Fanned fret bass neck

[Matt194]

Hi all, 

 

 

 

Apologies for the rambling, I don't know what I'm talking about and want to get the best advice possible. 

 

 

 

So I've been playing on and off for about 7 years but self taught and just playing along to stuff, and by no means am I a musician or know what I'm doing. I currently have a sterling sub Ray4 which I love, but I want to start playing prog rock/metal, metal core and just stuff with lower tunings. I'd rather not re-string and set up my bass every time I want to go between tunings so I've been looking into getting something else to have set up for this. I think the general consensus is to get a 5 string and add in a lower B string but I've heard you have to pay close attention to muting strings and a few other bits to sound alright, but I'm not very good and don't want to get frustrated/overwhelmed with something that I genuinely love doing. 

 

 

Which brings me to my possibly weird idea. I was thinking that a 4 string multiscale or fanned fret bass would allow me to reach the lower tunings without feeling too alien (I know the frets are in different places but at least there's still only 4 strings to keep track of). If I'm right, this would allow me to play a wider range of tunings with the tone sounding right and string tightness being correct and all the other benefits of fanned fret instruments. I'm also an engineer and take apart and build things all the time so naturally I'm wanting to build a bass, but the idea of cutting in the fanned frets gives me a headache despite multiple YouTube videos. I've been looking to buy the neck pre-made but can't find anything, which usually means it's a bad idea. 

 

 

I was wondering if anyone had any advice at all? Is a fanned fret a good idea? Am I better off just taking the step for a 5 string? Anyone know where I can get a neck for a decent price? I don't want to pay over the odds for it when I could just keep an eye out for a cheap second hand bass 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reaching the end of the post, any input is greatly appreciated 

[moley6knipe]

If it were me, I’d get a 5 string. Here’s a bargain: 

and spend some time getting used to muting with floating thumb, pinkie, whatever. An SR is great IMHO because they’re tight spacing.

 

I’ve got two Fender 5s, one standard, one dropped half a tone. The dropped one needed a setup even though only dropping half a tone. I’ve found common or garden D’addario XL nickels 50-130 work fine in both timings for me. If low B isn’t enough for you could eg drop all the strings a tone, but will almost certainly need to set neck relief afresh

[alyctes]

Consider restringing a four-string BEAD (bottom four strings of a five-string set).  I have a Harley Benton strung like this, it's an interesting change and needed minimal setup, and the whole thing cost me less than £150.

It might make it easier to understand what you actually want to do.

[MichaelDean]

I'm a fanned fret fan! If you want to build something go for it!

 

There are calculators you can use to create a template. then you just print it out, stick it to your fretboard, cut the slots and then you sand it off when radiusing the fretboard. 

 

https://fretboard-template.netlify.app/

[Matt194]

On 18/04/2023 at 22:11, MichaelDean said:

I'm a fanned fret fan! If you want to build something go for it!

 

There are calculators you can use to create a template. then you just print it out, stick it to your fretboard, cut the slots and then you sand it off when radiusing the fretboard. 

 

https://fretboard-template.netlify.app/

 

 

Thanks for this I'll give it a think 

[Matt194]

On 18/04/2023 at 16:57, alyctes said:

Consider restringing a four-string BEAD (bottom four strings of a five-string set).  I have a Harley Benton strung like this, it's an interesting change and needed minimal setup, and the whole thing cost me less than £150.

It might make it easier to understand what you actually want to do.

 

 

This is what I currently do with my sub4 but it's the only bass I have and it's a pain to keep switching it around and setting it up every time. I'm basically looking for another bass to have for the low setups and be able to get to drop A, C standard, D drop C or whatever crazy tunings I want to, to be able to play some metal core stuff. Which is what leads me to the fanned fret argument, especially as I'd rather stick to 4 strings because of how thin the neck is on the sub4 and how used to it I am. If money was no object I'd get a dingwall ng3 4 string, so my current idea was to try and look for a neck with a 36.25"-34" scale and put that on the body of my first bass (a terrible £80 ebay find) and replace all the electrics, new bridge etc. But I can't find anywhere to just buy a neck so I either make one from scratch and it almost definitely won't be perfect, or get one custom made which will probably cost just as much as a decent bass on its own. 

