What Is A Fanned Fret / Multi Scale Guitar?

A five minute primer for people who have not yet played one of these and are wondering what exactly they are about. Learn to get PRO RECORDING sounds at home and on a tiny budget!

[louddude]

thank you, strait to the point without stretching 5-minute story into 1 hour video)

[evergray]

Thanks man, quick, informative, concise... EXACTLY the video/explanation I was looking for. I’ll def come back when I’ve got more time and check out some more vids

[RockStarOscarStern]

The fun thing about fanned frets is that you have Short Treble Strings that feel bouncy & Long Bass Strings that have that extra tension needed for that extra Clarity. They also give you the illusion of how a Piano (or even so a Harp) is designed with the Short Trebles & Long Basses. This is also a Reason 13 Course Baroque lutes have a Bass Rider on the 2 Lowest Courses, to give the Bass end more clarity.

[bassinbob]

Thanks for a good video and great explanation. I get really tired of trying to research a topic and getting people who act like goofs trying to be funny and most are not. Don't get me wrong I like to have as much fun as anyone but you tube is flooded with it. So I wanted a good, informative video on what exactly a multiscale guitar was and you gave it to me. I also appreciated the fact that every other word you were speaking wasn't "UH" or "Mmm". Thank

[RockStarOscarStern]

Fanned frets are highly recommended when you start adding on more & more Strings especially for kids who wanna play them cause the tension will be just right across every single string & also give them the illusion of a Piano cause when they go from Piano to extended range Guitar, it'll sound & feel more familiar.

[jackbootshamangaming]

Love the Ormsby. I just spent 6 hours playing my Ormsby straight, and I came to watch some videos after, seen your video and thought that was an Ormsby. Good Video. Love that SX.

[soyjesuskno]

Big Thanks!!! Just what I was looking.

[eddyc]

Very nicely explained and edited, thanks.

[bdurushia]

This was a nice and quick explanation. Thank you!

[professorpedropontes]

Now that makes so much more sense! Thanks A LOT for explaining it so clearly!

[TheSynisterMinister]

This is super informative and really cool. I like to say, right tool for the job. If you are doing jazzy bar chords. A 7 string might not be the right instrument

[RockStarOscarStern]

Music With Marky The fun thing about Fanned frets is that it balances out the tension, and also with extended range Guitars with all the way up to 9 (or more) strings, it'll stay more in tune.

[RockStarOscarStern]

Did you know that Extended range Guitars have alot of the same advantages of Extended range Basses? Extended range Basses (all extended range string instruments that have fingerboards or sometimes fret boards if they're fretted) would benefit from Fanned frets. The additional Strings on Extended range Guitars (Both lower & higher) give you a more playable range opening your mind up to lots of repertoire written for other instruments. The additional strings also make it easier to transpose so you can match the ranges of other instruments & Vocalists especially on Church Gigs. These extended range Guitars also add a bit of Rock n Roll to your Church Gigs making the Choir & Congregation go into Rock mode.

[JohnCrawfordSchoolOfMusic]

I had my first experience playing a seven string multi scale guitar yesterday. I didn’t really notice the difference in the scaling as he was describing in the video. The biggest thing I had trouble with with that seventh strain it’s going to be a learning curve.

[beauarthur]

You explain things very well, thank you

[zensational.]

Thank you! Years ago it was just described to me at being more ergonomical. Everything you said makes perfect sense tho.

[FangMagician]

Great video! thanks for uploading this!!

[OscarStern-rp]

Fanned Frets are an old idea. It's an influence that came from the Orpharion

[BatEatsMoth]

You can get the same effect by using graduated action on a standard guitar. For example, I play 6-string bass. My action is set B at 2.75mm, E at 2.5mm, A at 2.25mm, and the rest at 2mm. That's so I can play B standard tuned to 430. If I wanted to play Bb standard or A standard 440, it would start higher: at 3mm for Bb standard, and 3.5 or 4mm for A standard.

All my strings play like butter; the fretting tension is relatively the same across the neck in all positions. The action on all the strings is just high enough to prevent fret buzz with light-touch playing (I still need some grind on the B and E strings for some stuff I play with distortion).

Fanned frets are only necessary for extended range instruments where you have too many strings for graduated action to be practical. Most people who buy fanned fret guitars only do so because they think there's some rule that you have to adjust your action equally low for all strings, which can't work if you use drop standard tuning. They buy them under the false impression that a multi-scale neck is the only solution.

Most guitar manufacturers use some sort of graduated action as the factory setting. That's because you can't get a playable instrument with the lowest string set high enough for fret clearance and the rest of the strings set at the same height. For example, the factory setup for all Ibanez basses is 2.5mm on the bass side and 2mm on the treble side. That's just for standard B or E tuning to 440.

[USAlien]

Thank you for the simple explanation. I found a 7 string fan fret guitar I liked the look of, but as Im not so great woth scales yet on a normal guitar I was curious if going back and forth would mess me up while trying to learn them.
I feel it may be okay for me now thou.
I appreciate it.
Hope your staying safe out there.
✌😃 ✝ ❤