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I strung up my 1st Fan fret yesterday and got some pictures taken today. The guitar sounds real good and plays well but I still need to fine tune the action and intonation, I usually wait a few days to let everything settle in before final adjustments.

Quilted African Mahogany from RC tonewoods
Englemann top
Ebony binding
Pearwood/Black purfling
Koa rosette
Laminated Mahogany neck with Ebony peg head overlay
CNC cut fingerboard from Bryan Galloup
Gotoh delta tuners
Bone nut and saddle

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
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You are the Man!

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Looks pretty good Fred .. what are the scales you used ?? .. looks like 9th fret striaght as well ???

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Nice one Fred! I'm craving a fanned fret big time!

Fred,
Every time I see pictures of these instruments, I wonder if I am hallucinating....or if the photographer was. But then I snap back and realize how complex these instruments really must be. I, too, am curious about the scale lengths used. Heck...I'm curious about how one saws those fret slots, too. Seems like you would not want to force the player to over-reach on the longer scales, but you wouldn't want the shorter scales too cramped. So, if you will, please post your scale lengths.

Very nice guitar, Fred! Dang....that's just pretty. I love the simplicity of the rosette. I love the idea of freaking out an audience when they see that fingerboard, too!!! It's all very nice.
Patrick

The scale lengths don't matter as much as how you'd set up the guitar (where the single perpendicular fret falls). Ideally what I plan to do for myself is to figure the length of the neck that I want to use and where it will meet the body and how the body fits me. Then I'm going to extend all of my fingers to be straight (while in my natural playing position) and make marks at the first 7th and 12th frets. Then I'll cater the positioning of the fanned frets to best fit my own personal natural playing position. Since we are all unique I think this is the best way to really create a custom guitar that is really truly built for me.

But most that I've seen vary between 27.5 and 24.9 + or - .250". No reason that you couldn't change that though as long as you correctly position the bridge accordingly.

Looks fantastic Fred (and I'm sure sounds as good as it looks) ... good on ya buddy!

Nice work!

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PMoMC

Great job, Fred!

How do you like playing the fan-fret?
Is it new for you,
or have you played one before?
I was thinking about where the straight fret would be, just the other day.
Interesting..

Very cool Fred! There's just no stopping you. The workmanship looks top hole. Can you tell me where a fan fret's best use is? What type of playing are they best suited?

Cheers,
Danny

Very nice, Fred!!

Nice looking guitar Fred!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

The scales are 27" and 25", the soon to be owner will play mostly id DADGAD and CGDGAD. It sounds real nice tuned down a whole step at DACFAD and even C through C. I took it to the Celtic jam tonight and since most of the guys only play in standard tuning we tuned to D and it sounded great. Medium strings, but I think a little heavier on the low 2 strings might be good.

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Fred Tellier
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Very beautiful. The black on the back of the headstock works well. Is your top bracing standard, or did you adjust it for the fanning ?

Apparently the main advantages are:

1. ergonomics

2. lower lows and higher highs due to the differential in scale lengt- think of it like combining Taylor baritone lows with Gibson highs- only hopefully better as it's not built by a large manufacturer.

3. Outside of that being able to tune to alternate tunings with up two an extra 2 step differential (normal guitars are ok from Low C to High F, fanned fret could give you Low G to high F and maybe high G if you really wanted). All that without buzz while maintaining crisp highs and excellent lows with reasonable string tension.

(what Michael would have done with a fanned fret built for alternate tunings...)
This tune is in ABEF#AD on a standard Martin D-28, which he pushes to the absolute limit. The low A is like butter on a regular 25" scale guitar, while on a fanned fret it would maintain more rigidity and generate more tone.


Andy McKee playing a fanned fret in CGDF#AD


I love my 27.5" scale baritone (2" nut) and outside of the 1.750" nut width on my last standard scale Martin I'd love to combine the two, which is exactly what I plan to do with my first fanned fret. Hopefully that's more of an answer than you expected.

And my personal opinion as a player- these are made for finger-style playing, although I imagine nobody would be disappointed.

Joey

Funky looking. I'd love to see a pick of the bracing. Is that any different?

The X is rotated and tightened up some, I basically made up a mock up of the bridge and laid it in position on the top and plotted out the minimum changes to allow the bridge wings to be over the X. The bass side is the issue, I even contemplated making the bass side wing longer but did not have to do that. The length of available bridge wood was a deciding factor for what I could do. The bridge is BRW that Paul supplied, I actually screwed up the ist bridge as I had the pin holes too close together to get the string spacing we wanted. The original plan was to slant the saddle like on a normal bridge to lessen the slant of the actual bridge and at the last minute I decided I did not like the look and milled the slot straight but did not consider the effect on the string spacing.

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Fred Tellier
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Looks nice Fred!

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Did you consider the effect on intonation?

Regards,
-0.9

Yes it added to the angle the bridge was positioned at, I added the normal amount of distance for intonation to the length of the outer strings as normal and used a 3/16" saddle to give me wiggle room. The intonation is real close but I will not fine tune it until the top has settled in and the final action is set.

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
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I just finished one to the same scales and tuned to C, the low end just rumbles (in a good way!), and that's even with mediums on it! I love the longer scale, will definitely be building more just like this one.

absolutely beautiful Fred !!!!!! congrats my friend.... I am also in the making of a fan fret right now ...

Lars

Just saw Andy, Antoine Dufour, and my pal Stephenn Bennett last night in Buffalo. It was a great show, and Stephen played a bunch of tunes on his Karol baritone .. it (and the other guitars, Andy's Greenfields, Antoine's Beauregard and Noble harp, Stephen's Wingert harp) sounded great, the sound man was right on, and the venue (The Tralf) is a great spot for acoustic music.

If the tour comes near you, dont miss the chance .. all for 20 bucks.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"