My hands don't agree with eachother!

[jsingles]

Has anybody else ever felt like the feel of a particular bass is EXCELLENT for one of your hands, but not optimal for your other?

My fender has a BIG ol wide 5 string neck with wide spacing.

my left hand LOVES this neck!! the modern C shape... the string spacing.. everything....

While it would be a stretch to say the least, if i were to say this bass plays poorly for my right hand, I certainly do find that my right hand much prefers basses with a much narrower spacing, such as my 4 string Schecter.

It can be rather irritating, and my right hand has grown more accustom over time to the wider spacing as I play the bass more, but I know that my "dream" bass would feel absolutely perfect for both of my hands, and it bugs me that I know my playing could be swifter i the spacing were thinner (though perhaps my fretting hand would not appreciate a narrow neck as much!)

[bigblondeafro87]

Yeah I see what you're sayin. For the fretting hand, its mainly preference for wide or narrow. I haven't figured out which I prefer, probably narrow because it requires less extreme wrist angles.

For the right (plucking) hand, I think a narrow spacing just makes sense unless you slap. Too narrow, and muting becomes an issue which you may have notice if you have tried to pluck a guitar like a bass

But narrow spacing making playing fingerstyle and pickstyle easier because the distance you have to move is less, and being bassists, we don't like long distances

Have you thought about putting a bridge with adjustable spacing on your bass?

[jsingles]

actually it already has a bridge with adjustable spacing. I have it set as narrow as it seems to allow, but it still fans out to be very wide by the bridge.

[Lewis7789]

I am trying to figure out what kind of string spacing I prefer with my next 5 string purchase. I played a Fender 5'er the other day and my plucking had really didn't like the wide bridge. I just sold my Pedulla which had a very narrow string spacing which i loved. But what are the dimensions for "wide" and "narrow"? I've heard 19mm is wide and 17mm is narrow? I just want to get it right before I spend $1000 on a bass I won't find comfortable.

[Chowderboots]

I have an '85 Ibanez Roadstar II 5 string, the first 5 string Ibanez ever made. The distance between the center of each string to its neighbor is 15mm. Ibanez took their 4 string Roadstar II neck, body, and pickups, designed a new headstock, and put five strings on it and baschta.

In the opposite direction, my highly modern, stylized Spector Rex Brown 5 has a spacing of 18 from center to center and a wider neck and wacky string tension.

A world of difference between the two.

I think the Ibanez SR 5 string bass is the most comfortable on the planet (that you can just buy at your local Guitar Satan or something). I understand Ibanez isn't for everyone (and my opinion of them might be a little biased ), but I think it's a pretty good middle point. Very confy as well. And they don't have to be expensive to be worth your money.

[Chowderboots]

And yes...I have had that problem before! On my Spector--when the action was set ridiculously high when I bought it so that the person who sold it could wail on it in A standard on completely dead frets No wonder they got rid of it

[Captain Chaos]

Let me grab a knife and cut off your hands.

[jsingles]

I agree that Ibanez necks are extremely comfortable. my friend has an SR 5 string, and the string spacing is bloody perfect. I much prefer the sound of my fender though. I suppose the trick is to find a a perfect combination of sound and feel.

[Chowderboots]

That's what I think. I'm not too big a believer in the pickups Ibanez puts on their basses nowadays.

My only real problem with 5 string basses is that I can't use my favorite pickup combination on them, really, which is DiMarzio P+J/DimarzioP+X2N-7. You could use a Split P and an X2N, but only if the string spread were really narrow.