Andy McKee explains fanned frets (Multi-scale Geometry) - Piermont, NY 3/3/09 (7/10)

While preparing for Shanghai (as requested by someone in the audience), Andy McKee broke a string and began talking about his tour in Asia while restringing. Towards the end of the video he explains why the frets on his guitar are crooked, a question a lot of people are wondering. Basically, the fanned frets on his new Greenfield guitar are both comfortable ergonomically and provide more accurate intonation.

And although he doesn't mention it in this video, fan frets handle dropped tunings much better than regular frets do (and since Andy plays in so many different alternate tunings, fanned frets must be a dream come true). Thicker strings are naturally designed for a wider scale length - I would say all guitars should be built this way, and for a lot of handmade instruments with more than 6 strings, they are mandatory.

You can see him play Shanghai in the next video, linked below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuUeAwnTYzA&fmt=18

Category:

Music

Tags:

• andy
• mckee
• breaks
• string
• broken
• fanned
• fan
• frets
• fretted
• guitar
• rpoland
• acoustic
• fingerstyle
• candy
• rat

[jtommo666]

Might be a stupid question... But are fanned frets good for any tuning? Or only really open tunings?

[Rael0505]

@jtommo666 it works for any tuning. it just provides much better intonation for dropped and alternate tunings! the problem with regular guitars is the 6th string becomes very slack if dropped down to B or C. i imagine andy's guitar handles that just fine

[MultiSteini]

i was hoping to see more...

[Rael0505]

@MultiSteini i recorded the entire show, it's all on my channel if you want to watch :)

[Rael0505]

@coronet67 Because when you buy $15,000 instruments, they don't generally come with "backups." He's not playing a $400 Mexican Strat that he's gonna smash at the end of the stage anyway. Only 10 Greenfield guitars are made a year and you have to be put on a 3+ year waiting list to get one (and that list is before he even begins construction of the guitar). These guitars are handmade masterpieces. And Andy plays it wonderfully.

[Tbak2000]

was that Austin Powers asking the question about the frets?? ahahahahahah

[Rael0505]

@jonrg77 The rc8 is a monster of an instrument itself! You must be good if you own one of those. And I agree, the idea of waiting 3 years for a guitar sounds crazy to me hahaha

[jonrg77]

@Rael0505 your right i checked out greenfield guitars out of curiosity as acoustic is not really my thing! but not being funny i had to wait 6 months for my rc8! and i think thats bad enough! i mean you could be dead in 3 years,who knows whats round the next corner!

[Shmucko21]

@jtommo666 Well actually it really depends on the scale length. For every inch you add onto the scale length it gives you an extra half step lower. I.E what that means is that you will be able to tune a half step down but still maintain the same string tension as you would with a normal scale length. Thats why if you have a long scale getting over into the 30's, the high E string is nolonger able to handle the tension of being tuned to E, which is why they break easily.

[babolatpdtp]

I was getting motion sickness from the shaking of the camera. Andy seems like a super nice guy

[gjmvi]

Whats the deal with the frets, Andy baby? Hahahahahahaha