[Matt194]

On 18/04/2023 at 12:37, moley6knipe said:

If it were me, I’d get a 5 string. Here’s a bargain: 

and spend some time getting used to muting with floating thumb, pinkie, whatever. An SR is great IMHO because they’re tight spacing.

 

I’ve got two Fender 5s, one standard, one dropped half a tone. The dropped one needed a setup even though only dropping half a tone. I’ve found common or garden D’addario XL nickels 50-130 work fine in both timings for me. If low B isn’t enough for you could eg drop all the strings a tone, but will almost certainly need to set neck relief afresh

 

 

Yeah, in a perfect world I'd get a dingwall 4 string and call it a day but its probably more economical to look for a decent 5 string. Definitely a good point about the spacing though, I'm used to a thin neck on the sub4 

[moley6knipe]

Yeah - I think the SR wins here as a first fiver. Plus, they really are very good, and take mods well eg new pups (nordies fit and they’re brilliant in an SR) and the control cavity is massive. 

[velvetkevorkian]

Drop in fan-fret replacement necks aren't really a thing because you can't put them on a standard body without some serious compromises.

 

If you really want FF and are ok with doing some (potentially a lot of) work yourself you could take a punt on something from AliExpress, or there's a thread somewhere here about Gear4Music selling B-stock FF models on eBay.

[Matt194]

On 22/04/2023 at 08:19, velvetkevorkian said:

Drop in fan-fret replacement necks aren't really a thing because you can't put them on a standard body without some serious compromises.

 

If you really want FF and are ok with doing some (potentially a lot of) work yourself you could take a punt on something from AliExpress, or there's a thread somewhere here about Gear4Music selling B-stock FF models on eBay.

 

 

I thought the only things I had to do was angle the pickups and change the bridge to something like the hipshot singles? 

 

 

I was considering making a body from scratch or using the one from my first ever bass as a sacrifice, so routing out the new pickups or other modifications are not really bothering me. I'm just worried about getting the level of precision needed for the frets and the rest of the neck. 

[Gwilym]

My advice would be to find a 5string bass. Try before you buy to make sure you are happy with the B string. 35" scale may help, but not necessarily, I think the neck construction and overall setup will have more influence on how good it sounds. Getting used to playing a 5er will not take long if you persevere with it.

The only reason IMO to go for fanned fret (or longer scale) is if you're thinking of going lower than a B, and even then it may work fine on a 34/35" scale bass with "correct" gauge strings and set up.

If you definitely don't want a 5er, you can try a similar approach with a 4string bass tuned BEAD.

Either way, far less ball ache than trying to hack together a fanned fret bass with no guarantee you'll end up with something that does the job, but highly likely a lot of time and money better spent elsewhere 😁

 

[velvetkevorkian]

16 hours ago, Matt194 said:

 

I thought the only things I had to do was angle the pickups and change the bridge to something like the hipshot singles?

On most bass bodies I don't think you'd have room to move the bridges far enough back to make the fan worthwhile without seriously compromising the reach and angle of the first fret.

 

16 hours ago, Gwilym said:

Either way, far less ball ache than trying to hack together a fanned fret bass with no guarantee you'll end up with something that does the job, but highly likely a lot of time and money better spent elsewhere 😁

If you like a project for the sake of a project then go for it, but if you actually want an instrument to play on I agree with @Gwilym

[lemmywinks]

If you need to play music that requires lower notes then just move to a 5, much less faffing around in the long run. I tried to persevere as my main 4 had a drop tuner but being rather lazy I ended up just moving to a 5 permanently.

 

If you like 16.5mm at the bridge then a used SR is a safe bet, there's also usually some bargain BTBs knocking around if you want wider spacing. Sire M series and Cort C series are worth considering as well.