String alignment - Lakland Skyline

It does look a bit funky, but if the strings were exactly centered at the nut, the thicker strings would be closer together than the thinner ones.

It's fine as is. It's just more visible at the third fret.

Don't sweat it.

 

Normal...leave it alone.

Riis

 

A fussy builder would put the dots slightly off centre to compensate for the differences in string diameter. But your string spacing looks right - there is no error.

 

Dots are centered. The strings are not nor are they intended to be to accommodate / compensate for the varied string gauges and spacing. This would be more acutely evident in a 5 string if the string slots were equidistant: the "crowding" among the B / E / A would hinder playability.

Good observation on your part!

Riis

 

right.

ignore the dots, what matters is the spacing from the outsides of the strings to the edges of the neck.



maybe you could loosen the neck screws and pull the neck over towards the bass side a little (and re-tighten), but not much.

 

Even with what seems like a tight pocket, it is pretty easy to move the neck enough to change this amount of alignment. this type of adjustment is as common place as adjusting your bridge.

 

It's done for a reason: that when you're shredding the bass onstage, all the wimmens down on the dance floor view it at an angle and it appears they are perfectly placed dots and you look perfect to them. We bass players need all the Jhelum we can get.

/humor.

Edit: Jhelum? LOL, should be HELP. What a strange typo. I'm leaving it.

 

I always space my slots at equal distances because your fingers press the string in the center, not the outside edges. It makes no logical sense to space them so the gap between each string is equal, and the larger gauged strings have a wider spacing than the smaller ones.

 

Love to see a pic of one one the basses you've built like this. Color me curious.

 

Its not at all uncommon. If feels more natural for your fingers to come down on equal string positions

 

Nice! Thank you!

 

i've thought about this, and you make a good argument.

it could very well just be a thing where techs space out strings with equal gaps instead of equal centers because it looks less "funny".

there's folks that tend to do the proportional notch spacing at the bridge end of teles and LPs (where that's possible) but i've always done that equal centered too, on the premise that with the distances apart and the thinness of the strings involved the picking hand is really aiming for the centers and there's no advantage to trying to factor in string thickness.

for nut spacing layout i use that stewmac tool that gradually widens the marks as you slide along, which makes it easy to get just the right overall spacing for a given nut but inherently creates wider spacing between the bigger strings. convenient and consistent.

it makes me wonder if the difference at the nut is mostly negligible either way.

 

In all fairness, I went back and looked at a handful of my fivers and found I have a mixed bag. The majority have the A string centered (per alignment with the position markers and confirmed via pocket rule). The glaring exception is the Pedulla Rapture where the A string slot is cut a full 1/16" to the right / treble side. If I hadn't been looking for it, I would never have know otherwise.

Riis