Famous luthiers about headless, chambered and custom basses

[Downunderwonder]

23 minutes ago, DTB said:

I think when you fret a note you are just taking up the slack (all be it a small amount)

There is no slack, it's under tension! Nominally the string is in a straight line between nut and bridge, only nominally because we are ignoring gravity effects. For it to be bent to contact the fret it has to be physically longer and for it to be longer it must stretch and for it to be stretched it must be at more tension than when it was straight. The deviation from straight is small so the increase in tension is also small, but it is inescapable.

 

The force that is required to push the string over to the fret is amplified manyfold in the increased string tension, by the ratio of the string length to the deflection.

[mario_buoninfante]

7 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

You would buy into it too if your livelihood depended in large part on upcharging for exotic timbers.

 

 

[40hz]

8 hours ago, Downunderwonder said:

You would buy into it too if your livelihood depended in large part on upcharging for exotic timbers.

Read the end of my comment. I did say that.

[3below]

If I still had access to a lab  I would be well up for measuring the effects that string length etc beyond the bridge and nut have on the deflection force required to pluck (or bend) a given string.  The first approximation formula t = 4dT / L  (t : deflection force, d : deflection, T : string tension and L : scale length) does not account for any movement beyond the fixed points (bridge, nut).  Experimental measurement seems the way forward to get some answers.   Some quick 'testing' by playing the G string hard and feeling for any string movement at the nut or beyond it suggests that the effects will be very small if any.

Edited January 19, 2023 by 3below

[lidl e]

I have an old steinberger XP that i pull out from time to time.

Sounds great, plays incredible, but i always end up playing two frets too high as my muscle memory keeps thinking there is a headstock so like on the E string,  i think i'm playing G but i hit A

[Downunderwonder]

7 hours ago, 40hz said:

Read the end of my comment. I did say that.

Actually that was in a subsequent comment that I missed.

[DTB]

On 19/01/2023 at 06:52, Downunderwonder said:

There is no slack, it's under tension! Nominally the string is in a straight line between nut and bridge, only nominally because we are ignoring gravity effects. For it to be bent to contact the fret it has to be physically longer and for it to be longer it must stretch and for it to be stretched it must be at more tension than when it was straight. The deviation from straight is small so the increase in tension is also small, but it is inescapable.

 

The force that is required to push the string over to the fret is amplified manyfold in the increased string tension, by the ratio of the string length to the deflection.

I’m on strong pain killers for my arthritis. Sometimes I say stupid things as a result.