STRING SPACING FOR 4 STRING

[Thunderpaws]

Hello,

I am building my first bass and am about to position my machine head holes and tackle the nut.

Anyone got good knowledge on how to calculate string spacing for a 4 string with nut width 41.5 mm? Strings 45, 65, 80, 100.

I have a book but it just talks about 6 string guitars.

Cheers,

Garry

[7string]

You can work it out on string centres.

Put the outside strings where you want them and make a pencil marks on both sides of both strings. Measure from the middle of one set of marks to the middle of the other. Divide that measurement by 3 and that'll give you the centres of the other strings. You can then use a compass to pinpoint the centres across the nut.

The problem with this method is that the thicker strings will be nearer together than the narrower strings. Put a piece of white paper underneath the strings at the fretboard side and adjust it by eye. If you can compare your nut to another bass that will help you get the string spacing spot on as well.

The exact way is to use proportional spacing where each string centre is 0.004" further away from the adjacent one. People have been doing string spacing by centres and then adjusting by eye, so don't worry about that too much.

[Prosebass]

Have a look at these sites

[url="http://www.fretfind.ekips.org/index.php"]Fretfind[/url] with this you can print out the string set-up from the nut to bridge with all the variables, its a godsend .

[url="http://www.liutaiomottola.com/"]Luitaio Mottola[/url] Lots of useful stuff here.

[url="http://www.guitarnotes.com/links/rgoto.cgi?query=5541&sort=proportional&title=Proportional+Nut+Spacing+Rule&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.frets.com%2FFRETSPages%2FLuthier%2FTools%2FNutRule%2Fnutrule.html&rank=2.0&rnum=0"]Proportional Nut Spacing [/url] This will be helpful to you also.

I have done both proportional spacing (which looks wrong to me) and simple 10mm centre to centre which in reality on a 4 string bass with a nut width of 39 - 42 mm is fine and simple to achieve. If you go less than 39mm nut width with a narrow neck ( less than 3mm from the outside of the E and G strings to the fingerboard edge ) I would use proportional otherwise the E and A strings will be a little close together.

Paul

[Thunderpaws]

[quote name='Prosebass' post='849091' date='May 27 2010, 01:24 AM']Have a look at these sites

[url="http://www.fretfind.ekips.org/index.php"]Fretfind[/url] with this you can print out the string set-up from the nut to bridge with all the variables, its a godsend .

[url="http://www.liutaiomottola.com/"]Luitaio Mottola[/url] Lots of useful stuff here.

[url="http://www.guitarnotes.com/links/rgoto.cgi?query=5541&sort=proportional&title=Proportional+Nut+Spacing+Rule&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.frets.com%2FFRETSPages%2FLuthier%2FTools%2FNutRule%2Fnutrule.html&rank=2.0&rnum=0"]Proportional Nut Spacing [/url] This will be helpful to you also.

I have done both proportional spacing (which looks wrong to me) and simple 10mm centre to centre which in reality on a 4 string bass with a nut width of 39 - 42 mm is fine and simple to achieve. If you go less than 39mm nut width with a narrow neck ( less than 3mm from the outside of the E and G strings to the fingerboard edge ) I would use proportional otherwise the E and A strings will be a little close together.

Paul[/quote]


Thanks for the info, will check it out. Just about to upload a photo or two to my build diary, cut the neck profile today!