How many frets do *you* need on your 4-string?

[TOOL460002]

Betcha this coralates with the average sales of basses with various numbers of frets. No clue if there are 24 fret EBMM 'Ray's, but im okay with 21. 3 frets are for sure not worth more money. For me. I don't need them. Why pay for it? Oh wait nm I buy all kinds of music stuff I don't actually need so ignore me. I'm a hypocrite. Bass on!

 

[TrevorG]

Not less than 24, and 26 is better. Not a huge variety of bass guitars in that category but fortunately, you only need to find one that fits the bill; the current bass offers plenty of upper register access as well.

View attachment 4096612

Just WOW!!

 

[farmertom]

I learned a song the other day that uses the 10th fret. Thought that was cool. Never been up that high lol. So guess I need 10. Lol.

 

[2F/2F]

The sweet spot is 3–9. 90 percent of my playing happens there. I might have gone above the 12th on two or three songs that I've ever played, in 32 years of playing bass. I also rarely use the G string.

 

[rtslinger]

Doing some classic rock covers 22+ has been helpful. But I could live with 22

 

[skortch]

I would have picked 21-22 if it had been a choice and went with 22-23 instead.

My formative bass years were spent on a Stingray5 so I'm used to and prefer 22. I've used that high E quite a bit over the years, with double stops, riffing at the end of a song, etc. High F less so but I recently threw some in as a flat 5 for a B-min chord when doubling a guitar blues line.

21 is OK I guess. I have a few 24-fret basses and go back and forth with them; it tends to impinge on the neck pickup placement and it feels a little odd playing up there. On the plus side it does usually make access to the high E range easier.

20 is sort of a non-starter for me.

Which brings me to a final point: ease of access is equally important to number of frets if you often venture up that high. That involves the shape of the neck block if it isn't neck-through and also the minimizing of the lower horn; those are two main problems I have with most Jazz basses (along with being short a fret or two).

 

[HolmeBass]

I voted 20-21, but I drastically prefer 24.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

If 21+ was an option I would have checked that option. 21 is enough to get me by but I like options and even though most of my basses are 21 frets I like to have the option of having 3 more frets for those rare occasions. They don't seem too get in the way but its nice to have them if you need them. Also, while I can play 34" scale to 30" scale I find the 32" scale to be my sweet spot. Maybe, the fact that it fits right in the middle has something to do with that. My dilemma is that while my Kubicki has it's own rich tone opions, ultimately prefer the longer string sounds of a 34-35" scale.

I haven't had much of a change to try a 35" scale yet. I expect to discover something new one day. New discoveries keep playing fun.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

Just ONE more.....

 

[4dog]

all of them?

 

[VolverseLoco]

Some good ideas in this thread. Get rid of the entire G string and yank all the frets out starting on the 13th all the way to the 24th. It may sound silly but it reflects exactly how I play now.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

OCD 24 or vertigo.

 

[BtaylorTheRogue]

In my nightmares, 2.
3 would be a little easier.

I think 6-7 is where i wouldn't sweat playing on the fly

As an aside, if I could only have 2 frets, I'd choose the 4th and the 7th.

Is it what the question meant? No... But it's interesting maybe?

 

[selowitch]

On a 34"-scale bass, I find that I like 20, 21, or 22 frets, but that 24 starts to feel a bit crowded. Probably 21 is ideal.

 

[Ric5]

I need 5 strings and 21 frets

 

[SteffanB]

You are not a true bassist unless you have at least a 87 fret bass!

 

[cnltb]

On a 4 string: 20.

On ym 5 string I have 29.

 

[Ricky Rioli]

At the moment there's a nice balance: the total of the votes for 22-23, 24+, carrots, fretless, further strings and tort is roughly the same as the vote for 15-ish.

Then the vote for traditional 20-21 is a good notch above them.

30% not many, 40% regular, 30% lots etc.

So all of us have plenty of company in our tastes.

 

[Element Zero]

All. All the frets.

 

[MAJOR METAL]

21 or 24 is my preference.