h a l f b a k e r yThe embarrassing drunkard uncle of invention.
add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random
news, help, about, links, report a problem
browse anonymously,
or get an account
and write.
register,
|
|
|
| |
I've often wondered why violins aren't fretted.
Perhaps such things exist. But, in any case, this is
one of your two best ideas. |
|
| |
One argument against them, I suppose, is that a
skilled violinist can play far more expressively on a
fretless instrument than on one constrained to
fixed
intervals. And beginners might never master
accurate pitch if they start on a "trainer violin"
with
frets. |
|
| |
Are you certain that this isn't the other one of his two best ideas? |
|
| |
Fret marks are sometimes simulated for beginners on violins. And having a fretted instrument doesn't mean that you'll hit the mark. |
|
| |
And wouldn't that just make it a banjo or a mandolin? |
|
| |
For much of the neck, the frets would be closer together than the player's fingers. Additionally, vibrato would be much more difficult, sapping all of the expression. |
|
| |
The best route for quantizing violin notes is to fit a hurdy gurdy keyboard. |
|
| |
// frets would be closer together than the player's
fingers// |
|
| |
Ah. That's probably a valid point. |
|
| |
I can't help but think that the sound of a fretted
instrument and an un-fretted instrument would be
significantly different. In once case the string is
anchored between the neck and the finger, in the
other it is floating over the fret. |
|
| |
And [normzone] why do you assume Miss Hits is a
Mr.? |
|
| |
Real frets (and not just lines drawn on the bar) cause
the notes to be distinct, and you can't miss the
note. The instrument's string is pulled tight between
the next fret and the end regardless of where you
put your finger 'before' that fret, and as long as you
don't pass the fret before that one. |
|
| |
[+] for bigsleep's remark too. |
|
| |
I actually attempted this, being an electric
guitarist meant there was no hope of me learning
any significant techniques for a fretless neck, not
while there were amps to shift and beers to be
drunk. |
|
| |
I wanted to create a PROPER electric violin, with
an electromagnetic pickup rather than
piezoelectric bridge sensor. I got as far as
destroying an pickup off an cheap strat copy and
re-modelling it to have much more staggered-
length pole pieces, to account for the string
height differences. |
|
| |
Then I got to marking out the fret board. Realized
that my fat fingers would be unable to fit between
most of them to effectively fret the note. |
|
| |
I also realized that guitar-style vibrato (pressing
the string deeper into the fret and bending it
across the neck) would effectively be impossible in
the normal playing position. In fact the radius of
the neck means that if you bend a string, it
generally fouls a fret further down, ruining the
note. Between the lack of bending, vibrato,
limited tonal range, and the fact that I couldn't
put a whammy bar on it meant that I was creating
a tedious and boring instrument. So I bought a
Dean ML instead. |
|
| |
// the frets would be closer together than the player's fingers. |
|
| |
Solution to this is retractable frets that sit flush with the fingerboard, and a pressure sensor on the fingerboard which detects finger position and raises only the fret in the next note position above the finger in real time. |
|
| |
Segmented frets that raise separately under each string could solve the problem of playing more than one note simultaneously. Would work for other stringed instruments also. |
|
| |
(edit: Quick google shows this is mostly baked for other instruments, I'll leave it for discussion purposes however.) |
|
| |