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3-string bass - neck width suggestions?

Haans

Haans

Altruistic nihilist
Supporting Member
Oct 31, 2005
867
1,818
Bergen, Norway
#1
I'm going to a have a 3-string (EAD) bass built (31-32" scale), but I'm unsure about neck width. Do any of you have experience with 3-string basses? I don't want the neck to be too narrow - there needs to be enough wood to get a comfortable grip and look good. I've seen a few 3-string necks that simply make the bass look strange, either because they look tiny or because the strings are too far from the fretboard edge or both.

I'm quite comfortable with the string spacing on my 2011 Fender P (nut width 41.3 mm), but I won't mind a slightly wider spacing on this one. I think the P has a 10.67 mm spacing at the nut, so maybe 11 mm could work well?

My first thought was a Jazz width nut (38.5 mm) and P string spacing at the nut (10.67 mm). However, I'm having a hard time visualizing how far the strings would be from the fretboard edges and I can't get my head around the math at the moment.

So, basically the goal is a neck that is as wide as possible while maintaining a comfortable string spacing and fretboard edge distance at the nut. Any thoughts?
 
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#3
I had an epiphone viola that I converted to a 3 string . You would have to look up the neck specs somewhere but it was perfect as a 3 string . With 4 the spacing at the nut was a bit tight for my fat hands but string spacing was almost exactly the same as a P bass with 3 . And the neck was quite deep so had a decent chunky feel to it .
 
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#4
Haans said:
I'm going to a have a 3-string (EAD) bass built (31-32" scale), but I'm unsure about neck width. Do any of you have experience with 3-string basses? I don't want the neck to be too narrow - there needs to be enough wood to get a comfortable grip and look good. I've seen a few 3-string necks that simply make the bass look strange, either because they look tiny or because the strings are too far from the fretboard edge or both.

I'm quite comfortable with the string spacing on my 2011 Fender P (nut width 41.3 mm), but I won't mind a slightly wider spacing on this one. I think the P has a 10.67 mm spacing at the nut, so maybe 11 mm could work well?

My first thought was a Jazz width nut (38.5 mm) and P string spacing at the nut (10.67 mm). However, I'm having a hard time visualizing how far the strings would be from the fretboard edges and I can't get my head around the math at the moment.

So, basically the goal is a neck that is as wide as possible while maintaining a comfortable string spacing and fretboard edge distance at the nut. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Not a luthier or woodworker, but I would center the dimensions around comfortable string spacing - for me 19mm.

At that point, I would just measure a 4-string's distance from the edge of the fretboard to the E string, and the edge of the fretboard to a G string, and implement 19mm string spacing between the strings. That would make it quite a bit slimmer than a 4-string neck though, which you may or may not be after.

BUT if you're talking about taking a 4-string neck profile and fitting it to 3 strings, you would either have to have a larger distance from the fretboard edge to the strings, or have super wide string spacing. At that point it's your preference and comfort.

Hopefully someone here has some experience with it!
 
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#6
For stability of the neck, I'm not sure I would go narrower than 1 1/2" - 38mm, same as a J-bass nut. You might be able to go a little narrower, since you not only have @ 11-15% less tension overall due to the shorter scale, but 3/4 of that to boot.
 
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#7
iiipopes said:
For stability of the neck, I'm not sure I would go narrower than 1 1/2" - 38mm, same as a J-bass nut. You might be able to go a little narrower, since you not only have @ 11-15% less tension overall due to the shorter scale, but 3/4 of that to boot.
Click to expand...

Sounds about right. I was considering going down to 35 mm if needed, but the neck will be closer to a P thickness.
 
#10
iiipopes said:
For stability of the neck, I'm not sure I would go narrower than 1 1/2" - 38mm, same as a J-bass nut. You might be able to go a little narrower, since you not only have @ 11-15% less tension overall due to the shorter scale, but 3/4 of that to boot.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be too concerned about the structural aspect of a narrow neck. Check the Stringjoy tension calculator: A standard 34" 4-string bass strung with 45-105 gives you 178lbs of tension.Throwing out the high G and reducing the scale to 31" leaves 111 lbs of tension in total, so 62%.

If you want a narrow and very thin neck, then I'd rather include CF reinforcement than changing the dimension because of string tension alone.

As for comfort, you could check out tenor guitars at a local music store, if you can find any. They typically have a nut width of around 30mm, see if that would be comfortable.
 
#11
Tony Levin had Musicman make him a 3 string bass years ago ... pictured below ... it looks to have a 4 string neck

tony-levin-in-the-beginning-god.jpg
 
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#20
IF the builder you are using can do this:

I'd simply take the bass (in a four-string) that feels the most comfortable to you, and match the spacing and the outside clearances to the edges of the fingerboard from the outside edges of the strings.

BUT: You'll have to be able to approximate the contour (the backside) of that favorite four-string and extrapolate it to three string. Won't do any good to match the fingerboard if the backside of the neck is completely different.
 
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