Quote:
Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker
Well, it all depends on the bass, doesn't it? Ken's bass is a cornerless model with sloping shoulders, already easy to reach around into TP, so I don't think he necessarily needs a higher overstand.
My cornerless has 30mm and it's perfectly adequate. any more and it would start to look odd ...
Having said that, its good to start with a deeper overstand. You can always reduce it when fitting the mortise.
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It's not just the overstand Matt. In order to achieve the desired Bridge height, you will have to pitch the neck more in angle to the Top with a lower overstand. My Gilkes had about 13mm when I got it and no one complained about that for 50 years. I was on my Toes trying the reach the harmonics at the end of the fingerboard. Also, the tension feels better now with the increased overstand and decreased angle to the Top.
I guess a player can notice this best when he has had a bass for awhile, gotten used to it, had it modified and then compares the difference of before and after. In making the bass new and just picking a singe design of overstand and bridge height, there is no comparison to the playability not having tried it with other measurements.
Therefore, playing basses before and after modification is the best way in my opinion to form judgment on this subject. Not being the Luthier that does the job has no smaller amount of awareness than the the player that lives with the results. Actually, the player might notice the changes even most being more familiar with the bass overall than the Luthier.
As you may know I have a fine old Cornerless bass and regardless of the shoulders, the larger overstand makes it easier to play the upper positions. I played the Pulcinella suite and solo within days of purchasing the attr. Storioni and that is moving from a 41" string length to over 44". If not for the combined ease of playability (and my love for the sound of this bass despite the finger stretch) I would not have been able to use this Bass in concert at 44". Actually, prior to bringing it in for restoration I used it for several concerts. If the Bass had a workable c-extension then I might have used it one all of my concerts but the condition of the bass was not getting any better so I retired the bass to Arnold's shop until it's fully repaired and modified with a shorter string length.