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I know that they work especially well on extended range instruments, to get bass strings that aren't so thick. This video came up last night, and I watched it this morning. I have seen a couple of recordings by Galbraith before, so I knew about the cello stance, and the box. It seems that my cello is easier to play than my violins, the left hand is so much easier, but the bow is still a problem!

What I noticed in this is that the sound across the range is very even, and piano like. I don't know the actual numbers, but would 25% thicker bass strings, and 25% thinner trebles sound a lot different?

I read that Pepe Romero makes strings specifically for different color on each string. Probably tension differences. They found that the strings were starting to sound too even, and they like each string to have its own character. I don't know how much character you can add to a string, but adjacent strings should work together somehow.

Like do you notice how a wound G sounds/feels different than a plain G, that could sound much different than the wound D? I don't, but I don't play much, and my archtop with the wound G sounds a lot different from the nylgut strung Stauffer.

Those who play multi-scale, is it the evenness that you like? The thinner bass strings? Something else?

https://youtu.be/SgfVFbBOqgk?si=LMBzLgpw2gtFu-Y4

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Why be normal?

Ken—

From what I have been told by some players of fan fret guitars, the bass strings sound clearer and less tubby when they are a longer scale, and the treble strings sound sweeter and less strident when they are a shorter scale. So, a fan gives the best of both. Some folks may also prefer the ergonomics of the fan. That’s all I know about them.

Wow. That looks like a very uncomfortable position to play guitar. Obviously - works for him.

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

My personal guitar is a 25-26” fan fret. Totally comfortable to play and doesn’t feel any different than a typical 25.4” scale (unless I’m in standard and playing an F fingered 133010 because I fret the E with my thumb). I don’t remember whether I made the parallel fret the 7th or 9th but can check it out if interested.

I use medium-light strings (medium E, A, and D), so string gauge didn’t change for me. I did it for precisely the reason Don mentioned. The longer scale puts more tension on the E, which was beneficial for me because I was playing a lot of DADGAD and Open C. I honestly don’t notice any difference at all in the treble, but the longer scale length gives the lower register more definition. DADGAD is fine on a standard scale length, but Open C would leave something to be desired.


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In my experience, yes very different.

I've been playing multi-scales for 25 years and I find scale length to be an extremely effective control over timbre (tone color) when designing a guitar, or any stringed instrument.

Just consider any normal 6-string single-scale guitar in standard tuning; can you think of any other common stringed instrument that requires strings of the same scale length to sound two octaves apart? (low E to high E)

That's quite extreme and requires the low E to be quadruple the mass of the high E if they're going to have the same tension.

Extending the range with additional strings or altered tunings makes the problem even more extreme.

Shortening overly bright trebles is a very effective way to warm them up, and lengthening muddy basses will brighten them up.


I got onto the multi-scale path out of overwhelming frustration with my 1990 7-string Ibanez electric. No mater what I did I could not get a decently bright and clear sound out of the low B string without turning the rest of the strings into sizzlingly over-bright awfulness. EQ'ing out the brightness brought the low B mud back immediately.
I ended up designing a 32" to 36" scale 7-string which solved the issue so effectively it sounds like a regular 6-string throughout it's 5-octave range.

So for me the primary benefit is control over tone. A very happy side-effect is the ergonomic benefit. I much prefer multi-scale to single-scale.