String spacing on semi DIY

[Fredrik]

Hi, I'm currently in the developing stage of a touch instrument for private use and have come to the issue of different string spacings. The luthier I'm using is milling a custom bridge so any spacing is available. Im also having custom build pickups, so the spacing is purely down to functionality.

And there lies the challenge; I want to be able to pluck and strum this instrument as well as tap it, with the main focus on tapping ( I'm also a bass player and would like to lay down some lines). So, (a) what spacing at the nut is most practical for tapping, (b) will it be to wide with 17 mm spacing at the bridge (standard 5 str bass spacing)? My main concern is that tapping will be difficult at the high notes when the string spacing is relatively wide. I've done some research and found that the NS/Stick uses something around 11-12 mm at the bridge, but isn't that a bit narrow for fingerstyle playing?


Any thoughts people??

Fredrik

[Fredrik]

Forgot to tell that I'm having a 34" scale with 8 strings...

[rockola]

There are plenty of people tapping on 5-string basses, so there's no fundamental problem with having 17 mm at the bridge. While dedicated tap guitars often have the same spacing both at the nut and at the bridge, you probably don't want to do that with 17 mm... I don't know if you've tried tapping on a 5-string bass, if you have, then you should know if it fits you (just add 3 strings), if you haven't, I think you should try that before you commit to a custom instrument.

Perhaps the website of Conklin Guitars (http://www.conklinguitars.com/) could be an inspiration to you. They have multi-string instruments that are closer to traditional basses than any of the dedicated tap guitars out there, yet they are used also by tappers.

[Fredrik]

Actually, I used to tap on my old 5 string basses, and that suited me just fine come to think of it :-)
I've never understood why touch instruments have paralell strings thogh. When the frets gets narrower the spacing gets wider (on conventional instruments), thus providing more space for the chords. Seems logic to me.

[motormind]

Originally posted by Fredrik
Actually, I used to tap on my old 5 string basses, and that suited me just fine come to think of it :-)
I've never understood why touch instruments have paralell strings thogh. When the frets gets narrower the spacing gets wider (on conventional instruments), thus providing more space for the chords. Seems logic to me.

Indeed. I have a 12-string Shamray touch guitar that has this. I find that it is much easier to play stuff up high on the neck. The only problem is that the neck gets quite wide, which poses a problem even if you have large hands (like me). I solved this by using an uncrossed tuning - basically it's the matched reciprocal tuning, with the bass and melody sides swapped around. This works extremely well for my purposes.

[Fredrik]

Maybe you could post a pic of your instrument on the gallery pages? Would be cool to se it. I've decided to use 8 mm spacing at the nut, and 13 mm spacing at the bridge on my custom 8 string design, a bit wider than a guitar and narrower than a typical bass spacing.

Fredrik

[motormind]

Originally posted by Fredrik
Maybe you could post a pic of your instrument on the gallery pages? Would be cool to se it.


Where would that gallery be?


I've decided to use 8 mm spacing at the nut, and 13 mm spacing at the bridge on my custom 8 string design, a bit wider than a guitar and narrower than a typical bass spacing.


Sounds cool. That way you could even try to use a LightWave pick-up, although 18 mm would be a tad unwieldy with 12 strings, I reckon.

[James]

Originally posted by Fredrik
Maybe you could post a pic of your instrument on the gallery pages? Would be cool to see it.
Originally posted by motormind
Where would that gallery be?



That's odd. Are you sure you can't see the three gallery forums? every user should be able to but I'll check again