Is there a way to strum and immediately mute the sound (not chucking)

[Bill Sheehan]

With chords it is the same thing. You can bend notes in a chord or play it staccato. Plus, I do not like how different an open voice is from a closed one. However my main gripe with open strings is how using open strings to play scales disrupts the patterns I've learned.

Ripock, regarding your observation about the "voice" differential between an open note and a fretted note, has it been your experience that an instrument with a "zero-fret" alleviates that to some extent? In other words the sound of an "open string note" on a zero-fret instrument is more the result of the string running across the zero-fret itself, rather than the result of the string running across the nut. I'm a fan of the zero-fret concept, primarily because it eliminates all the concerns about proper nut slotting, etc., which can be so daunting.

 

[ripock]

Unfortunately I have never played an instrument with the zero-fret. What you say makes common sense but I can't corroborate. Honestly I have always lumped the zero-fret along with arm bevels and sound ports and special bracings; just things meant to part me from more of my money when bespeaking a uke. I would be willing to give the zero-fret a try but I am done buying ukes after the obscenely expensive baritone that I'm having made right now.

 

[Neil_O]

Unfortunately I have never played an instrument with the zero-fret. What you say makes common sense but I can't corroborate. Honestly I have always lumped the zero-fret along with arm bevels and sound ports and special bracings; just things meant to part me from more of my money when bespeaking a uke. I would be willing to give the zero-fret a try but I am done buying ukes after the obscenely expensive baritone that I'm having made right now.

My experience with a zero fret is from guitar. Cheap electrics from pre-1980 seem to have them a lot, so i always thought it was a way to save money on the build instead of having the maker have to learn to make nuts accurately.