LED-string light-up effect. (A new idea?)

[Sincenatic]

I am sure that you are all familiar with the kind of LED string lightsabers that consists of 6 segments which sequentially lights-up as the lightsaber is turned on. The segments are either controlled by an arduino or by Crystal Focus LS soundboard. Personally, I have not tried any of these options yet, but I have an idea that I would like to know if someone tried, or might consider trying. With CF-LS (and also arduino) it is possible to control the speed for the ignition to reach the top. There is, however, a trade-off between a too quick light-up effect and a too slow light-up. With a slow light-up the segments becomes very visible, while with a quick light-up the idea with making the segments will hardly be recognized. I have seen the interesting discussion on neopixel to light-up the LEDs individually, but my idea concerns that traditional LED string. I will explain:

Consider that your led-string blade will consist of 2 or 3 strings of 3mm LEDs. Has anyone tried to allow the first (and last) segment to be of different lengths, as showed below?

111122222222333333333444444445555555566666666
111111112222222233333333444444445555555566666
111111222222223333333344444444555555556666666

Consider these three strings in a tri-angle. All ?1? light up at the same time, then all ?2?, and so on. (The amount of LEDs is simple put as an example, but it should of course be adapted to the length of the blade). My hope is that the irregularity will make the segments more difficult to detect, even with a (somewhat) slower light-up, and the effect will look smoother. It is possible to add even more irregularity by allowing the number of LEDs in the segments in-between to be different.

Has anyone tried this? Are there some technical requirements (for example, concerning CF-LS) that make the idea infeasible?

[Silver Serpent]

I've never heard of anyone trying this. It sounds good in theory, though it'll make power calculation a lot more complicated. Each segment is going to have different numbers of LEDs in it.

I don't see any reason you couldn't try this. Give it a shot and tell us how it works out.

[Sincenatic]

I posted the same idea on FX-sabers forum and SpaceWindu provided a very promising answer; He has tried a similar setup with a blade with two strings of 3mm LEDs, and he found a better scrolling effect compared to a regular case. He also confirmed that it is possible with CF-LS soundboard. Of course, with three strings the effect will be even better.
I will try this idea, but the feedback on the experience will take some time. The delivery time for the LEDs that I have ordered is quite long, and I also have to wait for CF-LS to be in stock.