My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

[Frantic_Rock]

Just jotted this down today.

Here are what the specs will most likely be:

40 fret range - but fretless, because I am not confident at fretting at all.
Neck through.
Probably hard maple body and neck. Or maybe mahogany body and neck, not sure yet.
Want it to have a thicker body: 2" or thicker. Maybe 2.5 inch. Since the body is not as big as a regular electric guitar. I always wanted a guitar with a hefty hefty mass to it. Plus this is an actual "axe" so you should be able to chop with it !!!
Want to hunt down some 40:1 LSR tuners, just like the picture

My biggest concern is finding a longer trussrod, or simply placing the trussrod in the middle of the neck. However, I can probably just make the net fat - and from a strong wood. Maybe quartersawn maple? What do u guys thing - will a 40 fret range neck hold up. I probably wanna go with 25.5 scale, or perhaps 27" or 28" scale.



Here is a slightly crazier version of the same thing. I might actually do it this way. And no I am not afraid of long pieces of it breaking off - hard maple is very very very strong... The 2 horn extensions coming from the bottom and top horns are actually going to be thinner. So for example - i might make the body 2" thick (thicker than usual), then the second horn, 1.8", and the third: 1.6"

I'm thinking of painting this thing shiny silver, sparkly black, or full mirror or aluminum altogether.

The metal guys should like it, no?? Kind of resembles the batman

I wasn't going for the batman look, but hey why not ....
I am getting the "how to build the electric guitar" book soon, and might get started with some cheap wood - making the neck.

 

[beandip]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

man, I'm completely confident in my fretting abilities, and I have no idea how you would cram 40 frets in there without using EXTREMELY thin (mandolin, vintage banjo) fretwire. That, and how the hell would you play the thing? I have a hard enough time getting my fingers into the 24th fret area. There were some guitars that came out in the 80's that went up to 32 frets if I remember right.

 

[serizawa]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

he says it's fretless!

 

[beandip]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

he says it's fretless!

Unless it's glass, steel, or something else of equal density and hardness, it won't sound a note. So, instead of shooting down the idea from the beginning (fretless guitars are around, but no one really likes them. We all think they're cool in theory, but eh), I figured I'd take the second route and say we figure out a way to fret it from the beginning.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

Looks like something made for Jerry Only or Doyle!!

 

[Zerberus]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

I´ll wrap my head around this later when I wake up again

 

[projectx1106]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

Hmm maybe it's a tone monster in disguise...or just a radical guitar design. If you're heart-set on doing it, and it's your fantasy guitar, then more power to you, just go for it!

 

[rashayritto]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

its GOING to be niche guitar no matter what, but i think you need to reconsider the body design. wacky shapes largely went out of style with glam rock, you can be metal without going over the top. in fact i'm pretty sure the metal community would completely avoid a shape like this

gibson's are widely loved in metal circles, and those are classic designs

 

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

its GOING to be niche guitar no matter what, but i think you need to reconsider the body design. wacky shapes largely went out of style with glam rock, you can be metal without going over the top. in fact i'm pretty sure the metal community would completely avoid a shape like this

gibson's are widely loved in metal circles, and those are classic designs

Well I don't wanna build the guitar to please any particular community. It's for myself only, and I think it looks cool

But ofcourse it would have to be a very playable instrument that I can stick a JB or Custom in, and play my ass off of it.

Another possibility: To have frets 1-15 say fretted, and then go fretless from there. But on a second thought that might be difficult - because you would have to press down very hard on the fretless portion to actually get the string to touch the wood.

The whole point of doing this is to be NOT LIKE everyone else. I completely don't get guys who build identical copies of les pauls and strats from scratch... LOL. What's the point - just buy one... If you're doing custom - go super custom, IMO.

 

[beandip]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

Well I don't wanna build the guitar to please any particular community. It's for myself only, and I think it looks cool

But ofcourse it would have to be a very playable instrument that I can stick a JB or Custom in, and play my ass off of it.

Another possibility: To have frets 1-15 say fretted, and then go fretless from there. haha!!

The whole point of doing this is to be NOT LIKE everyone else. I completely don't get guys who build identical copies of les pauls and strats from scratch... LOL. What's the point - just buy one... If you're doing custom - go super custom, IMO.

You know, I just had a crazy idea. What about a MOVEABLE fret, much like the floating pickups of yesteryear. Want to hit a specific note? Move the fret and get after it.

