falling_in2_infinity

I thought I'd add some comments about this bass, as people might be interested. Received it the other day, after it being on order for months... My history with Bongos: I've owned a 5-string HS 2008 model, a 6-string HH 2009-ish, and I currently own a 5-string 2019. I prefer the 2019, mostly for the lightweight tuners and other subtle improvements. I actually started playing Bongos because of the ergonomics: Several things about their design have significantly reduced wrist and shoulder pain when playing. To some extent, it combined some elements of the tonal power of my old G&L basses, with the lighter weight and 24-frets of my Ibanez SR Premiums. Two things I really don't like about Bongos (5's, especially): The close proximity of the G-string to the edge of the fretboard (I made my own nut to slightly improve this). Yes, technique obviously can mitigate this, too. The lower 'horn' digs into my thigh, and is quite painful to play seated. I tend to put a leather strap between bass and leg when I practice, to mitigate this. Everything below assumes you already appreciate the Bongo, both in terms of sound and aesthetics... Why did I consider this Sterling Bongo? Mostly just curiosity. Plus, I do want a lightweight and ergonomic 34-inch, 5-string bass that I could just leave set up with a high action, as a different option to my main Bongo. Initial impressions: It certainly looks like a Bongo. It weighs around the same. The paint quality is ok, but feels a bit cheap to touch The same is true of the neck, although I've never been a big fan of the feel of roasted maple. The frets are poorly finished at the ends, with sharp bits that have already sliced my hand. However, the frets also aren't rolled quite as much as my 2018 US model, which makes the G-string feel further away from the edge of the fret (there's more actual fret under the string, as it were). Talking of things that are actually better than the USA Bongo, the lower horn doesn't dig into my thigh as much, because it's not rounded to a point, which spreads the weight out just a little more: Note, the same is also true of the headstock, where they've not really bothered rounding-off the edges of the 'point'. This means that not only is is still highly susceptible to damage, it's now usable as a weapon. Moving on... The neck dives like Tom Daley with an anvil tied to his ankles. I've had the machine heads off, and they weigh around 90g each. For me, it would be essential to reduce the overall headstock weight by around 140g, which I could easily achieve using lighter hardware. This would improve the balance and significantly reduce dive. The sound is quite disappointing (as expected). The lack of Bongo pickups, and the 4-band EQ, both result in this being a very different sounding instrument. Unfortunately, not only does it sound different, it also sounds quite cheap, and reminds me of a pretty nasty Traben bass I had once. I've not played any other Sterling models, but I understand the pickups and preamp are standard on some Sterling Ray models, so YMMV. The overall feel of the bass is just a little feeble. It might just be the tonal issues playing with my head, but I'll swear that it doesn't feel as nice under my hands. The frets and fretboard both feel a bit cheap under my fingers. This all around reminds me a lot of the impressions I got from the Strandberg Boden Prog that I tried a few years ago... a somewhat feeble and gutless instrument, of questionable build quality and playing feel. At least this Bongo is only £999, although I reckon any Ibanez or Yamaha of similar price would be a better overall package. In all, I think it's the kind of thing you should only buy if you really love the Bongo shape, but don't care about how it sounds or feels to play (this seems slightly counterintuitive to me, as many people hate the look but like the sound). I'm left wondering if I should return it, or if investing around £700 in improved hardware and electronics would make enough of a difference. £1700 is around what I paid for my USA model on Reverb, but they don't come up very often! I hope this was all helpful to someone. The headstock point:

Trouble is, I'm getting more curious the more I think about it. I suppose at least I know that all my basses are 9mm evenly-spaced c-c, and that I'm happy with that particular configuration. I do wonder if sometimes when I've tried a bass and it's felt odd under the hand, if it maybe had an irregular nut spacing.

For completeness: Sandberg California TM2 5-string. Zero fret, ~9mm c-c spacing: Spector NS Pulse II, ~9mm c-c spacing. I also measured my Ibanez SR505F, and it's the same... But no photo because it's in a mess. 🤣😥

Yep, I concur with this. The stewmac page has a focus on guitars, and those differences would definitely be too small for my fingers to notice. Maybe that's why I'm a bass player. 😁

OG Bongo 5 nut (~9.5mm centre-centre): Steinberger spirit (the zero-fret has string grooves, so determines the ~9mm c-c spacing):

I agree. Interesting, and I've created a thread for further discussion about nut string spacings. 🙂

That's pretty much my experience of every bass I've owned! 🙂 My Bongo 6 was just like in your photos.

