21, 22 or 24 frets?

[AndyTravis]

21 should be the standard...open e lowest note on a standard tuned 4 string, top E on the G string at 21st.

22 seems pointless...

24 I get.

only thing I don’t like about my jazz is 20 frets.

[therealting]

1 hour ago, AndyTravis said:

22 seems pointless...

22 can be fitted on a standard neck with just a short fingerboard overhang, so you can retrofit it to the usual bodies. 

[AndyTravis]

7 minutes ago, therealting said:

22 can be fitted on a standard neck with just a short fingerboard overhang, so you can retrofit it to the usual bodies. 

Quite common to see 21 as an overhang on fender types. My Farida has that

[therealting]

13 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

Quite common to see 21 as an overhang on fender types. My Farida has that

Exactly, and the same can be done for 22. I know F is less common as a useful note for rock etc, but if you play jazz, big band etc then F is a pretty useful note. Certainly more so than F#.

[BigRedX]

It's all very much down to what you play.

Most of the time 19 would be fine as if I'm playing tune and drone on a pair of strings it gets the tune string 2 octaves above the drone string.

If I was going to use any more it would have to be 24 frets.

[Stub Mandrel]

I suspect 20 frets was originally chosen because it allows you to play a full major or minor scale in all keys in two different octaves.

Neil

[mikeycrikey]

Prefer 21. I have 24 fret SR500 and i can comfortably play that too. I dont like switching between them during a gig as i tend to make mistakes mid song.

So for me happy with either but dont like mixing them around.

[EliasMooseblaster]

I make do with what I'm given; for someone who spends a lot of time up the "dusty end" of the neck, I only ever owned a couple of 24-fretters in my lifetime. At least, I assume my Shuker is a 24...is kind of hard to count as it's fretless!

It's a little irksome that Fenders (and most copies), and indeed Thunderbirds, stop at 20 - but it's not as if there are many occasions where I need to run all the way from bottom E to top E. I seem to remember both my Schecter and my Epi EB-3 stop at 22 - whilst it's nice to have access to a top E and F, it's not like their services are required that routinely...those routinely soloing in D minor may beg to differ.

[AngelDeVille]

I am taking to getting necks made for my project guitars, I am ordering the 21 fret fender style because I like the overhang.

On a mudbucker equipped Pbass, I had to trim it back a bit to clear the pickup.

Makes neck adjustments harder too, but I think it looks cooler.

I don't need more than 5 frets unless I'm noodling.

I have a couple 24+ fret git-basses too.

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by AngelDeVille

[HazBeen]

On 19/12/2019 at 15:20, fretmeister said:

My Zon Hyperbass had a 3 octave neck - fretless of course, but the equivalent of 36 frets.

Show off

[HazBeen]

I like 21 at minimum, 24 also fine or anything in between. On 20 fret basses back in the day I added a little block of wood so I could at least reach a (fretless) E.

[drTStingray]

20 hours ago, EssentialTension said:

I find it's rare for nine frets not to be enough.

You've clearly never had to play Sir Duke in its original key!! Until I played that song I could not see any sense in Fender basses having 20 frets!! The unison riff uses the top note (played brilliantly by Nate Watts - Precison through an Alembic pre amp). 

Top E flat is an unusual top note choice, particular since guitar-based music is often in E and A. Of course, the standard Fender scale was introduced way before guitar based music had taken over from keyboard or brass based music, they are that old!!! 😧

E flat is useful for the afore mentioned song, and a number of other Stevie Wonder songs. 

Of course, the Fender does also permit playing a high F7 triad or slid double stop, if you're so inclined. 

The 22 fret Sterlings, Stingray 5s (and now Stingray Specials) can be useful dependent on the key you're playing in - the Stingray with 21 seemed perfect to me in 1979 or so, especially play songs in E. I've always found the Bongo 5 with 24 frets a little more tricky - probably because of playing it less often - I find I can get a bit confused exactly where I am when playing above 12th/14th fret - as I say - entirely my fault - lack of practice. I'm sure 24 frets is great for soloing as well. 😬👍

Edited December 20, 2019 by drTStingray

[EssentialTension]

On 20/12/2019 at 15:56, drTStingray said:

You've clearly never had to play Sir Duke in its original key!! Until I played that song I could not see any sense in Fender basses having 20 frets!! The unison riff uses the top note (played brilliantly by Nate Watts - Precison through an Alembic pre amp). 

