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How much does string spacing matter to you on a 5?

#41
My Ibanez is 16mm at the bridge and that's what I like. I started on 4 string and right from the get go I was wishing the bridge spacing was narrower. On standard 4 spacing, I feel like I'm doing more work reaching for the string than actually plucking it. Like I'm driving a dump truck compared to sports car. On a 4 I can deal, but a wide spaced 5 would be very difficult for me to play.

I don't care about nut spacing on a 4, but if given the choice I'd prefer narrower for 5+ strings (Ibanez is 1.75 at nut). Don't want the neck getting too wide.
 
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#43
I don't know the measurements, but my Lakland 55-64 is just about right. I would like a little more space between the strings, honestly, because I find myself bridging or contacting multiple strings when playing fast. happens less on my 4 string with wider spacing. That said, I wouldn't want the neck any wider, as it's just about as far as i want to reach across the fret board. It's a compromise.
 
#44
It really doesn't, my hands find their way. I've had really skinny fives (BB5000), tried out Yamaha's 180-degree reversal of that width on a TRB/5P that felt as wide as a diving board, and the Alembics were their 'classic taper' which 2" at the nut and 2.5" at the 24th fret, very little flare-out over the fingerboard length. If I had to pick, I liked that the best.

I've often wondered what a bass with a fingerboard/neck like a classical guitar would play like: Utterly straight strings (same nut width as over the last fret), a flat, no-radius fingerboard, and a mostly flat, c-shaped neck profile. Hmmmm . . . .

I'm far more fussy about the neck shape, as to me that influences the way the fingerboard feels to me than the fingerboard width or string spacing. I way prefer flatter than round-er.
 
#47
I play mostly 5ers and all mine are 17,5mm. I've been using Stingray5s since forever. Other 5ers I own (Yamaha BB, Ibby ATK) have the same spacing. I've had less spacing (17mm on a Maruszczyk) and it was OK too. OTOH, I'm not into wider spacing really, not only because of the wider distance per se but because it makes for cumbersome necks, which I hate. The two 4 string basses I have (both tuned BEAD) are a narrow spaced Epi Viola and a 19mm spaced P kit build, which I find I only play with a pick. Not that I can't play fingerstyle anymore on a normal 4 string, just less and less willing to each day.
 
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#48
All my 4 string basses have the Schaller 463 bridge with the roller saddles. Even on those basses I pull in the saddles to be closer to 18 (or there about).
I would rather go narrower then wider if I have my choice.
 
#49
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I have a Spector Forte 5 string bass with 19mm string spacing that I had Spector build for me. For me, it is the perfect balance of playability and tone. I played Lakland's for a long time, so I loved their flat neck profile and the wide string spacing, but I craved that signature Spector sound. I have the perfect bass now, it has that flat neck profile, very comfortable string spacing (at least for me, I don't like anything narrower than 19mm), it sounds like a Spector, and the cost of the build was very reasonable for a custom build American instrument.
 
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#51
If you're thumping/plucking, 19mm is the way to go. However, I play mostly fingerstyle, and all my 5ers are 16.5mm. I do some thump/pluck, and I will say I'm clumsier with the tighter string spacing than on one of my 19mm-spaced 4-string basses.
I also have a 6er that is 14mm (Ibanez Gerald Veasley sig). I absolutely love it.

If you have small hands, go with tighter spacing. Absolutely nothing wrong with it.
 
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#52
I don't know exact spacings, but I can tell in about 5 seconds if a 5 (or 6) is too tight for me. I recall some early 80s 5 strings that had the same nut width as the 4 string version, Steinberger XL25 for example. Way to tight for me to be comfortable. Steinberger did offer a "wide" version later, the XL25W, which was fine.
 
#53
IME, string spacing is THE most important factor in a 5. I've played 35" w/19mm and 34" w/16.5mm and most everything in between. Since letting go of the gotta-be-a-35"-for-a-5-string myth, my comfort/playability/tone sweetspot is a 34" w/18mm spacing. I could go wider, but no narrower. Fingerstyle player, rarely a pick and no slap, ever.
 

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