Match string and FB radius or not?

[archer121]

Do you guys match your strings radius to your FB or do you leave them flat? I can see pluses and minuses to both.

[Turnaround]

Originally Posted by archer121

Do you guys match your strings radius to your FB or do you leave them flat? I can see pluses and minuses to both.

What would be the positive aspects of leaving the strings flat?

[JTE]

I can't see any advantage to having the inner strings closer to the fingerboard than the outer ones. I radius them.

John

[archer121]

Originally Posted by JTE

I can't see any advantage to having the inner strings closer to the fingerboard than the outer ones. I radius them.

John

It's all about the pups. Since most pups are flat with flat magnets, having the string equidistant of the pup magnets should result in a purer signal from the strings in relation to each other and the magnets. However, in doing so the strings will progress farther and farther away from the FB as one moves farther from the crest of the FB radius.

[WalterBush]

I radius them. Having a mismatched radius feels unnatural. I bought the Stew-Mac radius guages just for the purpose.

I don't see any advantage to having strings set flat. I've never heard any difference in string output due to a pup's lack of radius.

[R. Laevinus]

...well, also, the strings are only flat so long as they're open - once you fret a string on a radiused board, it's radiused, and therefore closer to/farther from the pup.

I can only see disadvantages to leaving flat strings on a radiused board.

[Turnaround]

Originally Posted by R. Laevinus

...well, also, the strings are only flat so long as they're open - once you fret a string on a radiused board, it's radiused, and therefore closer to/farther from the pup.

Bingo!

[archer121]

Here's the vid that got me thinking about this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIzV9462xeE

At about 6:34 he makes a comment about the strings being radiused in relation to the FB and flattens them. This got me thinking about the pups and string height.

[Turnaround]

Originally Posted by archer121

Here's the vid that got me thinking about this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIzV9462xeE

At about 6:34 he makes a comment about the strings being radiused in relation to the FB and flattens them. This got me thinking about the pups and string height.

You are misinterpreting what he said. There's a popular misconception that the saddles should follow the curve of the fingerboard by angling each saddle to match the profile of the fingerboard at its particular location. What should be done is that each saddle should be parallel to the top of the bass, but at a different height corresponding to the fretboard elevation at that point. Have a look at this illustration -



If you do it the wrong way, you are putting uneven stresses on the bridge and doing weird things to the string spacing. But you do need to follow the fretboard radius, NOT by angling the saddles but by setting their heights properly. Clear?

[walterw]

exactly that, and i'm stealing this picture for future use!

there could be an argument with jazz basses for a flattened string radius to help balance output with flat pickups, especially with keeping the E from being too hot.

the better fix is to drop the pickups a bit to lessen the difference from one string to the next.

i think the real fix is to have pickups with magnets staggered to follow the fretboard in the first place, and i still can't think of one good reason to make jazz pickups that aren't like this!

[Tusec]

Well, I will stir the pot and argue that since there's less than 1/16" difference in height between the outer strings and the inner strings, you're not going to hear the difference in output. Better to have the magnets flat and less exposed if staggering them doesn't have an audible benefit.

[Turnaround]

Depends on how close the pickups are to the strings. If the clearance is 1/8 inch on one string and there is a 16th inch difference in string heights, one will be twice as close as the other. However, if the overall height was an inch, a 16th inch difference would be minimal.

So if you keep you pickups raised close to the strings, it might be better to use pickups with staggered poles. If you keep you pickups backed off further, flat poles will be fine.

Not that I'm recommending keeping your pups an inch away from the strings.......

[Turnaround]

Originally Posted by walterw

exactly that, and i'm stealing this picture for future use!

You won't be the first! Same with my pic of a correct downward wrap of a string to the tuner post. It shows up all over - and not just on TalkBass.

[The F-Bomb]

Originally Posted by Turnaround

You are misinterpreting what he said. There's a popular misconception that the saddles should follow the curve of the fingerboard by angling each saddle to match the profile of the fingerboard at its particular location. What should be done is that each saddle should be parallel to the top of the bass, but at a different height corresponding to the fretboard elevation at that point. Have a look at this illustration -

Attachment 161088

If you do it the wrong way, you are putting uneven stresses on the bridge and doing weird things to the string spacing. But you do need to follow the fretboard radius, NOT by angling the saddles but by setting their heights properly. Clear?

Dude - thanks for this pic. I've read a ton of posts / articles on set-ups and haven't clued into this fact before.

I really appreciate it!!
Cheers