Posted by gibbs on 14-02-2008 05:02
#13
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Silent Fly wrote:
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themoo wrote:(...)
When Max (silentfly) ordered his moo wood King Bass he was pretty certain he wanted 19mm spacing (he has fingers like the arms of the face hugger from Alien)(...)
I have long fingers (see picture below) but I don't find the reduced scale length to be a problem - I actually like it on a king bass. The KB has an unusual balance and the shorter scale helps to mitigate the effect of shorter upper horn. For this reason, personally, I would never buy a 34” KB.
Usually, shorter scale basses have a shorter sustain but in the case of SG basses, the graphite balances out the theoretical reduced sustain. Moreover, the bendwell keeps the strings length to 34”. I believe this helps to keep the strings nicely in tension.
Regarding the 19mm vs 16.5mm string spacing, I went to SG to try both string spacing and to be honest, I was able to switch between the two without any problem. It took me only 2 minutes every time to get used to the different string spacing. I am happy I have a 19mm KB because my long fingers are slightly more comfortable with wider string spacing especially when I play fast pizzicato phrases.
Ideally, I would have liked a string spacing of 18mm but only because it would have been the same of my S2 6 strings.
Silentfly - those look like my hands ! ...I'm thinking 32" scale with 19mm spacing might be a wise choice..
As for your note about bendwell and string tension though...if my physics serves me correct, to get the same note on an open string (e.g an open E at 41.2 Hz?), you would need a lower string tension on a 32" scale than a 34" scale as it's dependent on the distance between the bridge and nut - the bendwell is past the nut so doesn;t affect the tuning of the string. I stand to be corrected of course ..but I didn;t notice the lower string tension on the 32" ...