I recently measured my older Dean Edge 5 when I was looking to order new pickups and I realized it had 16 mm string spacing. Are any other basses made with 16 mm spacing or are the earlier Dean basses unique in this aspect?
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16 mm string spacing
- Thread starter JMDT
- Start date
Warwicks, Ibanez SR505 are both 16.5 and pretty tight. You sure about 16 mm? That sounds really tight.
I've seen basses with tighter string spacings than that, I don't mind it too much, whatever the spacing is.
- Dec 21, 2007
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There are several with 16.5, including Tobias (at least the pre-Gibson, not sure if Gibson changed that), Warwick and some Ibanez.
Since the electric bass GUITAR has more in common with a guitar than a bass, "tight" string spacing suits the instrument well - especially on a 5er or 6er. There's aren't many good reasons [IMO] to have miles-wide, upright-type string spacing on an electric.
Slapping with 16mm a problem you say? Well, I suppose that would be true for those that hang their basses down low so as to look cool
. If the players thumb is roughly parallel to the strings, accuracy can be had with some practice. Yeah, I have a bit of a 'tude on this. I think the conventional thinking on this issue is dead wrong, but then again, "to each his own".
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JMDT said:
Look into "blade" pups. Ask the experts over at the pickup and electronic forum for some good answers.
I looked into EMG's and Bart's first, but I called up Nordstrand and they said they could do 16 mm spacing as long as it wasn't split coil; something about phase cancellation. They said they had made spacing as small as 15.5 mm before for Jean Baudin's 13 stringer.
I agree, a 16mm will definately slap. I find I can play much faster on the 16 mm 5'er vs. the more standard 19mm. Keeping the strings muted can be an issue, but like you said, practice usually irons such things out.
Since the electric bass GUITAR has more in common with a guitar than a bass, "tight" string spacing suits the instrument well - especially on a 5er or 6er. There's aren't many good reasons [IMO] to have miles-wide, upright-type string spacing on an electric.
Slapping with 16mm a problem you say? Well, I suppose that would be true for those that hang their basses down low so as to look cool
I definitely LOVE tight spacing
Pretty sure my Gibson is 17mm, and that's suits me just fine. I wanted to love a Pedulla Rapture 5, but it was 19mm, and that definately won't work for me. I'd be interested to try something tighter than my current 17, and these 15.5-16's sound very intriguing.
Yeah, I wanted to like a Ken Smith but the 19mm spacing and ultra thin neck were not comforatable to play.
you can get Pedullas in both 17.5mm and 19mm. i definitely like the tighter string spacing better as well.
Bah, humbug on tight spacing! 19mm forever!
So what is it you prefer about 19mm spacing? Do you have longer fingers or slap much? I wasn't blessed with long enough fingers to make it the extra ~ half inch comfortably.
Well, I like the bigger string spacing as I play about just as much DB as I do BG. Since DB string spacing is pretty big, and really doesn't change, I like to keep it big on my BG too.
Interesting perspective, I hadn't though of it that way before. I have basses that are 16 and 17mm for 5ers and up to 19 mm four a four string. I like the 16 mm the best, but I find that if I rotate the basses I play around, that it becomes more or less a nonissue. Then again, I don't play DB either.
