Ordered an AGILE GEODESIC 62527 to try out a headless and fan fret at the same time. It is 27-25.5". What's the lowest tune I could go without getting a muddy tone?
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I have a 27.5" scale (non-fanned) EBMM baritone that has plenty of tension in B standard / Drop A. B standard sounds awesome, Drop A is too low for me but I'm old and crotchety.
What gauge strings are you planning on running? -
Straight scale baritone is more useful if you're detuning across all your strings. If you detune the whole guitar, you're still talking about tuning several steps down on strings that are 25.5" or thereabouts.
The fanned fret is mostly because if you're using an ERG or drop tuning, you need extra tensions on those bassy strings and at a smaller scale, the string thickness starts to get out of control.
Fanned frets on a 6-string is a little funky because it's like halfway in between. I know some people "double drop" the lowest two strings, so something like that could be a potential tuning option?
Anyway, general consensus is that F# is kinda the lowest you can do with a 27"-ish scale with a reasonable sized string (say, 74 to 80?) but it's cutting it close. Not sure what you'd wanna do as far as tuning the remaining 5 strings tho.Comment
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Thanks Chris and Randy!
I currently have an Ibanez RGIB6 28" baritone. I don't go that low, and I am often on an drop tuning. I use a 7 string set minus the 6th on my 6-stringbguitars. So, I thought of trying out a fan fret to keep that lowest string not so thick.
The way I take it, I just have to play around tunings and gauges and find my comfortable gauge and tuning.
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I have a newbie question, how does it feel to play multiscale guitar? I never tried and it looks super weird to me..
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I had an outlandishly expensive Sherman fanned 8 and I couldn't get into it. But for a few hundred bucks like that Agile they're worth taking for a spin.Originally posted by Megametal7 View PostI have a newbie question, how does it feel to play multiscale guitar? I never tried and it looks super weird to me..
It's not my thing.
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when you play, does it feel weird? When it comes to gear I'm very green :oOriginally posted by Chris View PostComment
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This is incorrect, fanned frets exist because, as the name suggests, you are supposed to fan yourself when using them.Originally posted by Randy View Post
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That fan seems really extreme.Originally posted by Chris View Post
Most of my experience is that it's really not THAT different or hard to get use to. Especially now that fanned fret layouts have been more fine tuned. A lot of people use to use the old Novax layout and it just wasn't correct. Near impossible to intonate properly and the fan was just too extreme.Comment
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Played one of these for a bit (pic not mine)
I'm not the world's biggest fan (no pun intended) of Ibanez's scale or parallel fret choices. I mean, it's useable and I agree partially with the "your hands just go there" thing but the two things I do most on guitar are open chords and stuff past the 12th fret, and those are exactly the two things the fanning throw off. I mean, not unplayable but barre chords (especially anything that also touches the top three strings) feel funky. And fast runs past the 15th fret DO give a little "wait where was I?"
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IMHO, 27" scale and drop A are a perfect match. Both of my 27's reside permanently there with 13-70 strings(I like bridge cables,lol!) With that said, they will do F#, but I start losing clarity. My 28 and 30 handle F# and beyond. For strings I've done a lot of experimenting and piecing together sets. I tried The String Source strings a couple years ago and haven't looked back. Their string selector is surprisingly accurate for the tension I want in drop and standard tunings, the strings sound and feel great to me, reasonably priced, and fantastic customer service.Comment
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If I wish to change pickups, where may I find slanted ones? It seems the guitar I wibe getting has been routed for slanted ones.Last edited by littlebadboy; 06-16-2021, 07:20 PM.Comment
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I didn't love the fanned fret bass I had either - without getting into a much longer post, the fan felt pretty natural for single note stuff, but when you started doing things like alternating between notes on the same fret but different strings, it got weird fast. Try holding down the, on a 7, 3rd fret low D, and on the A string, 2nd fret B, then that D, 3rd fret C, then that D, 5th fret D, then the low D, and back, reasonably quickly. It's WAY easier on a straight neck than a fan.
That said, scale length is only part of the equation, and IMO one of the smaller parts, of what makes a tone "muddy." I'd gotten 25.5" down to Low F# for kicks and still had pretty good clarity, simply by lowering the gain and favoring a brighter tone, to emphasize the attack. The whole signal chain, including string gauge, are all part of the equation here.Comment
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I can do Drop G on a 27" with 12-58 strings. I may go up to 13s actually as it while this works the tension could be better.
Randy I really wanted one of those when they were first announced but they took so long to become available I ended up getting the KM7 and boy am I glad I got that instead.
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There are zero times I want to listen to anything played in Drop G, I don't care how well it's executed.
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I imagine the muddiness of the low notes would be more up to your pickups and string gauge. You're not going to drop G with a 52
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A couple companies make fanned pickups like Guitarmory and Elysian Pickups (yes that Elysian), but most fanned open coil pickups like those are regular pickups that are just attached to a slanted baseplates. You could probably save a couple bucks getting a set of standard whatever you like (Dimarzios, SD) and screwing them to the stock baseplates you have.Originally posted by littlebadboy View PostComment
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