How many frets and why?

[Matthew Fisher]

Bach says 24 frets and at least 5 strings. Gamba repertoire and all. But I only play that stuff around the house. On a 50s gig, 4 strings and 12 frets would be enough -- although I do like grabbing that low C on the last note of Sea of Love. Who cares if it's authentic. Norteño's not supposed to have a low B either, but it does now.

 

[zontar]

My SR500F has no frets--but if it were fretted it would have 24 and lose the "F" in the name...

 

[el_Bajo_Verde]

It's not like you can only have one bass in your life. If you need to solo above the 20th fret, you grab your 24-fret bass ... or your 6'er (or high-C 5'er or whatever).

If I pick up a great-sounding PBass with flats, for example, I'm probably not going to play it the same as, say, a Conklin Sidewinder 7-string with stainless rounds.

Every bass brings its own thing to the table. They feel different, sound different, and (critically) inspire you to play differently. That's part of the fun.

I'd rather just have one bass that does everything I want it to do. For me, that's part of the fun.

 

[Pops OB]

I'd rather just have one bass that does everything I want it to do. For me, that's part of the fun.

For me, that means tuning to BGDA.

 

[el_Bajo_Verde]

For me, that means tuning to BGDA.

For me, that means tuning to CGDA. I downtune if I ever need to grab a low B for some reason. Currently waiting on some Chromes to tune my new bass in fifths.

 

[Matthew Fisher]

For me, that means tuning to BGDA.