Apologies. I've re-written it in an attempt to add clarity - but yes, your summary is correct. I'd never thought about it either. It just made me curious about others' experiences.

As you say, chord playing on guitars might be a thing. I'll ask my friend, who is a luthier.

TLDR: I thought string spacing at the nut was always set evenly, based on the distance between string centres. Seemingly this isn't always the case. I was wondering what others' experiences where of this? In reply to another topic on here, user @PaulThePlug suggested that not all bass (and guitar) nuts have even string spacing, with respect to string centre-centre measurements. This is backed-up by this stewmac page: https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/types-of-tools/straightedges/string-spacing-rule-6282e9ad/ I wonder what other players' experience of this is? Personally (as I've suggested to @PaulThePlug), the argument given on the stewmac page doesn't make immediate sense to me (YMMV). Spacing at the nut will mostly affect the fretting hand and I tend to fret the top of the strings (which is necessarily the centre of the string), so I think it would feel more natural if all the strings were evenly spaced centre-centre. I think all my basses are set up with centre-centre nut spacing (my MM Bongo, Ibanez SR, and Steinberger Spirit certainly are)... I need to check my Sandberg and Spectors. However, it got me thinking about my plucking hand, and bridge spacing. As many plucking/picking techniques strike the edge of the string (to some extent), perhaps the bridge spacing should be evenly spaced edge-edge rather than centre-centre. I wonder if this would especially improve picking accuracy for new players.

Interesting! I'd be keen to try a bass which has a nut with this approach. Perhaps I could design a new nut and print it. For me, the wording on the stewmac page doesn't make immediate sense. I tend to fret the top of the string, which is necessarily the centre... so it would seem to me to be sensible for all the string centres to be evenly spaced, rather than the gaps between string edges. However, I can see a benefit to this approach at the bridge, to benefit the picking hand (which for many techniques tends to strike more of the side of the string). When playing with a pick, I guess I'm constantly having to adjust the distance of the strokes, depending what string I'm playing.

The pics I currently have are in the video. I'd be interested to know if all basses measure the nut spacing centre-centre. All of my basses are done this way, but I have heard that maybe some vintage basses have an equal spacing between strings, rather than centres. Either way, the standard nut spacing on the Bongo 5 is approaching 9.5mm centre-centre, and my new nut design has 9mm spacing.

That's an interesting idea - I'd be keen to hear how that sounds! Yeah, the photo might make it look a bit worse, but the string was essentially aligned over the fret roll-off, which meant that any slight pulling-down of the string was a recipe for disaster... especially around the 12th fret, where there is more play in the string. Everyone tells me this is normal for Bongo and Stingray 5's. No local stores had any stock for me to compare. All I know for sure is that the C on my Bongo 6 was well inboard of the fret edge, and I never had an issue. Admittedly, I probably spend a lot more time on the G than I did on the C... hence I was able to switch to a 5 without feeling like I was losing out.

As I've mentioned previously, my January switch from a Bongo 6 to a 5 left me frustrated by the proximity of the G string to the edge of the neck (or, more significantly, too close to the edge of the frets).* For me, this causes a lot of slipped-strings when fretting. A lot of people say you can get around this through better technique, but none of my other basses suffer this issue and my technique is well honed now.** As such, I decided to design a new nut, which I 3D-printed in PLA to do some tests. Moving the G-string inboard approximately 1.5mm has made a massive difference to playability, and actually the at-nut spacing is now similar to my other basses. I've been surprised that the PLA actually sounds ok. Barely distinguishable from the OG nut, by my ears. This video is just a sample of me playing the open strings, and some 12th fret harmonics. For anyone interested, see the attached vid for reference recordings (mostly open strings, plus some 12th-fret harmonics. Cheers! Youtube video * - Oddly, even though everyone says this is a common issue, the previous late-00's Bongo 5 I owned wasn't this bad. I tried a few (but not this one) in stores over the years, and also never noticed it being so bad. ** - Yes, it's probably poor technique. I just don't want to change it, so please don't post negative comments about this.