Your collection sounds pretty cool, actually. This thread is in serious need of a collection pic.
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Am I an absolute outlier?
- Thread starter Tedthulhu
- Start date
It's always nice to just show the data to answer a quantifiable question!
Though you would need to define an outlier. This data isn't a standard distribution, but if it were, 15% is in the 2-sigma range. I think of outliers more as a 3-sigma+ range value.
I'm okay with 20 or 24; what throws me off are those in-between ones, especially 22-fret necks. I keep mistaking that 4th single dot for the 3rd. (Nothing that couldn't be fixed with a little woodshed time. Could overcome if I really wanted to. But it was just one more strike against a 5-string I recently sold.)
Well, I’ve never needed 24 frets to perform my role as a bassist, so no I don’t find myself in the same boat as you. You also have mostly extended range basses (5/6 strings), and I’m 4 string only, so I’m positive that our playing styles are worlds apart.
Variety is the spice of life, man. Some folks need 24 frets. Some don't like frets at all. Some need 6 strings. Some need active. Some prefer passive.
I think I have 14 basses and without doing an inventory, I don't know which ones have more than 21 or 22 frets. I know my Spector and Ibanez do and I know my Fenders don't. Other than that, I'm not sure.
I think I have 14 basses and without doing an inventory, I don't know which ones have more than 21 or 22 frets. I know my Spector and Ibanez do and I know my Fenders don't. Other than that, I'm not sure.
Nope I can make due with 20 but prefer 21. Sorry But you sound like youre a guitar player!
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I have had that question and request. Go figure! Same guy thought the Thunderbird was "rude." It is a compliment in my world.
More octaves and more strings would just confuse me, though. I cannot recall going past about fret 16, ever at all.
And when it comes to excess, I have nine bass guitars. Five are Thunderbirds including a fretless, and one is a Fenderbird. We all have our quirks.
I’m easy like a Sunday morning. String spacing, number of frets, type of strings, weight of the bass really don’t stop me from playing.
Most players don't realize that the upper frets (say, 20 and above) on bolt neck basses are actually just staples, used to more tightly attach the neck to the body.
I need a 24 fret neck too, for some of the music I play. While I spend the lion's share of my time on the "money notes" on those 1 or 2 occasions I do solo, I go up around the 22nd fret. I prefer a 24-fret neck, so that I don't have to navigate a blocky heel or shallow cutaway to get to 22.
And my sense of "symmetry" likes the idea of having two full octaves.
I may not necessarily need frets 23 and 24, I'd rather "have but not need" instead of "need but not have."
I'm something of a TalkBass outlier too. I'm not part of the "Fender-faithful" and/or "tort and flats" crowds here. I'd take a Soundgear over a Fender any day of the week.
24-fret 4-string with a Hipshot Xtender for forays into drop-D is my preferred weapon. I've spent years playing both 5 and 6-string basses, and though both are great, I know where my hands and musical soul lie... and it's in a 34" scale, 24-fret 4-banger with a detuner.
And my sense of "symmetry" likes the idea of having two full octaves.
I may not necessarily need frets 23 and 24, I'd rather "have but not need" instead of "need but not have."
I'm something of a TalkBass outlier too. I'm not part of the "Fender-faithful" and/or "tort and flats" crowds here. I'd take a Soundgear over a Fender any day of the week.
24-fret 4-string with a Hipshot Xtender for forays into drop-D is my preferred weapon. I've spent years playing both 5 and 6-string basses, and though both are great, I know where my hands and musical soul lie... and it's in a 34" scale, 24-fret 4-banger with a detuner.
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On the bright side, that territory above 12 is pristine. I should rent it out to someone who actually should be playing guitar.
I used to play nothing but 24 fret basses with a low B string, active electronics and neck through construction.
Having the same thing going on once more below the 12th fret used to be easier for orientation, because for me, the 9th fret is the last dot before the double dot.
Then I upgraded my 6, to a passive bolt on bass with 23 frets. That's also easily managed because the 24th fret is there in my mind.
I recently started an affair with a P bass, and that one is challenging. No B string. 20 frets.
It's weird when you come from a bass spanning 4 octaves with a rich choice of notes where you often have the possibility to play the same note either on a short and fat string or a long and skinny string - and then try to accommodate that style on 4 strings with 20 frets, which often dictates which note to fret because it's the only one that makes sense.
Having the same thing going on once more below the 12th fret used to be easier for orientation, because for me, the 9th fret is the last dot before the double dot.
Then I upgraded my 6, to a passive bolt on bass with 23 frets. That's also easily managed because the 24th fret is there in my mind.
I recently started an affair with a P bass, and that one is challenging. No B string. 20 frets.
It's weird when you come from a bass spanning 4 octaves with a rich choice of notes where you often have the possibility to play the same note either on a short and fat string or a long and skinny string - and then try to accommodate that style on 4 strings with 20 frets, which often dictates which note to fret because it's the only one that makes sense.
I do have a Portamento, and while the extra 'fret' areas are nice for doing ultra-high harmonic slides, they don't honestly get touched much, otherwise. Sure looks great, though - I got one of the 2018 models, when the fretboard was still rosewood, instead of the current panga-panga fretboards. Love the rosewood fretboard almost as much as I adore the Macassar ebony on my six string.
I like basses with lots of frets (my 5's have 22), but for a different reason - to give you access to those last few frets, you have to make the body smaller on the lower horn, which saves weight. I do bounce the strings off the last few frets - if it weren't for liking clink and clank as times, I would be just fine with 15 fret necks in terms of turf to play on.
I much prefer either 21 or 24. 21 is a compromise for me, but I love fender-style basses, and I can get Warmoth necks with that 21 "fret" overhang (fret in quotes because I'm almost exclusively a fretless player). I miss the high E on the g-string during solos on a 20 "fret" fingerboard.
OP, I'm guessing your fretless Ibanez is a Portamento / SRF705? I played one as my main bass for a few years. I didn't play up at the very top of the fingerboard often, but I found a lot of use for playing up to the 26th "fret." I've switched to a two octave Ibanez fretless the my 5 string now, but I wrote an intro for one of my band's songs on the Portamento, and now have to use artificial harmonics to play it on the new bass.
Anyway, I guess all this is saying that I'm pretty much with you: I don't like 20 "fret" fingerboards for my own personal style and needs. That said, I have a parts fretted P bass project in progress that will have 20 frets, and will get used for any rootsy type playing I do (haven't done much of that since leaving Nashville).
OP, I'm guessing your fretless Ibanez is a Portamento / SRF705? I played one as my main bass for a few years. I didn't play up at the very top of the fingerboard often, but I found a lot of use for playing up to the 26th "fret." I've switched to a two octave Ibanez fretless the my 5 string now, but I wrote an intro for one of my band's songs on the Portamento, and now have to use artificial harmonics to play it on the new bass.
Anyway, I guess all this is saying that I'm pretty much with you: I don't like 20 "fret" fingerboards for my own personal style and needs. That said, I have a parts fretted P bass project in progress that will have 20 frets, and will get used for any rootsy type playing I do (haven't done much of that since leaving Nashville).
And yet the tune eventually ends. And time flies like an arrow. While fruit flies like a mango.
Signed,
Zeno's Bass,
taught Jaco everything.