Top E flat is an unusual top note choice, particular since guitar-based music is often in E and A. Of course, the standard Fender scale was introduced way before guitar based music had taken over from keyboard or brass based music, they are that old!!! 😧

E flat is useful for the afore mentioned song, and a number of other Stevie Wonder songs. 

Of course, the Fender does also permit playing a high F7 triad or slid double stop, if you're so inclined. 

The 22 fret Sterlings, Stingray 5s (and now Stingray Specials) can be useful dependent on the key you're playing in - the Stingray with 21 seemed perfect to me in 1979 or so, especially play songs in E. I've always found the Bongo 5 with 24 frets a little more tricky - probably because of playing it less often - I find I can get a bit confused exactly where I am when playing above 12th/14th fret - as I say - entirely my fault - lack of practice. I'm sure 24 frets is great for soloing as well. 😬👍

I only said that I rarely needed more than nine frets.

[Lfalex v1.1]

On 19/12/2019 at 16:07, Rich said:

24 as a preference, but I do like at least 21. One of the few things that annoys me about my Sire V7 is that they stuck too closely to the J-bass recipe, and gave it a 20 fret neck. I have never understood why Leo designed them like that... what the hell is the point of a range of E to E^b..??

Just cheat and bend the G string up that last semi-tone! 

[ambient]

It depends entirely on what you do. I mostly play solo, so for me 24 frets.

[drTStingray]

On 22 December 2019 at 20:17, EssentialTension said:

I only said that I rarely needed more than nine frets.

Haha!! This is true and Im sorry, i misread what you'd said!! 😀

I have to say Sir Duke is the ONLY tine I've needed to use top Eb - although the same player uses the top Db slid as part of an almost double stop upper part of Eb7 in I Wish (Jazz through an Alembic studio pre amp). 

[4000]

I use the whole neck. Give me 20 and I’ll use ‘em. Give me 24, I’ll use them. I couldn’t really use less than 20 as much of the stuff I play is up the dusty end. 

[drTStingray]

36 minutes ago, 4000 said:

I use the whole neck. Give me 20 and I’ll use ‘em. Give me 24, I’ll use them. I couldn’t really use less than 20 as much of the stuff I play is up the dusty end. 

This is refreshing to hear. A 5 string is very useful for that - I once watched in awe Dave Marks playing jazz solos on a Stingray 5. 

Edited December 28, 2019 by drTStingray

[Hellzero]

On 20/12/2019 at 16:45, HazBeen said:

Show off

What about an 8 strings ERB with 25 frets and an 8 strings ERB fretless with 32 positions ?

Supreme show-off ? 

[drTStingray]

Fender once thought it was a good idea to produce a bass with 15 frets and a high C string. And what a bizarre, peculiar shaped instrument that was - longer than a P bass but much shorter neck. As a rare as rocking horse s@@t bass that is, I count myself blessed to have encountered one brand new in a shop around 1970 when I went to try out a new Precision (had the late 60s TV headstock). Needless to say I didn't play the bass V!!! 

Edited December 28, 2019 by drTStingray

[4000]

1 hour ago, drTStingray said:

This is refreshing to hear. A 5 string is very useful for that - I once watched in awe Dave Marks playing jazz solos on a Stingray 5. 

I’ve used & owned 5s and 6s, but I don’t like the tonality of playing across the neck the same as moving up it. But I mainly use Rics and they sing out as you go up the neck in a way that few others basses do. I hate it when you go up or across the neck and the tone gets weaker or thinner. 

[therealting]

1 hour ago, 4000 said:

I’ve used & owned 5s and 6s, but I don’t like the tonality of playing across the neck the same as moving up it. But I mainly use Rics and they sing out as you go up the neck in a way that few others basses do. I hate it when you go up or across the neck and the tone gets weaker or thinner. 

I prefer the evenness of tone that I get with fanned frets for this reason.