Bass Neck Build- 12 Frets Or 22?

[Our Souls inc.]

I'm presently building a 6 string bass , tuned 1 octave lower than a guitar with octave strings on the high B and E , so its an 8 string/6 string.

My ponderance right now is : do I fret the neck past the 12th fret?

I don't plan on adventuring up too high on the FB and if I do, I can play fretless, so - besides looking odd - can anyone think of why it would be a bad idea?

I might throw in a cool inlay in the space ala Scott Ian.....

Thoughts?

[Tim37]

the only thing i can think of that might hurt you would be fretting right past the 12th fret (in the 13th fret possition) might be a little hard on the fingers since you would have the fret holding the string off the fret board.

[Our Souls inc.]

Good point. I'm using medium frets, so it isn't that tall but still .

Makes me wonder if I should thin out the fret board by a mm from nut- 12 and leave the 12- 22 range just a tad prouder/closer to the strings.

[WezV]

i did once play a bass fretted like this. fretted 1-12 and fretlines for the rest. the top end action was higher than a liked which meant having to listen and adjust fretting position a bit. I am still not sure if it was a pile of pants (english pants) or just loads of fun. my problem is that as soon as i have something like that i realise i wat to play something that uses the 13th fret and it isnt there

i also played another than was fretted on EA and fretless on DG. that was a odd one

[jeremyp]

http://www.ricktoone.com/2010/04/partial-fret-bass.html

tick toone did a partial fret. he had a 'taller' fretboard past where he stopped the frets.

Edited December 31, 2010 by jeremyp

[Our Souls inc.]

http://www.ricktoone.com/2010/04/partial-fret-bass.html

tick toone did a partial fret. he had a 'taller' fretboard past where he stopped the frets.

Thats awesome ! thanks for the link. I'm well aware of Ricks work, but I didn't know about his thoughts on the fret board. I was already on that mind-set, but as opposed to a 5th or 7th fret transition, I'm going all the way to 12. The band I'm playing bass for has no songs with upper-register bass lines, so I think it'll be o.k. I figure why install level and crown /polish 10 frets I'll likely never use?

[ihocky2]

I don't play bass, so I don't have much insight into the matter other than the fact that I think it will look pretty cool.

[Our Souls inc.]

The final decision on this is a 12 fret board with a raised area from 12 - 22. Its a multi-scale neck and its getting medium frets. I glued the board to the neck today. I'll unclamp and radius it tomorrow. pics when shes done.

[Our Souls inc.]

so... the board is all radiused... it was much easier to do the 'step up' than I thought. I put a stainless steel shim in the 13th fret slot to stop the block from going too far up the neck , hogged out the initial 'step' with a rasp and then started sanding the radius. Got the nut to the 13th nice and rounded, I check with the fret press insert to verify radius, as well as a long straight edge for flatness. after I got that finished. I started on the upraised part, which was surprisingly easy. 13th- 22nd frets are just a tad lower than the fret crown will be. I'll be using white plastic strips to mark the fret locations on the upper frets.

I'm also going to see how well my 'guide fret' setup works on a bass. So far its worked on every guitar I've attempted it on, straight string pull or not.

[Linny]

so... the board is all radiused... it was much easier to do the 'step up' than I thought. I put a stainless steel shim in the 13th fret slot to stop the block from going too far up the neck , hogged out the initial 'step' with a rasp and then started sanding the radius. Got the nut to the 13th nice and rounded, I check with the fret press insert to verify radius, as well as a long straight edge for flatness. after I got that finished. I started on the upraised part, which was surprisingly easy. 13th- 22nd frets are just a tad lower than the fret crown will be. I'll be using white plastic strips to mark the fret locations on the upper frets.

I'm also going to see how well my 'guide fret' setup works on a bass. So far its worked on every guitar I've attempted it on, straight string pull or not.

Go on show us a picture!

[Our Souls inc.]

Go on show us a picture!

will do... I'll do what I can as soon as I get the frets in.

[Our Souls inc.]

Just getting in from rehearsal tonite.... things are progressing well with the Octomen.

Here's the neck so far, no finish yet, just some darkening up and the frets r in. I'll shape it tomorrow and get better ( clearer) pics then.....