I Found My String Spacing Sweet Spot

[Spectre Gunner]

I played the Stingray 5 yesterday jamming with a friend playing lead guitar and drum machine tracks. I did okay with it and I know if I spend more time playing the EBMM SR5 I'll get better at it. So I'm now less inclined to sell it anytime soon. Sorry guys. When I'm not playing it, it hangs on the wall as a piece of fine art.

Right now, I'm leaning towards buying the MTD so maybe I have a NBD post to look forward to. That store is a GAS enabler. I just went in there to buy a used pedal and now I'm looking at a potential major expense. Where does it end?

 

[burgerdj]

Carnies have small hands and smell like cabbage

Glad someone got the joke!

 

[bucephylus]

Yes, the original Tobias basses were narrow. MTD USA will do just about anything,….

To be accurate, Mike has neck blanks intended for either 17.5mm bridge spacing or 19mm bridge spacing. His 17.5mm neck blank, IF NOT shaved down to size, can just barely accommodate 18mm bridges, IF the player doesn’t mind the strings a bit close to the fingerboard edge. That is the way mine is built and set up.

 

[Eilif]

How well do the handmade USA MTD hold their resale value? What would you do?

One other bit of unsolicited advice. If you feel that you've discovered your ideal specs, but your big concern is still resale value, you might want to do some more research and try more instruments.

Purely my experience, but the basses I own now are both the best instruments I've ever owned and mostly the ones least likely to fetch their price when new.

Buying used is the best way to not take a bath on resale, but the more refined and specialized you get the more you may remove yourself from the basses that are easiest to buy and sell.

That said, a used MTD is likely to hold it's value reasonably well.

 

[bucephylus]

Side show comment:
I find it interesting that Fender settled on the 18.25mm spec, while nearly all the other makers polarized at either 19mm or 17.5mm; Ken Smith being one exception at 18mm.

I’ve gigged all of the above. My only gripe about the 19mm neck calibrations is that they feel to me like aircraft carrier decks on the fingerboard for 5 or 6 string instruments. Which I CAN finger just fine. I just don’t dig the way they feel on the strap.

I think Fender got it right. Kind of surprising how few makers build in the middle where Fender is, given so much influence by Fender overall.

Peace.

 

[Standalone]

Ibanez 5's and 6's are generally 16.5, not 15.

 

[chris_b]

I spent 26 years playing a 4 string 19mm bass. The first 5 string I bought was 17mm, and I never felt comfortable. I switched back to 19mm and everything was right again. I am flexible though, I can easily deal with 18mm.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

One thing that is kind of important and missed by many is that the string spacing at the bridge and the nut are both important when we talk about string spacing in general.

As an example, my Yamaha BBG5 has a string spacing of 20mm at the bridge, but the nut is narrow. Fenders have a narrower string spacing at the bridge (18-19mm) but because they have a wider nut width, the string spacing at the playing position is about the same.

I still like to slap and dislike narrow spacing at the bridge, but like it at the nut.

One should check the spacing at the playing position really, and not at the bridge.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

The MTD reads 534-24-17 on the back of the headstock. Obviously that's short for 5 string, 24 frets and 17mm spacing at the bridge.

Well, you learn something every day! I didn't know there was an actual 17mm model. Very cool!

Personally, I have no problems switching back and forth between my 17mm G&L, 18mm Muckelroy and RGW 6, 18.25mm parts bass, 19mm Warmoth Gecko, or 19+mm Yamaha BB5000A. I used to be under the impression that bridge spacing was the magic beans that would make or break my bass playing career, as if playing the *wrong* spacing would be the difference between sweeping success and abject failure. Dramatic, I know.

But I got over that and now I hardly think about it. I just play whatever bass suits the bill at the moment.