Is string spacing more important than we think?

[Honch]

String spacing is equally important, all things tied together. I don't see any belittling of it around here. However, I think it's more important on any guitar (acoustic or electric). I know for sure that if I have to play close voiced chords on any guitar, I prefer classical nylon guitar string spacing at the nut. Also, on the contrary, blues bends, when soloing are easier if there's a slight longer distance to the adjacent string as you bend up, you'll bump into neighboring strings, and as they haven't got the tension, it's easier to bend and you can bend further without getting lactic acid in your fingers.

I think on bass, it's important as you go up to extended range instruments, above 4-5 string basses. I've seen benefits of narrows string width spacing of fanned frets basses, as those one's forces you to stretch a bit. You stretch the same as on any fretless bass (of regular one scale length, not "fanned fret" or multi scale). Since I don't think you play that much chords on any bass down there, or "up there" at the first few frets anyway, I think it's of slightly less importance on bass. Especially 4 string.

And mind you, having wider nut, and neck always comes with that the neck is heavier. You may gain sustain (how much on a bass is really really so subtle that it's neglible), and while the neck is sturdier, in terms of truss rod relief, it's also more prone to neck diving. No matter how little wood or space you have to add to accomodate wider string spacing. People with large hands, and long fingers just loves to have wider string spacing than usual, and for us with tinier hands prefer as little as possible. For me personally, I would like to think that a short scale bass on 32" or 30" would have less string spacing as well. For what purpoe I don't know! But I've rarely seen, if ever, any short scale 30" or 32" bass with WIDER string spacing both at the bridge or nut, than any "regular" 34" standard scale. I have eschewed 5 strings in all, just because of the reach around/across the neck. I felt more comfortable with a 4er tuned BEAD, and left it at that.

I think it's just such a personal thing, like action, relief, and string gauge. But those ones, the player can adjust, it's very hard to adjust the string width spacing on any bass, save for changing out the nut, but you can't go outside the necks outer limits anyway. That's the reason there are so many basses out there anyway. Any color you like. And string width. It's like this "tort" thing. Me myself still questions the notion that the nut should be narrower string spacing that of the bridge. If anything, it should be the same, and the actual neck should have a "flare" or go wider around the 12th fret, to be able to take care of any strings larger oscillation at that point, and then start to narrow down again as you go towards the bridge. Because that's the strings natural elliptical motion, it's widest in the middle. But that's just me. I don't know any manufacturer that does this.

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EDIT: When using my Tony Levin Funk Fingers, they definitely benefits from larger string spacing in all circumstances. But that's a little too niched to be demanding it on all basses, on all circumstances.

 

[MYLOWFREQ]

I played p basses an basses with p bass necks for 12 years. Then when I got my first real j bass, it was a noticeable difference. I could play with less effort at the upper neck especially when playing intricate fast parts. My hands are not necessarily small, but I have skinny fingers. So after 12 years I switched to jazz necks.

19 mm at the bridge is also what I prefer no matter if it's a 4 or 5 string. I sold my steinberger spirit 5 string because of too tight string spacing for me. And yes, I like slapping and popping, and plucking any string other than the highest one is an issue if the bass has less than 18mm string spacing at the bridge.

That's said, I agree that a player can adjust to a certain instrument. Preferences come after some experience. I would not have noticed the difference in feel between a p and a j neck when I first started playing.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

I used to think it mattered a lot. But it doesn't.

IMO, based on 30 years of experience, if you're getting tripped up on string spacing (or scale length, or number of strings, etc), you're probably subconsciously looking for excuses. If you can't make music on a particular instrument after a few minutes with it, it's not the instrument's fault. I've been down that road before; once you decide it doesn't matter, it's a whole lot easier to get down to making music.

EDIT: That's not to say you should be able to whip out all your Wooten licks on any instrument, but you can adapt to anything with a little effort.

 

[Tom Baker]

I actually believe it's LESS important than we think.

If it matters to you then it matters.

 

[RedVee]

I'd better check my string spacing. Not a clue.

 

[project_c]

I used to think it mattered a lot. But it doesn't.

IMO, based on 30 years of experience, if you're getting tripped up on string spacing (or scale length, or number of strings, etc), you're probably subconsciously looking for excuses. If you can't make music on a particular instrument after a few minutes with it, it's not the instrument's fault. I've been down that road before; once you decide it doesn't matter, it's a whole lot easier to get down to making music.

EDIT: That's not to say you should be able to whip out all your Wooten licks on any instrument, but you can adapt to anything with a little effort.

I think like so many other things, it depends on context. You can pick up almost any bass and make music, but if you're in a situation where you need to play a really fast tune full of 16th note runs, those tiny differences will have an impact. I wish I could play everything using my old P, but there's a point I can't get past on that bass, it's like it has a speed limit. It's not the fault of the bass, but more a combination of factors, the wide spacing, my small hands and probably less than perfect technique all play a part. But even with perfect technique I think there can be a limit due to physical attributes. It's like basketball - yeah short guys can be great at that game, but they'll always have to jump higher and run faster to keep up.

