Do you prefer wider or narrower spaced strings, and why?

[Neal Brakey]

This question is one I wanted to ask based off a recent purchase made.
Origianally I had a 5 string Warwick Corvette FNA with a string spacing at the bridge of 16.5mm.

I recently bought a 6 string warwick thumb 6 broadneck bolt on with a 20mm string spacing at the bridge.
I personally like a wider spacing at the bridge, especially for slapping purposes, but would like to know why you would like one or the other, and how it effected your technique, and/or why it was better overall.

 

[jblock]

Might be helpful to have a less than/greater than spacing number to know what is considered wide or not. I prefer 19 mm but not sure if that is wide or narrow for voting purposes.

 

[Neal Brakey]

Might be helpful to have a less than/greater than spacing number to know what is considered wide or not. I prefer 19 mm but not sure if that is wide or narrow for voting purposes.

True, I should make some kind of adjustment to that.

 

[Mustang Surly]

16mm on the dot for me with a 1.50" nut and short scale length (Guild Starfire). I have arthritic thumbs which cause this to be my comfort zone.

 

[michael_t]

When I was shopping for a new 5-string (my first) earlier this spring, I looked at a few options. I always thought I would like the narrow spacing on the Ibanez (16.5 mm). But, as it turned out, the 18 mm spacing on the Yamaha felt more comfortable and "familiar" in the light of the fact I had gotten used to playing my Fender 4-string basses (P & J), making it easier to switch back and forth without any drastic adjustment with my right-hand technique.

I also like the idea the Yamaha is actually narrower at the nut (43 mm) than the Ibanez (45 mm) despite the wider spacing at the bridge (18 mm vs. 16.5 mm).

 

[Jazz Ad]

The poll makes non sense as is.
16.5-17mm seems to work the best for me. Wider Fender style gives me muting issues and tighter my fingers get stuck between the strings.

 

[mapleglo]

I like very tight string spacing. 14 or 15 mm. Why? Because that's what I like. I have a Fender style bass with 19 mm spacing, and it's like my fingers get lost between the strings. I never play it.

 

[mikezimmerman]

I prefer 19 or 20mm. But I'm confused about your wording on the poll, since I'd venture to guess that most 5- and 6-string basses have 17-18mm spacing which meets both or your poll choices...

 

[Neal Brakey]

I prefer 19 or 20mm. But I'm confused about your wording on the poll, since I'd venture to guess that most 5- and 6-string basses have 17-18mm spacing which meets both or your poll choices...

Looking at it now I think the poll might have been a bad idea.

 

[Matthew_84]

I like 16.5 - 17mm so I don’t know if I should vote for both options, lol.

I went with narrower than 19mm.

 

[bound'n'blocked]

I went with option two because I was thinking about one of my 5er's when I clicked, but then figured you meant four string basses.

On a four, I like the standard Fender spacing at the bridge (admittedly, I dont know what that really is, but it's comfy!). On my fives, I like the spacing on my Carvin B5, which I think is 17mm. My Squier VMP5 is also very comfortable. I have a Carvin B50 and it is 19mm and that is so uncomfortable that I have rarely ever played it. Shame really, it's beautiful and sounds awesome. It's more the width of the neck near the body, and not so much the spacing of the strings though. I got rid of a Squier Deluxe Active Jazz because the neck was too wide for me.

So put me square in the "narrower is better" territory.

BnB

 

[Dave W]

I prefer narrower. 17.5mm to 18mm is my favorite, although I'll play basically anything and get used to it.

 

[robd]

17 for me - which is both wider than 16 and narrower than 19

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

Narrow. 16.5 to 17mm ideally. I play almost entirely with freestrokes and pluck with 3 to 4 fingers, so keeping the strings close together saves a lot of time and excess movement.

String spacing isn’t a big deal on a 4-string for me, but it becomes more critical with each added string, and I usually play 6.

 

[Jamvan]

I'm right at 19mm but, as stated several times, the poll as labeled now essentially could be answered either way. Wider than 16mm or narrower than 19mm both equal 17mm-18mm spacing.

 

[lancimouspitt]

When i was younger i preferred a more narrow spacing. Now at 33 i prefer wider spacing. If I'm still here and still playing in another 20, im sure I'll change my mind again.
In my teens i naturally applied floating thumb technique, and it stayed that way throughout my twenties. Now, in my thirties i prefer to keep my thumb anchored.

 

[Wasnex]

This question is one I wanted to ask based off a recent purchase made.
Origianally I had a 5 string Warwick Corvette FNA with a string spacing at the bridge of 16.5mm.

I recently bought a 6 string warwick thumb 6 broadneck bolt on with a 20mm string spacing at the bridge.
I personally like a wider spacing at the bridge, especially for slapping purposes, but would like to know why you would like one or the other, and how it effected your technique, and/or why it was better overall.

I find it difficult to play if the spacing is too wide or too narrow. The spacing on my series I Yamaha TRB6P is a bit wider than average I believe. It's wide enough to present some technical challenges with certain musical patterns that involve jumping across non-adjacent strings.

I have played some Ibanez basses that I thought sounded incredible, but the spacing was so narrow that it was really hard for me to play the individual strings cleanly. I can do double thumb slap on my TRB6P...no way this would be possible on a bass with really narrow spacing.

 

[saabfender]

My preferred spacing:

 

[ejaggers]

My Mustang gets less play because of the 15mm spacing, and also because I have too many basses!!!
If I played it more, I'd adjust. But my comfort zone is 19mm.

057912

 

[Bob_Ross]

With a 4-string bass, it doesn't matter at all: I own and have owned 4-string basses with tiny broom-handle necks that sported string spacing more similar to a violin than a typical Fender...and I've had 4-string basses with wide broad necks that must have sported >20mm string spacing. Didn't matter to me, I could play them all just fine.

For 5-strings I'm pretty sure I don't care, I have 5-string basses with 16mm, 17.5mm and 18mm spacing and I can get around any of them just fine.

With a 6-string bass, it clearly does matter to me: One of my 6-strings has <14mm spacing and that's definitely too narrow for some things I'd like to be able to do on the instrument...but my other 6-string has something in the 18-20mm range (I've never measured) and that's a bit too wide for me to comfortably execute some other things I'd like to be able to do on the instrument. So I'm not sure where the sweet spot in terms of Wide versus Narrow string spacing is for me on the 6.