moveable frets

[uethanian]

i recently started studying tetrachords (purely tuned ancient Greek scales), and after giving it a little thought, i realized i could play any tetrachordal scale on a guitar/bass, IF it had moveable frets. tuned to the root and fifth, DADA, all notes in the scale would be covered by three frets, one of which does not need to move. this may not seem like a great feat, but most instruments in pure temperaments have a hard time having ANY straight and complete frets

so it works very well in theory, but i need a way to put moveable frets on an instrument. at the moment, i want to try this with a guitar i defretted, but later on i want to apply it to my fretless bass.

gut isn't an option, because the frets need to be highly mobile (plus the neck has taper). obviously, the frets need to somehow 'lock' into place once they are at their destination

i could tie a loop around the neck with fishing line, and then wedge something into each loop to tighten it...not pretty, and it seems like the line might make grooves in the neck

ideally, i'd want to do something like a sitar, with frets that have wedges cut into the ends, and tied in the back. if i could have frets with wedges, hooked by rubber bands...yes. BUT the frets would really need to be tangless, so they lie flat against the FB

phew...well anyone want to offer suggestions?

[Stealth]

I think someone (uethanian, I believe) created a bass for just intonation - you might want to search for his thread and consult with him on different temperaments.

Your idea would be rather interesting if you applied different tunings, such as Wendy Carlos' alpha/beta/gamma tunings.

[Timbo]

correct me if I'm wrong, but don't sitars have movable frets in order to retune for different raggas and such? Maybe that idea could transfer over?

[funkalicious101]

Originally Posted by Stealth

I think someone (uethanian, I believe) created a bass for just intonation - you might want to search for his thread and consult with him on different temperaments.

Your idea would be rather interesting if you applied different tunings, such as Wendy Carlos' alpha/beta/gamma tunings.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the OP is uethanian.

[Nick Kay]

Sounds like you need to go fretless.

[ehque]

Originally Posted by funkalicious101

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the OP is uethanian.

LOL OWNED.

Uh, i believe a flatwound string (or sufficient gauge wire) tied around the neck could be a good approximation as a fret. With some sort of release system, it could be highly mobile. I leave the detailed planning and thinking to you.

[Sandu]

I can come up with a couple of ideas, but they're all pretty complex. I don't think there's any easy way to do this. I'm thinking tall frets, with clamps on one side and countersunk rails. The downside would be the buildup of dirt between the rails and lots of small metal parts for the clamp thingy that would have to be custom made.

Another idea would be to make the whole fretboard a big clamp. You move the frets by hand on a rail and then clamp down the entire fretboard, holding the frets down against the neck. I can't find a good example for the type of clamp I'm talking about, unfortunately. But as I said, it looks like a difficult undertaking to me. I'd rather get an unlined fretless and do color-coded multiple temperaments. As long as you go for a black fb and highly contrasting vivid colors, you should be fine.

[Stealth]

Originally Posted by funkalicious101

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the OP is uethanian.

Argh. Auto-pwned. Sorry, Uethanian, should've figured out you're the one experimenting with tunings.

*goes to kneel on a pile of old bass strings as penance*

[asad137]

How about a magnetic fingerboard?

Asad

[MNbassist]

I think the magnetic board is an AWESOME idea! You can definitely do some cool things with it.

[Stealth]

As far as placing frets on it goes, it'd be interesting (even if you were to use fretlets instead of full-length frets). However, how'd you make sure the magnetic couplings for the frets didn't interfere with the sound? It'd draw the strings down as well as the frets.

[Taylor Livingston]

I have actually been thinking about this for a while. I am very much into tuning systems other than 12 TET. I have a bass that is fretted in quartertones, but it is of course only able to play in 12 TET, 24 TET, or 8 TET.

My line of thought here has been similar to Sandu's comment. I imagine a groove under each string, into which individual fretlets would click. They would not only be movable along the groove, but you could add and remove as many as you like, so you can have any division of the octave you could possibly want (limited of course by how close you can space 2 frets and be able to actually play them). There's still the matter of coming up with a clever design for the fretlets to click into place and be easily removed without any complex small parts. Maybe Pilotjones will stop in and have an idea?

Anything tied around the neck would be simpler, but would limit the tuning quite a bit, which to me is kind of antithetical to the idea here. Individual fretlets under each string would create nearly endless possibilities, which is exciting to me.

[Saluki]

Originally Posted by Stealth

As far as placing frets on it goes, it'd be interesting (even if you were to use fretlets instead of full-length frets). However, how'd you make sure the magnetic couplings for the frets didn't interfere with the sound? It'd draw the strings down as well as the frets.

Not with non-metallic strings or possibly even heavily coated metallic strings.

[lemur821]

I believe sitars have an untapered neck, so they can just tie the frets on with thread. That would be an idea worth stealing. It would require a special neck, but there are harder things than making a neck.

[lemur821]

Originally Posted by conical johnson

Anything tied around the neck would be simpler, but would limit the tuning quite a bit, which to me is kind of antithetical to the idea here. Individual fretlets under each string would create nearly endless possibilities, which is exciting to me.

As long as two strings don't need two frets that are nearly but not quite the same distance from the nut, partial frets could be done by mounting a small partial fret on a flat sled that spans the width of the neck and is tied on. If you did, for some reason, need a difficult arrangement of frets, they could be mounted on a sled together.

[Darkstrike]

Originally Posted by lemur821

I believe sitars have an untapered neck, so they can just tie the frets on with thread. That would be an idea worth stealing. It would require a special neck, but there are harder things than making a neck.

Isnt a Rickenbacker's neck untapered already?

[pinkzepphish]

well if you have a fretless, cant you hit any note you want, be it on a fret line or not? it may not be your permenant solution but its there.

[Taylor Livingston]

The problem with that is that fretless sounds completely different from fretted (I may catch flack here, but I think fretless bass sounds kind of lame) and that playing chords would be very, very difficult. Since most of us grew up listening to music in 12 TET, our ears are not trained to play in tune in other scales.

[Marcury]

Originally Posted by conical johnson

The problem with that is that fretless sounds completely different from fretted (I may catch flack here, but I think fretless bass sounds kind of lame) and that playing chords would be very, very difficult. Since most of us grew up listening to music in 12 TET, our ears are not trained to play in tune in other scales.

You had to go there, really helps things along.

[WarriorJoe7]

A just intonation warwick... There is a better picture somewhere but lok at the frets

http://www.hansfordrowe.com/just.html