthier]

How would you know? I've drawn it many times on my plan, on the headstock itself, I have reviewed my head design it is not over-doing it.

 

[UnderTheSign]

Just a heads up (considering you have 'luthier' in your username), if you're a luthier you should probably post in the Dealers section of the forum.

 

[pondman]

Maybe he's an amateur luthier.

 

[Pikka Bird]

Looks crisp and clean. I like it.

I think the 'straight string pull' thing is one of the single most over-rated features of guitar construction.

I tend to agree. Thinking about it rationally, why is a sharp downwards angle over the nut considered superior, but if it goes even slightly off to the side it'll suddenly be a tuning nightmare due to friction? Doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[Bodes]

ewww..... non-straight string pull.... It'll never work...

Yeah. Sorry buddy, no one ever designed a non-straight string pull that works. Gonna really have to redesign it [/sarcasm]

 

[GuitarBizarre]

I tend to agree. Thinking about it rationally, why is a sharp downwards angle over the nut considered superior, but if it goes even slightly off to the side it'll suddenly be a tuning nightmare due to friction? Doesn't make much sense to me.

Because the directions the forces are being applied in are conducive to a downwards angle, but not a sideways one. Not to mention you NEED a downwards angle in order to avoid sympathetic ringing of the strings behind the nut, but there's no mechanical need for a sideways one - only disavantages.


I own guitars with non-straight string pull that work fine, but that doesn't make it better - those guitars DO need more fiddling tuning wise because it does have an effect.

Considering the first defense of the idea in this thread was "Many builders do it", all I can really say is, fanned frets without a straight string pull seems anachronistic to me - Why utilise such a forward thinking design in some places, then ignore an obvious design improvement elsewhere?

If your best defense of an idea is that it's been done before, it's probably wise to consider whether it's the best idea.