 

[Bob_Ross]

I can't figure out why folks think it matters.

Well, I can figure out why folks think it matters ...but I'm still not sure it matters.
I have seven different basses and not one of them has the same string spacing. I have a 6-string with super-narrow spacing (<14mm), I have a 5-string with reasonably wide (19mm) spacing, I have several that are between 17mm and 18mm, I used to own a Fender P with 20mm spacing... and, aside from not being able to slap on the <14mm one, I never even think about spacing when I pick them up and start to play. In fact, until I started frequenting TalkBass I didn't even know "string spacing" was a thing! I am way more sensitive to neck shape; but so long as my fretting hand is comfortable I seem to be able to deal with any string spacing.

 

[iTzPrime]

I used to think it mattered a lot. But it doesn't.

IMO, based on 30 years of experience, if you're getting tripped up on string spacing (or scale length, or number of strings, etc), you're probably subconsciously looking for excuses. If you can't make music on a particular instrument after a few minutes with it, it's not the instrument's fault. I've been down that road before; once you decide it doesn't matter, it's a whole lot easier to get down to making music.

EDIT: That's not to say you should be able to whip out all your Wooten licks on any instrument, but you can adapt to anything with a little effort.

No. That is just utterly wrong. I have extremly small fingers. Give me a 5 string with 19mm or a 6 string with 19mm stringspacing. It is impossible for me to play because of the physical restrictions. Same with scale lenght. I cannot play an instrument bigger with 35 inches or more. But i guess my physical limitations are just an excuse as well.

 

[Hounddog409]

I've been thinking about string spacing, and I'm surprised it doesn't come up as much as scale length and nut width. All the focus is usually on the fretting hand, but regardless of scale and nut width, the plucking hand still has to cross around 19mm on most 4 string basses, which will definitely have an impact on speed, especially if you don't have large hands or long fingers. So should we have more options when it comes to string spacing? Or are there advantages to sticking with 18-20mm? Is there a reason it has to be wider at the bridge than at the nut? I know some old basses used to have the same spacing at both ends, was there a problem with them?

I can honestly say that string spacing and nut width has never crossed my mind and probably never will.
Useless details to me.
I pick up a bass and play it. Do I like the way it sounds? is it comfortable? That's all I care about.
I have a LB70 and a 4003S. pretty different basses. but both sound great and are comfortable to me. what else is there?

I have too much to worry about in life and music - why clutter it more?

so my answer would be - nope. not important in the least to me.

 

[LanEvo]

I've seen plenty of women who can play the crap out of bass guitars ... and even upright basses.

Whatever your physical limitations, I think you can probably manage LOL

 

[inanimate_carb]

I remember when Ernie Ball said they'd offer a 19mm Stingray 5 if enough people ordered one. Only a handful did. String spacing wasn't that important in that instance.......

 

[cheechi]

the reason I play bass and not guitar is the size of strings and the spacing are way easier for me to navigate. There are certain songs if I learn on a particular bass, I can play by feel but I noticed often if I need the G string once in a song or once in a passage etc, I will reach for it and miss. Some songs you can feel are 'mostly E & A string songs', these ones I go to G for an octave and wiff it every time. But D is fine, every time. Some songs you're on the same range of frets but all over all 4 strings, I'm fine. So there's that. Don't laugh.

Playing a 5 helps a little in me being able to hit that oddball, though not without its own other challenges. I generally attack the string close to the bridge or bridge pup. 5 messes me up for spacing there while all my 4's feel generally consistent between them doing this. If a song has any slap/pop I try to play at or near the neck throughout but sometimes it's hard to remember. It doesn't feel natural to play there, so in a sense I am used to the strings being a certain distance apart at the bridge, so it matters in that regard.

 

[Honch]

I used to think it mattered a lot. But it doesn't.
.

I used to think it mattered a lot. But it doesn't.

You forgot the last two words of that last sentence: "To me"!

What's trouble and issues to me (neck diving, dead spots) is of totally "MEH" to others. Same with sting spacing. I can play faster on a short scale Mustang, Musicmaster, as well as the gauge is thinner on the strings. As well as on narrower strings spacing. I seem to be fastest on a Steinberger headless string spacing up at "the nut" ok, zero fret, then. What's comfortable and ergonomic for me is - definitely - not ergonomic and comfortable for you, or someone else. By any means. It MAY be, but chances are slim.

I've tried several instruments where I can pull off things without effort, and some basses that I have to struggle for whatever reason. The time it take to hone and woodshed it in, is gone, if I choose the bass where I had the least problems pulling things off. It's like ... buy a tractor instead of a Porsche, you'll adapt to the tractor and get away with it. Sooner or later...

