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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on January 21, 2015 at 6:23pm

yup .   just as    fretless  basses , and fretless guitars that are  not  "sliders" .   if you  have  a straight  neck   , and  hard   flat f-board surface , and proper action.  you  can still  fret  notes  ,  even chords  ,  but  depending on    the build  ..  it  may  sound     a bit  more  "dull"    or  somewhat   "muted "  . 

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Permalink Reply by Corbin on January 22, 2015 at 4:39am

I am guessing the muted sound is because there is no fret wire to press the string over.

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Permalink Reply by Crabbymike777 on January 22, 2015 at 5:42am

I have a question... I'm a newbie so please understand... Can you tuning of strings be too tight to be able to use hammer on and hammer off? Every time I hammer on it stops note. When I hammer off it plays but dull.

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on January 22, 2015 at 6:21am

Sounds like your frets are uneven...

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Permalink Reply by TN Twang on January 22, 2015 at 8:18am

I've been struggling with "hammers" on my 1-string canjo with bobby-pin frets. (Thanks to "Oily" Sprague for that idea.)

It seems that the energy for the hammer-on sound comes when the string is briskly slammed against the metal fret. When the frets are not very fat (like when you use bobby pins), you've got to be precise. Hit your finger tip too close to the fret and you damp the string. Hit too far away from the fret and the impact isn't enough to produce much sound. I've been pleased to find that experimenting and practice did improve the result, but the results are not nearly as dramatic as on my bass guitar with huge fat frets (and an amplifier).

Pull-offs are a different matter. You need to "kiss" the string with your caloused finger tip as you pull away in order to start the string vibrating. Think of it as sort of half-heartedly plucking the string with your fretting hand. Owners of fine traditional guitars may not have to do this because their instruments are so sensitive, but dulcimer players have been doing it for years.

My $0.02 USD

TN

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on January 22, 2015 at 8:42am

lol,   totally    brings  back  flashbacks  of  me   shredding    the  bobbies   on  oily's  swamp witch  in a bobby-pin abuse  test   before i  sent  it  off   to  him   .. lol.

Find more videos like this on Cigar Box Nation

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on January 22, 2015 at 3:02pm

Hahahaha "shredding the bobbies"

I have well and truly abused the bobbies on my Swampy. I think I've glued new replacement ones on four or five frets, and hafta glue at least one back on every time I play it. Which is waaay easier than doing a fret job. ;-)

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on January 22, 2015 at 3:13pm

"toss another  shred  on   da   bobbies  "  ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on January 22, 2015 at 3:16pm

Naahhh, gotta fire up Ellie Mae this afternoon. She's lonely, and needs comforting. ;-)

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on January 22, 2015 at 3:20pm

was  just a   "shrimp  on    da  barbie  "  reference  ;-)

indeed   i  bet   Ellie  and  Steve   are  callin  you   at  the moment  ;-)

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on January 22, 2015 at 4:15pm

a while ago  , i   tried  using  bobby  pins / roller pins   for frets   .  just   glued  onto  the  f board  flat  . and  seen   how  they  stood  up   to   some  vigorous   playin.   eventually      a couple  will pop  off  .   but  not  in that test  run ,and   a couple  others  .   over time  you'll   loose a  few  ..  but easily   replaced     ,, and they   actually  work  pretty  good   as  frets  . oily liked the idea and wanted bobbies on his swamp witch . i even made this video , they got pretty popular after that . a few builders use em now . just a cool re-purpose , cheap easy alternative . no depth issues , slot cutting , fret wire , height issues , sanding , leveling etc . and minimal filing .

<br /><small><a href="http://www.cigarboxnation.com/video/video">Find more videos like this on <em>Cigar Box Nation</em></a></small><br />

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on January 22, 2015 at 5:11pm

;-)

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