Building a guitar with half notes...( frets between frets ) and 8 strings ( from bass F# to F above normal high E...ilding

[thefishinmusician]

So.......Here we go......I've been commissioned to build an 8 string guitar with frets between " normal " frets to the 12th...Regular spacing after that to the 24th fret.

Tuning

F#.....(The one on the low E string on a bass )

B

E

A

D

G

C

F

O.K.......I'll be using .118 frets for the full neck, and .78 for the inbetweenies...

I will have to invent a bridge/tailpiece, no problem

It's an electric, carved hollow body, accoustic guitar top...( ala Danelecro, kinda. )

I'm hoping to squeak by with a 27 inch scale...

3 mini bass tuners on the near side of the peghead ( To accomodate the thick strings )

5 regular tuners on the other side.....

Graphite bars in the neck with 2 way truss

 

O.K.....Many heads are better than one....Thoughts ?

 

 

[Jeff Highland]

Different fret heights won't work unfortunately.

[thefishinmusician]

Those are the widths......I think....

[FRANK]

2010 I met this guy at the NAMM who invented the fretted/ frettless bass neck... frettless on top and fretted on bottom leveling the frettless top with the bottom works well .maby you could come up with something new here this could be a learning Moment for some hum hum ...

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

I would go for equal heigh frets too. I'm quite used to 8 strings barytone guitars. You can use guitar tuners for all strings, you'll just have to re-drill the tuner hole that will get the heavier gauge string. I would'nt do it with a 27" scale. For what I've been trying, 27,5" is strict minimum, and I have far better results with 28" or 29" scales. For these scales, I use a 9/42 string gauge plus a 0.058 plus a 0.080". For bridges, you can use a Hipshot fixed bridge, or individual bridges from ABM, or Kahler vibratos, or order a custom bridge at ETS. They all work great and are available in 8 strings. A single 2-way trussrod is enough, and you can use carbon reinforcement or not.

[Mac Walker]

When you say "frets between normal frets up to the 12th" do you mean micro-tuning for the first octave (quarter steps)?

Maple neck / quartersawn?  I'd be afraid to go with slab orientation with this many strings...

[thefishinmusician]

Quartersawn mahogony, and yes, micro tuning...And as far as scale length, he has small hands, so I'm trying to keep the scale down..I've re-drilled tuner holes, but I'm not happy with weakening one to that point...

[Mac Walker]

I'd be inclined to go with the biggest rod you can find, the LMII 1/4" rods are the ones I use, with the flat stock on the top.  I make 30" baritones, and have had good results with this style rod.  The smaller brass rods are right on the edge for these types of neck tensions.  Also I wrap the rod in fiber reinforced packaging tape, Ken Warmoth style.  This prevents that horrifying snapping you can occasionally get when the rod tension is not equally distributed throughout the neck......

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

I've nerver had any problem with a re-drilled tuner hole. Plus string tension on the biggest strings is most of the time weaker than other's one ; even more on 27" scale lenght, where you can't use too big a string gauge to avoid dull or muddy sounding F# string. I've got drill bits of every diameter under 3mm in 0.2mm steps, so I only enlarge the hole of the strict necessary amount.

I'm not sure I would accept a 27" F# on a project. Because for what I've seen so far, results are not great, and it would take as long to get used to play a muddy floppy F# than to stretch a hand to gain 1" of scale lenght. I think I would be afraid of having an unsatisfactory result.

[Pierre-Antoine Roiron]

Maybe you could try a fanned fret system : easy to play for small hands on most of the strings, higher scale lenght for good results on the lower strings.

[Donald A. Fortune]

Hey Fish-- you have me confused here-- lets say you wanted to do this kind of thing to a guitar with 6 strings and the first string is tuned to "E"   -- the next fret is "F" -- so what note is in between them???? 

[thefishinmusician]

Not quite E. not quite F...The tone inbetween....

[Kerry Krishna]

So, I am not understanding some of this. Are you making a quarter tone 8 string?