Question about string distance from string to body between neck and neck pickup

[funkyjimbob]

Hi,
This is something I have struggled to find a lot of information about online because either I'm a werido and found this aspect of playing basses important (and no-one else does) or I haven't found the accurate lexicon to search for further information on this subject.

I have two Warwick custom shop basses at the moment, an Infinity Buckeye Burl 5 string and a Streamer Stage 1 5 string. They are both setup with very flat necks and low action and light-gauge strings. The string height on the Infinity from the string to the body, between the neck pickup and the end of the neck is very low, maybe just over 1cm behind the strings. I find this great as I do lots of percussive work and when double thumping and what not my thumb doesn't tend to get stuck under the strings as there isn't enough distance behind them for my thumb to actually get stuck. When I bought the Streamer the height under the strings was a lot higher so I had a custom ramp made to bring it up to the same height as the Infinity as I found just playing the bass without it my fingers got stuck behind the strings a lot. I find this distance varies greatly from bass to bass and was just interested to see if anyone else finds this particular aspect of a bass important when playing them. I suppose I could just 'man-up' and get used to the varying string heights between basses but I wanted to make it as seamless as possible . I will add this isn't referring to the string height over the frets (which is obviously adjusted by saddle height and relief) but the distance from the strings to the body. Jsut to clarify.

I am going to be looking for a jazz or precision style bass to add to the arsenal soon but ever Fender I have tried seems to have a fair old distance / height behind the strings. I was wondering if anyone had any experience of jazzes or p-basses that had smaller distance before I have to go and desecrate yet another bass with a ramp...


I hope this makes sense!

Edited March 9, 2017 by funkyjimbob

[Manton Customs]

This distance is dictated by the basses neck angle. A Fender style bass has zero or very close to zero angle, unless shimmed. So there will be a gap roughly the height of the bridge between strings and body.

[bassjim]

I think its important to you if you feel the difference. I've been playing the same bass for years now. Over time I've adjusted the pickup heights to the point that I have quite a distance between the PU and the string especially over the back pick up.
When I tried out a new bass the PUs were very close to the string and I found that really difficult to do my thing as per normal.
This works for me 100% but other players want it the other way round and some think the out put isn't going to work as well. My playing has adapted over time without me noticing it and now this is how I like my Jazz bass set up.

If its unique to you then that's just the way you like it. Nothing wrong with that at all. We are all individual after all.