Bent frets [was: Digest N 730

Paul H. Erlich wrote:
> Daniel Wolf wrote,
> >Maybe he should just have a look at Mark Lindley's book on lutes, viols,
> > and
> >temperaments, which makes a pretty good case for uneven gut fretting in the
> >meantone era.
>
> Uneven fretting, yes; but _bent_ frets? That's the issue here.

I remember seeing in books frets bent at right angles, like
___ ____ .
|___|

Perhaps it was Lindley's book, or it was in one by Martin Vogel
(Die enhrmonische ... I forget the German for "guitar").

I still think that the context may be of essense in the legal
question. This seems to be a method of improving 12-ET tuning.
It is not needed with good guitars, unless one wants to
make the guitar play very loudly; in that case the "action" would
be too high, the tension of stopping the string would raise the
pitch, but to a different degree for different strings, and then,
yes, one would need bent frets. Put in this way, perhaps there is
a case for a patent even if bent frets have been used before.

- George Kahrimanis anakreon@hol.gr