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My understanding of the Novax system was that it was devised to address a specific issue: the difference in sound of Strats and Les Pauls. He claims that if you made a Strat with a shorter scale it would sound more like a Less Paul because of the way the string length and tuning interact. By fanning the frets you can approach the Strat sound on the bass and the Les Paul sound on the treble.
In particular, Ralph's idea was that there would be a high frequency longitudinal wave set up in the vibrating string, rather like the vibration of air in a long, narrow pipe. The frequency of this vibration would be determined by the length and material of the string, and have nothing to do with the tension, the pitch it was tuned to, or the gauge of the string, but would be capable of interacting with the normal transverse vibrations. If this high frequency vibration somehow 'clashed' or 'worked with' the note the string was tuned to, it would alter the timbre.
There's something to this. I looked at the 'tension' and 'transverse' forces the string puts on the end supports, and did indeed see this high frequency signal, somwhere up in the 3-5 kHz range. As far as I could tell, it does seem to interact with the other vibratinos of the string to some extent, although just what effect this might have on timbre is hard to say. So far, so good for Ralph.
The old citterns used variable string lengths to address a different problem; they weren't using overspun strings, or, at least, not very good ones, and metal strings tend to have a more narrow tuning range than gut. In order to get the low notes to sound good the strings had to be made long. Short, slack strings suffer from a lot of 'anharmonicity': the pitches of the overtones are not harmonic, for various reasons. They also change pitch more when they are displaced: it's easier to 'bend' a short scale than a long one.
I've always heard that part of any patent is the purpose: if you can find a totally novel and un-obvious use for some old technology you can patent that use. If this is true, Ralph's patent may be valid, since he's addressing a different problem than the prior art.
OTOH, these days I think you could patent gravity. It got to be too much trouble and expense to actually examine patents some years ago, so the government gave up on all but the most cursory glance, if that. They just grant the patent, and allow interested parties to duke it out in court. As with so much else, the strength of your position is directly proportional to the number of lawyers you can hire. Most luthiers can't hire lawyers, unless they can finsd ones that are interested in barter....
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