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Has anyone played this fretting system? How is it? Is it an improvment?

I've played a couple of novax fanned fret guitars. They were both subtly fanned with the difference between the long scale and the shot scale being less than an inch. You can't really feel the difference that much.

As for sound, the bass is a bit less floppy with extra punch like a long scale guitar. The trebbles were bright and easy to play like a short scale guitar. I liked it and might consider to it if I ever make a seven string.

Does it make it harder to bend? Bending is a very important part of my pathetic playing style.

I don't bend notes much but I can't imagine why fanned frets would be harder. You can hardly tell that you are playing fanned frets so the playability is about the same as a standard fret instrument. There might be a difference in whether you bend by pushing the string or pulling it. The intonation will change as you fret it at a different position on the fret. So you would stretch the string and change the distance to the nut by a certain amount. I have no idea if this would be audible.

i've never played one but it wouod seem that bending by pushing the string would in part be negated by the angle of the fret, and the effect of a pull bend would be greater for a given amount of string displacement.crazymanmichael38531.3670601852

One of the fret is 90 degrees to the centerline. The ones to the nut side are angled in one direction and below that they are angled to other. The push/pull effect would be different depending on where you were on the fret board. I suspect that the increase in pitch caused by the string deflection would far outweigh the change in intonation.