Tapered fingerboards and widths

[RocknDrTom]

Hello all! This is my first post in a rather exciting forum. I'm considering building a 10-string tapping instrument. I've built many instruments over the years, but never tried a tapping instrument, so I'm intrigued. I want to use my left hand for bass strings and right hand for melody. I'd assume this is referred to as "crossed" versus "uncrossed."

What I'm wondering about is the fingerboard taper. Some instruments seem to have no taper, some are more narrow at the nut. What's the thinking on this? Anyone prefer untapered over the tapered? What's the advantage of no taper? Is it harder to play chord voices when the strings are further apart? Any preferred widths?

Since I'll be adding an existing guitar Roland MIDI controller to the higher pitched strings, my width at the bridge will be equivalent to "guitar string" spacing. With 10-strings, this is roughly 4 1/8 inches. This seems a bit wide for a nut, so I am considering tapering the fingerboard.
Any thoughts/preferences/suggestions?

[traktor]

Originally posted by RocknDrTom
... <snip> ... I want to use my left hand for bass strings and right hand for melody. I'd assume this is referred to as "crossed" versus "uncrossed." Actually, you could use your left hand for bass with either the standard ('crossed') or the 'uncrossed' string arrangement.

In the standard ('crossed') arrangement, the two stringsets are placed on the instrument in the location most intuitive for an existing guitar/bass player. That is, as you play the instrument, the lower bass strings are on the fretboard edge nearest your face, and the higher melody strings are on the fretboard furthest to your left.

This seems intuitively reasonable, and also it means that your right hand can be kept relatively flat and passes *over* the bass strings to fall upon the melody strings. This is rather a comfortable hand position.

Similarly, the left hand can be kept relatively 'flat' -- meaning that your forearm, back of hand, and fingers are almost in a straight line -- and the left hand fingers pass over the melody strings to fall comfortably on the bass strings. Again this is a comfortable position, and perhaps more importantly, it is (a) more healthy than a bent wrist, and (b) you have a very long reach when your hand is positioned so, because the fretboard edge nestles into the web of your thumb at the very rear of your palm, making it easy to reach completly across the (rather wide0 touch-style fretboard.

In contrast, the 'uncrossed' positioning would move the bass stringset to the (player's) left side of the instrument. This means that using left hand for bass strings finds the strings on the left side of the instrument. So the left hand plays nearer the left edge of the instrument. Reaching notes in this fashion is also easy, although you now tend to play more with the tips of your fingers and less with the flats of your fingers. In addition, you can now move your left hand all up and down the fretboard and you'll never run into your right hand, which is now playing the melody stringset on the (player's) right side of the fretboard.

Myself, and many other players, find the 'uncrossed' positioning more cramped and less comfortable to the hands. However, this might just be because I don't normally play this way. The uncrossed is also absolutely the way to go for a child with tiny hands, or if you plan to be playing all over the fretboard (which most people don't.)

Many people fear that the standard, crossed arrangement may be difficult to reach across, but with correct posture, it's quite easy. I have small hands and still can easily reach *beyond* the far side of the fretboard.

Daniel Schell wrote an excellent article about the Uncrossed string arrangement (and about Mirror tunings, which he espouses), and you can see that article in one of our newsletters here --


Crossed Hands and Uncrossed Hands (http://www.megatar.com/documents/newsletters/archive/MTN-200106.html#Article1)

[BigDaddyPoo]

I feel like the taper makes the top of the fretboard feel cramped. Also, one of the problems with tapping that I encountered when I first began was keeping fingers out of the way of ringing strings. If the distance between strings is consistent from one end of the fretboard to the other, you can become more comfortable with where you can place your fingers and where they may interfere with what your other fingers are doing on adjacent strings.

Plus there's less work in building a strait neck.:)

[GaryOpenhill]

Originally posted by RocknDrTom


What I'm wondering about is the fingerboard taper. Some instruments seem to have no taper, some are more narrow at the nut. What's the thinking on this? Anyone prefer untapered over the tapered? What's the advantage of no taper? Is it harder to play chord voices when the strings are further apart? Any preferred widths?


i prefer parallell strings (that is what is meant by untapered, right?). I don't know a good reason for me to not have the best string spacing all over the board. ALso, as said, Much easier to get use to. For those instruments that also is used to pluck the strings etc, that makes more sense.



Since I'll be adding an existing guitar Roland MIDI controller to the higher pitched strings, my width at the bridge will be equivalent to "guitar string" spacing. With 10-strings, this is roughly 4 1/8 inches. This seems a bit wide for a nut, so I am considering tapering the fingerboard.
Any thoughts/preferences/suggestions?


Hm 4 1/8 inches is about 10 cm? Thats 10mm string spacing at the nut, and maybe 11mm at the bridge? I would like that. as paralell as it can get , without beeing parallel! I'm trying to put together a 10 string, and it has 10 mm both at the nut and bridge. BrendaM's 8 string, i think have 10 mm at the nut and the bridge both, too. (or something like that)

These beatiful norwegian tappers all have parallell string: http://www.listerudbass.com/Norsk/Basser/Spesielle/Spes_stick.htm

[RocknDrTom]

Thanks Traktor, Dan, and Gary for your help. I think I'll be going with just a slight taper - 10mm at the nut, 11mm at the bridge. I'm used to playing guitar, but I have a few untapered instruments as well (lap steels, Turkish sazes, balalaikas, tamburs) so either type seems to work for me.

I've decided on a 36" scale 10-string. The majority of the wood will be maple, since it's readily available. I'll do my best to track the progress as I proceed.