Tuner placement?

[Dayjin39]

So I'm new to building basses, like new new. I'm getting ready to build my first bass, I have it all mapped out and pretty much ready to buy the parts and make it all come to life. It's a fretless, as that's what I greatly prefer. My biggest question is if the placement of the tuners has to be specific or does only the distance between the nut and the bridge matter? Like I said I'm very new so if I need to elaborate more then I will try my best, but any answer will be greatly appreciated.

 

[miziomix]

As a basic rule, tuners have to be arranged in a way that each is aligned to its respective string. Some headstock design forces the string I don't like but some do so I guess it's you call. Then you have to consider the space needed for the tuners to turn without getting into each other way and allocate enough space for the tuner mount/screws. Take into account also headstock shape and whether it is straight or tilted back and you'll see why there aren't many options out there. have fun!

 

[Manton Customs]

Something to watch out for is to make sure none of the strings get interrupted by a different tuner. So it's helpful to draw in the string paths when drawing up your headstock. This also ensures you get your strings going straight to the tuner (if that's what you want). Though remember the string will not travel to the center of the post, but off to the side it is wound on.

The distance between the tuners or distance from nut to first tuner is not crucial (in that it varies), you might want to look at one of your existing basses for a ballpark figure. I believe Fender for example have approx 40 mm from nut to middle of first tuner and between each tuner.