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I ran across this over on the AGF. Has anyone here seen something like this on a guitar? Seems like it could be a good idea for some players. I play a few songs that involve fretting with my thumb, and it looks like this could make that easier. I would be fun to try it out and see if there are any downsides to it.

This guitar is a custom build and the bevels are named Schmidt Thumbevels after Roger Schmidt who came up with the idea (the guitar was built for him).



Here's a video of him demonstrating the guitar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzY38k1UPDY

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Never seen it. I’m normally very much on the traditional side of things when it comes to guitar “innovations” but I’m intrigued by this. I use my thumb a lot when I play and due to having small hands I need to go for narrow nut widths to facilitate this - even when it makes some other things feel a little cramped. I’d like to try a fretboard like this out and see how it plays.

Not a good time to have to visit an ER this winter because you didn't humidify your guitar and the frets "sprouted..." and you nearly sliced your thumb off trying as you might to do your horrible rendition of Stairway with a thumb over.

My North Star and the lens I view stuff through these days is how servicable is it. This adds significant complexity to the building of the instrument. And if the fretboard shrinks at all you have a PoPeal Slicer and Dicer happy to hack up your thumb.

We have an isle in our shop lined with guitars in bags that were left to dry out and they all have fret sprout too now so this is a common occurrence.

Lastly I'm a thumb over player big time and not having these bevels never stopped me from playing just as badly as I always do

But hey if folks want the bleeding edge I'll be happy to come up with a price to service these when they come in. And not trying to be negative here but I'm in the real world of what could happen Lutherie wise every day and complexity is not a good thing when something goes south on a weekend and you have a gig.

Look too at the nut, now what is the tech who had two weeks on the job at the big box guitar store going to do with that thing...

Related: Scalloped fretboards, another idea that folks will regret.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Don't think I could get my thumb over at the 12th.....

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

That looks interesting. I too am a thumb over player. One concern I would have is that you could not slide your thumb from one fret to another. My daily player is a guitar I built decades ago and I beveled both edges of the fingerboard in at about a 15 degree angle to facilitate playing. That allows me to play with my thumb up to the 9th fret pretty easily.

I'm a thumb over player too. My main player is an L-00 sized guitar with a Van Eps style scalloped flush fret fingerboard. I had an original L-00 that had been converted by Fred Van Eps to use the kind of fingerboards that his banjos used. I sold it to my wife's cousin who is a much better player than I am, but ended up missing it so I built one for myself.

The scallops create the same general effect that these thumbevels do, but the flush frets make sliding over the fingerboard very smooth, even with the thumb. I suppose I could bevel the scallops a little more if I wanted to, but it really works fine like it is. And it does make it a lot easier to put my thumb over the top of the neck.

Dave

Another thumb over player both for chords and catching some bass notes. I also bevel my fretboards slightly, but only a few degrees, and then ease the edge with maybe a 1/32" radius but I do that on both sides. I would think such a drastic thumb bevel would not be helpful for me but I would like to try it before I say no too strongly.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Ain't that some Schmidt!
If the bevel is kept in the middle of the fret space it might make fretting with the thumb easier and not be too detrimental to future refrets and fingerboard maintenance. I would be inclined to only bevel the frets commonly used for cowboy chords that would allow there to be enough undeveloped real estate either side of the frets. For those that do thumb overs it might have some merit. It does add "one more thing" to the construction process, but isn't that what custom guitars are all about?
The scalloped fretboard Hesh mentioned has thumbevels built in. Scalloped fretboards, like fan frets, and adjustable bolt-on necks have been around for centuries and have found favor with a minority of players who find them beneficial.
I have built a few guitar necks with a slight amount of "tumblehome" but the thumbevel is certainly a new idea. It looks like it could be added to a normal fretboard by a competent wood bodger.

This takes the rolled fingerboard to an extreme. If someone wanted it, I might do it - but I'm not gonna play anything like that.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I thought Chet Atkins modified his guitar like this when he was younger.

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Say what you do, Do what you say.

Look too at the nut, now what is the tech who had two weeks on the job at the big box guitar store going to do with that thing...

Seen a few like that on Facebook and other forums. Don't see the point of it at all.

PRS has done scalloped nuts like that on some of their electric guitars. I used to have a 513 with a nut like that. The rationale I've seen floated for scalloping the nut is that removing the material between the strings with the scallops supposedly directs the vibrations of the strings downward to the neck for "better" tone.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

But that only works during a full moon.

And only if your guitar is tuned to A432.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I totally missed the scalloped nut. I've seen a number of them, and was asked to make a couple once back in the 80's. One of them was a brass nut, and polished up it looked pretty spiff.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

I have scalloped the nuts on my banjos for years. Not for any reason but aesthetics. I had seen them on some 19th century banjos and liked them. No different from setting up a normal nut--I'd typically scallop after setup, but it really makes no difference. It's material that is immaterial to the setup of the instrument anyway. Do like the look though...

Dave