A concept that I’ve become very interested in understanding recently is the multi-scale guitar, also known as a fan fret guitar. I wanted to find out a bit more about how the fan fret concept came about and what the benefits, if any, may be.

When I was researching all this information for myself I thought that it may also be quite interesting for guitar players who have seen a fan fret guitar but don't really understand the concepts behind it and what the benefits might be.

What does multi-scale actually mean?

The full term should actually be “Multiple scale length”, but this doesn’t roll off the tongue quite as nicely. The multi-scale guitar does what it says on the tin in that it assigns a unique scale length to each individual string on the guitar.

Step it back to "scale length" in general

A guitar’s scale length is essentially the overall length of the string from where it exits the nut to where it enters the saddle. A simple way to find out the scale length of your guitars you can grab a tape measure from the front edge of the nut to the 12th fret and then double it.

On most guitars one scale length has been assigned to all of the strings, however you will probably notice a slight compensation on the saddle which gives a little more string-distance to heavier gauge strings. The exact reasons for this is a topic of its own which I won’t cover right now, otherwise we'll find ourselves somewhere else completely!

In a perfect world, choosing just one overall scale length for a guitar isn’t the optimal solution because both short and long scale lengths have their own strengths. To generalise, the low-end bass on a longer scale length instrument will be more direct and rich but the trebles will be overly bright and harsh. On a shorter scale length instrument the trebles will be full, soft and warm but a bit 'muddy' on the low end. The multi-scale approach tackles this issue head on by having a longer scale length on the bass strings and a shorter scale length on the trebles.

So to adopt this multi-scale approach on a fretted instrument like the guitar, you need to angle the nut and saddle in such a way that the relative scales for each string can be achieved. For the frets to fall in line with each string, their placement will result in the fanned out fret placements that you may have seen on multi-scale or fan fret guitars.

The multi-scale approach is actually quite common-place on many other stringed instruments. A great way to demonstrate this visually would be with a harp. Each string has its own individual scale length from where it exits the metal tuner to entering into the soundboard. On a harp the strings are all the same mass so it’s actually the scale length that determines the pitch of the note.

History of the multi-scale

The example of the harps also shows that the theories around multi-scale instruments have been around for much longer than you might think. On fretted instruments it is believed to have initially appeared around the 16th Century on a bass cittern style instrument called the bandora – and built by an English luthier by the name of John Rose.

The first official patent for a multi-scale fingerboard was applied for in 1900 by E. A. Edgren who notes in his patent “The frets diverge, running from the centre outward, so that the lower frets extend slightly in a direction opposite to the upper frets”.

More recently, in the late 80’s, a talented guitar maker by the name of Ralph Novak re-introduced the technique to the modern guitar and it has since become increasingly popular among steal string acoustic makers including Michael Greenfield and Tom Bills.

But is a multi-scale guitar ideal for you?

The great part of a multi-scale is that many people like to experiment with different tunings, which changes the tension placed upon each string. As well as the tonal advantages that the multi-scale brings, it has tension advantages too, so the strings are now much more adaptable to being tuned down without resulting in that ‘floppy string’ feeling that you can sometimes experience.

Aesthetically, some people are a bit put off by the splaying frets and the skewed angle of the bridge (or the heavy adaption to the bridge to enable the increased angle of the saddle). However, ergonomically speaking, although the splaying may look a bit funny, if you spread your fingers out you will see that same splaying pattern in your hand. This could suggest that a splayed layout of frets may actually be easier to play and more forgiving to the hands natural form.

Reading this blog, the first thing you may think is that you have never really encountered any of the tonality and tuning issues that I mention above. And that’s absolutely fine – the conventional scale length has served the largest portion of the guitar playing community for centuries and that is for good reason – it works well for most people.

However, depending on your ear, your preference for dropped tunings or just your indiscriminate need for everything to be perfect (have you considered becoming a luthier?!) the multi-scale is definitely something to consider.

Photo credit - Larry Jacobson (Flickr)

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