A new picture of the EHB1005MS inside my Mono M80 Classic Electric Guitar and a picture of my Ibanez ARZIR27FB (25" scale) inside the same bag for a slight comparison.
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NBD: Ibanez EHB1005MS Headless Multi-scale Bass
- Thread starter Aidil
- Start date
What’s it like playing chords on a fanned-fret bass like this?
I keep imagining that a straight-fretted bass would be preferable for that style of playing but I do not have any experience with the former.
I keep imagining that a straight-fretted bass would be preferable for that style of playing but I do not have any experience with the former.
You've got that right.
My first fanned fret bass is a 6er Ibanez SRFF806. A 6 string bass is obviously meant to be played for chords, one time or another. But turned out, it is harder for my fingers to form chord shapes on fanned frets than on normal parallel frets.
And that's just 1.5" spread between the low-B and G strings (or 1.9" between the low-B and high-C strings). I imagined it would be far harder on a 3" low-B to G spread, like on some other brands.
Although, there's another factor which needs to be taken into account, that is on which fret the builder puts the parallel or almost parallel fret on the entire fretboard. This parallel (or almost parallel) fret would make the slant angle of nearby frets aren't so drastic thus it's relatively easier to play chords on. Still, it's not going to make playing chords easier than on a normal parallel fretted bass.
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Ive wanted a headless for about a year I was sold on the strandberg bass and almost bought it till my computer broke and had to be replaced. Than this came out and blew me away I love the color and the neck is awesome! I don’t like 5 strings too much but I also don’t like the white four string I figure the five string would be better since I hate drop tuning and a b string would help with that. Since most places are still pre order I am taking advantage of this bass and selling off a thing or two to pay it off before it gets here when ever that will be. I’m very excited for this bass it seems to be the jack of all trades and it’s different and new which I’m all for. How is it for string changing? Anything to look out for? Also anyone try a norstand pickup change yet?
I was drooling after the Strandberg for a long time too, but it was too expensive for my wallet, so it remained a dream bass. But after I owned a Dingwall I realized I just prefer normal frets over fan-frets, so I'm no longer interested in it.
String changing for the EHB series is very straightforward (I have the EHB1505). You put the ball-end at the bridge like you do any other bass, and then you pull it through at the top, screw it tight, and cut off what you don't need.
The only downside to this system (or any headless system), is that once you cut the strings, you can only reuse them on other headless basses with a similar system. With the NS Design Radius headless basses, the ball-end is at the top, and there's a cavity in the body that you can actually just roll up the excess strings lengths and keep them in there, and don't need to cut them if you don't want to.
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So after depending on this for the last day I decided to cancel the 5 string and go for the four string I just can’t do 5 it’s not in my blood. Haha. I’m very excited about this bass tho and I’m looking into getting some kind of norstand that will for this I really don’t know about the stock ones I had a lakland with them once and hated the sound of them till I replace the pickups. Thanks for your help on string changes!
You mean Bartolini pickups which came with Lakland basses? Those most likely are the MK1 and they are used by lots of brands.
The EHBs are equipped with Bartolini BH2 pickups, which are designed by Bill Bartolini and Ibanez Engineers, so these are proprietary to Ibanez. The coil configurations are different inside the BH2 soapbar enclosures. Inside are dual coil humbucker whereas the MK1s are split reverse-P coil, thus they certainly don't sound the same.
Yesterday I took the liberty of current Covid-19 isolation time to change the factory strings of the EHB. I was looking at the stash of strings I haven't used and found a 4 string set of D'Addario NYXL 45-105 with a single NYXL 130T taper string. These are all Long Scale (37.1" winding length), thus a little short compared to the Super Long Scale (38" winding length) XL Nickel that came with the bass.
As I wrote earlier on this thread, just the Long Scale D'Addario would fit long enough and they do:
Shown on the picture D'Addario 37.1" winding length on the low-B is adequate.
Why NYXL? Don't they just sound the same as stock XL Nickel?
Yes, they do. But, they are a little bit lighter tension of which I have to loosen the truss rod and, this is the part than I'm after, they are more flexible, which is more convenience for slapping. Although, turns out they aren't as flexible as Dunlop Super Bright comparable gauge which I like very much.
As I wrote earlier on this thread, just the Long Scale D'Addario would fit long enough and they do:
Shown on the picture D'Addario 37.1" winding length on the low-B is adequate.
Why NYXL? Don't they just sound the same as stock XL Nickel?
Yes, they do. But, they are a little bit lighter tension of which I have to loosen the truss rod and, this is the part than I'm after, they are more flexible, which is more convenience for slapping. Although, turns out they aren't as flexible as Dunlop Super Bright comparable gauge which I like very much.
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Bridge side pic of D'Addario Tapered low-B 130T:
I've found when the taper isn't far from the saddle like this one, I could set the string intonation just fine.
I've found when the taper isn't far from the saddle like this one, I could set the string intonation just fine.
So now that you’ve had this bass for a few months what do you think? Mine is likely coming in shortly and after the long wait I’m having second thoughts.
Mine has been great. I've accustomed myself with the 2" fan. When I first got this, I kept having lost track of my fretting fingers' position, which had never happened with my first fanned fret bass, Ibanez SRFF806, which low-B to G fanned is only 1.5" (or 1.9" from low-B to high-C).
What second thoughts you are having?
What second thoughts you are having?
hi, i was wondering how the neck size feels compared to other ibanez? i know ibanez 4 strings had fairly small necks, is it the same for the 5? im just getting back into playing after 10 years and i really want a 5 string, unfortunately the stores around me dont really have options to try a 5 string with fanned frets. currently i have a warwick streamer LX 4 string for comparison on neck size im used to.
beautiful bass by the way!
beautiful bass by the way!
I spent about 15 minutes with one at a music shop the other day. The neck is not small, not too big either. The bridge spacing is 18mm instead of Ibanez usual 16.5mm and the Bass has more neck to accommodate it. In addition to wider it is also a little bit thicker than your average Soundgear 5. Great feeling neck. I almost left with it but I was after something else.
The EHB 5er neck is as thin as most Ibanez SR 5er neck, but it has a flatter radius, so it feels different than SR. And as mentioned by @Sid the Kid, the string spacing is wider on the EHB, so the neck is wider near the body.
Love the color! I recently wrote to them asking for a 30 inch scale 4-string version (no reply, as of yet...)
low and behold your prayers were answered for 2021
You can put regular scale length strings on them. Ibanez ships them with extra long ones, but I used the regular a D'Addario XL's on them and the fit just fine.
Exactly. Regular D'Addario's are the ones that I wrote with 37.1" winding length, including your regular XL Nickels.
Mine is now strung with regular NYXL's, which winding length is also 37.1". I've posted the picture on #90 post.