"Mattered a lot" is altogether different. "A lot" is different from one person to another. I think intonation and holding up tuning matters a lot. String spacing? Not THAT lot. But it does to some extent . It all has to do with how you're physically shaped by DNA, some has long fingers, large hands and can't do anything on short scale or narrow string spacing. To others, the contrary. On guitar, for example, I have very large proplems with playing chords on narrower string spacing because fingers bumps into, and buzzes the adjacent strings when fretting. I like some more leeway. Others have actually no problem and are wondering what the **** all this is about? No matter how much I practice or adapt, my fingers can't be physically reshaped to longer or shorter ones, the fingerpads has their calluses and if I happen to inadvertently touch the adjacent strings all the time, no matter how much a hone it, then the string spacing is too narrow, and there are a lot of basses out there with wider string spacing, and narrower too. Just pick your choice.

Mind you I: , some things that people forget, but only married old geezers may detect: Have you ever noticed how your wedding ring tightens up around you finger as the years go by? Your fingers and skins on the fingerpads gets more swollen and the do not shrink with time. Even if gold is a soft metal that expands too. Fingers, always expanding in diameter, and while you could swear by a narrow spacing in your youth, it may show problems as you grow older, and your finger grows. You opt for a slightly wider string spacing and... voila... off you go, again...

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Mind you II: Too narrow string spacing, especially at the nut, will limit the leeway you have when chosing string gauges up and down to extremes ends of the gauge range. While it may be fit at the nut, to a 030-090 4 string set precisely and comfortably for you , it may have too much trouble having to reside a 050-120 set. They may bump into each other, the thickest ones. Or have way too small space between them up there at the first few frets, regardless how much you carve your nut for it. You can measure this for yourself with a caliper the difference in string spacing that occurs, betwen a 090 low E and a 110 low E, or above it. Say, trying to put a BEAD set on there with a .130 at the bottom. It WILL occupy space to the sides. More than if it was a 090, most definitely. On top of this, you must have leeway and space towards the outer edge of the fretboard and nut to accomodate heavy 050-120 set strings. Some people use this gauge today, when dropping down in tuning, and it's best to have them not protrude out at the side of the fretboard. The ends of the nut will not take it, you run out of space to carve that gauge in the nut.

How many people changes their gauges on their bass strings, I can hear you ask ? At least way too many, to be NOT bothered about string spacing! All of a sudden, on a whim, they want to bring their Squiers down to F#, and so on, and use reinforcing bars on there.

So verdict: String spacing...at which gauge?

 

[tlc1976]

I started on a 4 string. And always found it tough to do runs that climbed one string per note. Like on Your Smiling Face, that was one song I was learning at the time. (Other songs it always bothered me to be missing the lower notes.) The 16mm Ibanez solved both those issues. So when I built my 6, I just expanded the same spacing by 1 string and it was perfect.

Nut spacing for me never really was an issue on a smaller bass. A 4 string P or J spacing makes little difference. It's when you get into 5, 6, 7 strings where that spacing adds up to a neck that can be tough or impossible for some to play. I've noticed that just about every other guy's fingers look like sausages compared to mine.

 

[Yames]

I played guitar for many decades before picking up the bass to expand my tonal and rhythmic horizons. I LOVE playing bass much more than I expected to, it's been great. Fingerpicking on guitar, I switched effortlessly from electric steel string to wider nylon classical spacing without a thought. On bass, swapping between my 19mm Bongo 4 to my 16.5mm Tune Bass Maniac 5er to my 17.5mm(?) F-Bass BN-5 has me fumbling the plucking with my right hand on fast runs. My failed attempts at slapping are just a shame on all of them.

I'm surprised string spacing makes a difference on bass after the ease of switching back and forth between guitars, but it seems to. I will continue to switch between the different basses because they are all such a joy to play, and I like them too much to sell them.

The guys I jam with are surprised when I choose to play the bass rather than lead guitar, but I've learned so much about where the "meat" of the music really is - bass and drums. I tell them the rhythm section is the cake, the lead guitars are the frosting. Something I didn't appreciate as a guitarist is how much latitude I had to screw up and not be noticed, or to pause and get back to the groove. I've learned that any mistake on makes on bass is BIG. Much more demanding and fulfilling than I expected.

 

[Clark Westfield]

I had a Yamaha BB 435 river that was awesome, but couldn’t get used to the spacing from my Fender 4 string.

Loved it, but it was cramping my big goofy mitts.

Returned it after trying to love it for a full refund.

:0(

 

[msb]

I think it’s good to get accustomed to various string spacing . I don’t really have a favourite , I’ve found that with time you get used to something .
Although playing fingerstyle on a Bass VI is a real challenge …