that bridge is just graphtech saddles attached to an ebony plate - it could be made non-fanned too. its a very comfy design
Would non-fanned make it just straight? I like it cause it's angled to be honest.
What is a multi-scale for tbh? I don't know much about them at all.
the plate can be any shape you want - the saddles are placed according to scale length. so yeah, they would be more straight on a standard guitar
the point in doing fanned frets is to try and improve the tension across the strings - this has tonal benefits too and if you want the sales pitch look at the novax site
http://www.novaxguitars.com/info/concept.htmli quite often use a upright piano analogy. I have a vertically strung piano at home. its bass notes have the sound of the wet fart and this is common on most vertically strung pianos, a weak note with a lack of sustain.
what piano builders did is decide to put the bass strings diagonally instead - this is an overstrung piano and gives a string length more comparable to a grand piano. they have much stronger bass notes.
piano and harp buidlers understand that string work best at a given length. thicker strings that are intedned for lowe notes work best when they are long. High note strings work best when they are short and thin.
guitars are no different - except most are built with a fixed scale length for ease of construction. you really start to see the failing with this when playing 7/8 string guitars or 5 string basses. quite often people have issues with tension and the 'wet-fart' effect on these extra strings... its because a compromised system is being pushed beyond its limits
most people dont think its necessary to do it on 6 string guitars as they 'work just fine'. i agree that its not necessary as i still like normal guitars, but it does seem to be producing the same positive effect it does on extended range instruments