Grozeil spilled the beans about a Stick model that was made for Andre Pelat in the "Jan Laurenz got an Alto" thread. I didn't want to hijack the thread, so I'm just posting this inquiry here.

Grozeil,

Was this Stick with the four extra melody frets a one-off custom job for Andre or will it be a proucton model in the future? Just curious.

Well, I think it's definitively a one shot custom work. I know that André made this kind of custom job on his previous Stick (I think it's the French luthier Noguera who made the work), and maybe Youenn Landreau did the same too. I know that Andre, who plays some incredible solo classical tunes really need this extra frets for some specific pieces.
To me, it's the first time Emmett accepted to do this work but who knows? Ony him could tell it (perhaps he could come in and tell us...)

I have a Bamboo Grand on order which might be finished in January 2010. I also have an Alto and really like to play higher registers, so I asked Emmett about some more higher frets for the melody side of the new grand.
So you may ask: why don't they do more frets as a standard, because there is enough space on the fretboard.

Here is Emmett's answer:

For my new stick I decided that there will only be two more frets for just the highest three strings, as this is where I need the additional range. Of course I will post some pictures as soon as I can...

Best,
TheMM

right, I knew that "physic" law, but forgot it.

It would be an interesting option. With a bass string at low A (pluck the DMR x-fret Bb) and a high melody string tuned to E, the extra 4 frets and a half step bend would give the Stick the FULL BOTTOM SIX OCTAVES of a Grand Piano, plus the harmonics players could always use that could go over C8. Awesome!

How much is the charge for the extra steel frets and extra fret marker?

Over the years and back as far as the late '70s, I've made close to 50 Sticks with higher frets, sometimes going all the way across the fingerboard width and sometimes just under the highest 2 or 3 melody strings.

And yes, you lose considerable volume just where you need it most, at the highest tuned melody strings all along the board. Then you have to lower the pickups on the rest of the melody side to balance out the volume. (Otherwise I'd be installing frets galore.)

I do wish I could go a whole octave higher, into the violin register, but guitar doesn't go there either (except with those splendid rock harmonics sustained by way of audio feedback). With the right effects you can do that on a Stick, BTW, as some of you know.

The Alto Stick and SG-12 with their two extra frets at the high end will reach a major 3rd higher than Classic Stick tunings. And with their shorter scale lengths, the overall sound of bass, melody and accompaniment is in the neighborhood of the next octave above long scale Sticks.

If someone insists on adding notes to the high range, then I usually saw slots and add anywhere from 1 to 4 "jumbo" bass guitar frets (the fewer the better IMO). They are .055" in height off the board, whereas the Rails are .060" before dressing. So with my dressing operations (evening, filing, crowning and polishing), they all create an absolutely flat and even playing surface of fret tips, Rails to jumbo frets with no jumps in transition.

I think the most fruitful approach to reaching the violin register on Stick or guitar is with various "finger effects" that produce harmonics of all kinds. Exploration of such techniques (and technology) would truly make The Stick a completely orchestral instrument.

Best, Emmett.

I couldn't be more wrong