Quote:
Originally Posted by catyak  I played a Fender P-bass last night. I was really surprised at the difference in feel between it and my Jazz. I found that it was easier for me to play notes near the nut than with mine. I'm trying to figure out why.
I know that they have a different radius on the neck. Do they have a different scale?
What could be contributing to how "open" it made my fretting hand feel? Sorry that I don't have enough experience with playing to describe this any better. |
First, it's hard to tell since Fender now has so many different versions of both basses. Scale length is generally the same (a nominal 34"). But, within series, they have the same radius. All Vintage Series basses are 7.25" for example. So if you played a VS '62 Precision and you're used to an American Series Jazz, you're dealing with a lot of variables.
The nut on a Precision is 1.625" or 1.75" depending on model. A Jazz is generally in the 1.5" area. So there's a big difference (or not- depends on how adaptable you are). I tend to prefer wider necks because they're also more shallow front-to-back.
THAT is the critical factor for my comfort. I had a Geddy Lee and the neck on that was just stupid narrow, but it was rather beefy front-to-back at the nut. Those two dimensions together force my hand into an awkward position. I much prefer my '83 Vintage Series '62 P with the very wide 1/75" nut width and VERY thin front-to-back dimension.
But, a lot of the variance comes down to variances in set-up and individual chunks of wood. They're going to feel different. Nut height is a critical factor in a proper set-up, and almost no (I haven't played a lot of Custom Shop stuff, so I won't say "none", but it's close) factory Fenders (nor most factory instruments at all) have the nut correctly cut. They're almost all too high. That's because a properly cut nut is a time-consuming process and it's very easy to go too far. That means you have to start over due to just one pass of the file too many on one of the string slots. So, it's more efficient for the factory to make sure the nuts are all a little too high because it reduces starting over again.
Note that this is NOT limited to Fender basses- most guitars no matter the maker have the same issue. It's easier for someone to cut a nut down lower to dial in the right place for a player than it is to put a new nut in and cut it from scratch for the heavy handed players who get buzz on open strings. And it saves time at the factory.
John
