Nightmares in design and fabrication 101

[Saul Koll]

An attempt to design and fabricate a vibrato system for a fanned fretboard:
Almost worked!





Version one: Failure.
Versions 2 and 3 too.





Sorry Matte.

[Bryan T]

Intriguing design. A shame it didn't work, but I'll bet you learned a lot in the process.

[Neill]

what about it didn't work? hard to tell from the pics.

[fyrwyr]

Cool looking though! It may be that will have to use a set bridge with roller style saddles and a rolling tail piece to accomplish vibrato with that platform, other wise there may be a TON of engineering hurdles and or costly manufacturing ahead

If it is possible to make your bridge slide forward and back instead of diving that could be cool!

Great to see innovation in action like this though

[decay-o-caster]

Now Saul, have you been tampering with the laws of the universe again? You know we warned you about that...

[matte]

Originally Posted by Saul Koll

An attempt to design and fabricate a vibrato system for a fanned fretboard:
Almost worked!





Version one: Failure.
Versions 2 and 3 too.





Sorry Matte.

me 2. the entire instrument held so much promise. i am the loss leader for high end builders. i do appreciate the herculean effort.

[sysexguy]

A modified Stetsbar would do the trick.

Andy

[Neill]

Originally Posted by sysexguy

A modified Stetsbar would do the trick.

Andy

this actually seems possible. cost effective? dunno.

[murkat]

Originally Posted by sysexguy

A modified Stetsbar would do the trick.

Andy

yeah, but what fun would that be let alone the intalectual challenge. garage logic rules and is foundation to items you enjoy today.

I like how your brain thinks Saul.

[WesKuhnley]

Looks like it was fun anyway! Better luck on v4!

[sysexguy]

So the 3 mini bridges are linked by a double 4 bar mechanism between the pivot pt, the link, and the plates of each bridge. What if the link was down below by the spring connections? The would be a greater range of motion which would be more tolerant towards any backlash in the linkage. Also what if the tremolo bar would actuate the G/D bridge so that the other bridges are each only one link away from the root of the motion?

Andy

[Ian Anderson]

Wow thats cool as hell. I can't begin to comprehend what it took to design and impliment somthing like that along with a full workload of guitars of all types! Saul do you sleep?

Might be cool to draw/engineer somthing like that in ProE where you could see the functionality before prototyping it.

[Saul Koll]

Originally Posted by Ian Anderson

Wow thats cool as hell. I can't begin to comprehend what it took to design and impliment somthing like that along with a full workload of guitars of all types! Saul do you sleep?

Might be cool to draw/engineer somthing like that in ProE where you could see the functionality before prototyping it.

Thanks Ian!
Sleep? Draw? engineer? test? OVERRATED! for sissys!

It worked in my head. I'm quite certain the problems were in my skills as a metal worker. My tolerances on the mill and lathe are not that tight. I bet a guy with mad metal skills could redesign, tweak and make it work.

The goal was to have a trem with similar geometry and feel to a standard strat style trem. There are two major things going on with that: the basic string tension, which is countered by the back springs, and then the tensions and change you apply to that with the arm.
In my design I wanted the same basic geometry as Leo's design. the pivots at the same point, and the springs pulling from the same points.
As a static thing, I was able to do that on the fanned fret guitar. But when the arm was moved, I couldn't get all three pieces moving in concert in as precisely a motion as I wanted. I think there was too much slop and play with the joints and bearings. When I made them tight, there was not enough free movement, and when I made them loose, the whole deal was simply too sloppy. I'm sure you have experienced how difficult it can be to keep even a normal strat in tune when you are on the vibrato. Multiply that by three, add linkage, and mix in some B-rated machine work, and there you go.

I know that there is someone gifted with metals and machining that could pull this off. If was simply beyond me.
I bet Ralph Novak would love to see that, and so would I! (And Matte!)

Until then,


cheers!

Happy Holidays.

[Saul Koll]

Originally Posted by sysexguy

So the 3 mini bridges are linked by a double 4 bar mechanism between the pivot pt, the link, and the plates of each bridge. What if the link was down below by the spring connections? The would be a greater range of motion which would be more tolerant towards any backlash in the linkage. Also what if the tremolo bar would actuate the G/D bridge so that the other bridges are each only one link away from the root of the motion?

Andy

That might be a good way to approach it.
You are correct about the backlash. The link farthest away was the most difficult to keep in tolerance.

[Saul Koll]

Originally Posted by decay-o-caster

Now Saul, have you been tampering with the laws of the universe again? You know we warned you about that...

I was simply taking a break from my perpetual motion machine and cold fusion experiments.