Fanned frets - dead or dying?

[Chris Pile]

I have wondered about fanned frets for a long time, and finally got to try one out over at Ninth Circle of Hell Music the other night. They had a used Keisel with fan frets, and I found that I adapted pretty quickly below the 17th fret. If the action hadn't been so high, I could have done more playing in the upper register.

Is this a fad on its way out, or will it become an established sub-genre of guitar playing?

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

Dead? It can't die if it was never really born in the first place... In seriousness I hope to try one someday, and sort of hope it does take off as it's a neat idea.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

I've played one, used Agile, and thought it was really cool in the upper frets. Was hard for me to adapt in the Cowboy Chord range.

Not really sure about dead or not...seems rare enough as is but with professionals who like it I don't see it completely going away.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

Seems like it would be more of a benefit to bassists.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

I tried a Dingwall bass with a 35 or 36" scale, fanned frets, and 5 string. It was one of the best basses and the absolute best sounding B string I've ever heard. Don't know if it was because of the longer scale, or other construction differences. As far as guitar, you get used to it easily, but I don't hear any difference on a 6 string in regular tuning. Maybe for lower tunings, but I am not that interested in those.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

Haven't tried one myself (although I'd like to give one a whirl). Seems like the kind of setup that would be quite beneficial to playing leads and riffs, but would suck for full chords.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

the absolute best sounding B string I've ever heard. Don't know if it was because of the longer scale

All 5/6-string basses having 35" and/or 36" scale have inherently better sounding 5th/6th strings.

It is because of the added tension.

In a 34" scaled-bass, only the .145 5th/6th string tuned to B sounds "good enough". In a 35" scale, a .135 string sounds good, in a 36" scale, even a .130 string sounds excellent.

HTH,

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

Yeah, Fender scale just isn't enough for a B, really.

 

[kherman]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

I think it's alive and kicking. You see more and more companies popping up and offering the 7, 8, 9 strings, fanned frets, extended scale, headless designs.
They are like what the Superstrat was to us in the 80's.

 

[Chris Pile]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

They are like what the Superstrat was to us in the 80's.

I wouldn't go that far..... In the 80's when Superstrats were King, Gibson couldn't sell a Les Paul. Right now, normal fretted stuff is still selling very well.

 

[kherman]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

Yeah, but, Gibson, Fender and PRS have to start thinking about this stuff. Baby boomers sales are going to start going down. Gibson is already talking about discontinuing the RI's. Probably, within the next ten years you're going to see many RI's in the used market. Lot of these kids don't want the classic designs. Gibson already is making the HP stuff the higher end production models. Which are not traditional designs.
Kiesel already has been getting rid of what we would consider classic Superstrat designs in favor of their more radical designs. I love my Carvin ST300's. They just got discontinued along with a bunch of other models. Only a matter of time before the rest of the old Carvin DC designs go, as well as the Carvin name.
The superstrat was only one reason Gibson and Fender weren't selling in the 80's. The other reasons were Norlin and CBS.
Obviously, 6 strings aren't going away. But, these other designs will eat into the market share. Heck everyone thought the 7 string would be dead by the end of the 90's. They were wrong on that.
There's always going to be hills and valleys in the market with this stuff.

 

[MkIII Renegade]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

I've never cared if something was trendy or not. Tubes amps are stone age technology, as well as most effects pedals. But I still enjoy them now like I did as a kid, so that's all that matters.

 

[Lucy Diamond]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

I see this discussion a lot on youtube.

I think it is unfair that some people write it off by saying "Oh...Jimi Hendrix didn't have fanned frets."

Well...ok...I'm at least glad someone is thinking outside the box for the first time in 80 years.

At this point I don't think there is enough demand and I just don't feel like it was ever going to catch on.

I know a LOT of people who play Jems because Steve Vai plays them. I don't know anybody who got those tricked out graduated frets because he did it.

 

[dave74]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

Wide bends would haaave to be weird,,,,,,, I'd sure think.

No desire for one here. I have enough of a time with straight frets anyways.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Fanned frets - dead or dying?

With headless guitars being more popular than ever, Gibson is sitting on the Steinberger brand...essentially mothballed with no new models for close to 10 years. NS Design (Ned Steinberger's company) isn't has been planning an ergonomic headless for several years (and I played it), but it might be 2 or 3 years until it comes to market, and when it does, it will be around $3-4k.
Strandberg is handling the high end of the fanned fret/headless thing. But their guitars are quirky. And I still don't know about the benefits of a fanned fret 6 string at standard tuning.