 

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

You know, I just had a crazy idea. What about a MOVEABLE fret, much like the floating pickups of yesteryear. Want to hit a specific note? Move the fret and get after it.

You are probably kidding But you know what, i actually think that's not a bad idea. So you can reposition your frets in any arrangement, and come up with interesting octave breakdowns... Just don't know how technically that can be done right now Ofcourse most people wouldn't be interested in that - but to someone who is interested in micro-tonal guitar playing - that would be great for experimentation.

I went to the museum in New York, and what impressed me most there was the musical instruments section, particularly the lutes. Some impressive instruments. They just have a uniform curvature of the fretboard - and frets that are just ropes tied around the whole neck. So you could have a fret rounded to the same curvature of the board - and simply tie it tight behind the neck with a rope, and you will have movable frets - that are made of metal. I think I may do that as well. Beats fretting for sure. For prototype purposes...

 

[beandip]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

actually, I was completely serious.

 

[Baltar]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

omg, bigger wings and it's gonna be a 'klingon bass of prey'

could be very heavy

 

[sosomething]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

Do you have the necessary tooling to fabricate a trussrod that will fit in that thing?

Can you work with carbon fiber to stabilize the neck?

Will you be attaching leaden weights to the body to counteract the insane neck dive you'll get with such an unbalanced guitar?

I imagine that thing would, in real life, more closely resemble the world's weirdest longbow than it would a guitar...

 

[GoldenVulture]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

The whole point of doing this is to be NOT LIKE everyone else.

Too late!These came out around 40 years ago.



Something like this ,except fretless?

This is a Maton El Toro. - http://www.maton.com.au/index.php - 32 frets ,by the way.

The six string version.

 

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

Do you have the necessary tooling to fabricate a trussrod that will fit in that thing?

Can you work with carbon fiber to stabilize the neck?

Will you be attaching leaden weights to the body to counteract the insane neck dive you'll get with such an unbalanced guitar?

I imagine that thing would, in real life, more closely resemble the world's weirdest longbow than it would a guitar...

Actually, I believe I will use an aluminum T-Beam.
If I cannot find a t-beam, I will be using 2 aluminum L brackets welded/screwed/glued together. The top part will either serve as the fingerboard itself, or have a wooden fingerboard glued on top.

Yes - cutting aluminum by hand is a PITA, but it can be done. Worst comes to worst, i'll take it to a shop and get it done for a price.

I think the T-beam has to be 2" wide - 2" deep and roughly 35" long. (1/4" thick)
Then I will cut it down to be 1 5/8" at the nut, only about 3/4" deep, but it still will be 2" at the body - for extra strength. I will need to cut a hole in the top part for the bridge pickup....

My biggest concern will be how to glue the wood to the aluminum in a deadly fashion.

Also making the wood inserts parts by hand will be hell, and i don't know how to do it right now... The headstock will be a separate piece that slides on to the aluminum T section and gets glued in place or screwed... It's a pretty tough project. but that's the idea I have. It's very clear in my mind.

 

[H8Red442]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

did you ever build those other ridiculous guitars you were throwing around a few weeks ago?

Why don't you just master the guitar you have?

 

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

did you ever build those other ridiculous guitars you were throwing around a few weeks ago?

Nah. This is the planning stage, and I am just brainstorming right now. Ridiculous to you, not me.

Why don't you just master the guitar you have?

I play everyday. Playing and building are not mutually exclusive activities.

 

[H8Red442]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

So you're just trying to make the most outrageous guitar you can come up with but have no intention of playing it?

 

[Frantic_Rock]

Re: My new crazy guitar design. 40 fret long, fretless batman

So you're just trying to make the most outrageous guitar you can come up with but have no intention of playing it?

Oh, i will definitely play it (not in my weddings band ofcourse!!!). Won't be able to play "Wonderful Tonight" on it... "Hells Bells" rather haha!

I got the high fret access idea from Michalengelos charvel rocket - i really love that guitar. But yeah - i wanna build an absolutely unique custom axe. Not just a little bit different, but very different.

I got obsessed with the aluminum neck idea a while back, and wanna see if it is doable. Posting the ideas on here just helps flush out potential problems, such as neck-heavyness or difficulty in fretting.

Also having a fretless neck will allow me to attach some frets with ropes and experiment with microtonal. (I could do that with any fretless guitar i suppose, but the purpose of this is experimentation too)