Design considerations

"Headless" Steinberger bass.

A wide variety of different options are available for the body, neck, pickups, and other features of the bass. Instruments handmade by high

ly-skilled luthiers are becoming increasingly available. Bass bodies are typically made of wood although other materials such as graphite (for example, some of the Steinberger designs) have also been used. While a wide variety of woods are suitable for use in the body, neck, and fretboard of the bass guitar - the most common type of wood used for the body is alder, for the neck is maple, and for the fretboard is rosewood. Other commonly used woods include mahogany, maple, ash, and poplar for bodies, mahogany for necks, and ebony for fretboards.

The choice of body material and shape can have a significant impact on the timbre of the completed instrument as well as on aesthetic considerations. Other design options include finishes, such as lacquer, wax and oil; flat and carved designs; Luthier-produced custom-designed instruments; headless basses, which have tuning machines in the bridge of the instrument (e.g.Steinberger and Hohner de

signs) and several artificial materials such as luthite. The use of artificial materials allows for unique production techniques such as die-casting, to produce complex body shapes.

While most basses have solid bodies, they can also include hollow chambers to increase the resonance or reduce the weight of the instrument. Some basses are built with entirely hollow bodies, which changes the tone and resonance of the instrument. Acoustic bass guitars are typically equipped with piezoelectric or magnetic pickups and amplified.

Bass guitar necks, which are longer than r

egular electric guitar necks, are generally made of maple. More exotic woods include bubinga, wenge, ovangkol, ebony and goncalo alves. Graphite or carbon fiber are used to make lightweight necksand, in some cases, entire basses.

The "long scale" necks used on Leo Fender's basses, giving a scale length (distance between nut and bridge) of 34", remain the standard for electric basses. However, 30" or "short scale" instruments, such as the Höfner Violin Bass, played by Paul McCartney, and the Fender Mustang Bass are popular, especially for players with smaller hands. While 35", 35.5" and 36" scale lengths were once only availabl

e in "boutique" instruments, in the 2000s, many manufacturers have begun offering these lengths, also called an "extra long scale." This extra long scale provides a higher string tension, which yields a more defined tone on the low "B" string of 5- and 6-stringed instruments (or detuned 4-string basses).

Fretted and fretless basses

Another design consideration for the

bass is whether to use frets on the fingerboard. On a fretted bass, the frets divide the fingerboard into semitone divisions, (as on a normal guitar). The original Fender basses had 20 frets, but modern basses may have 24 or more.

Fretless basses have a distinct sound, because the absence of frets means that the string must be pressed down directly onto the wood of the fingerboard. The string buzzes against the wood, as with the double bass, creating a "mwaah" sound. The fretless bass allows players to use the expressive devices of glissando, vibrato and microtonal intonations such as quarter tones and just intonation. Some bassists use both

fretted and fretless basses in performances, according to the type of material they are performing. While fretless basses are often associated with jazz and jazz fusion, bassists from other genres use fretless basses, such as metal bassist Steve DiGiorgio. The first fretless bass guitar was made by Bill Wyman in 1961 when he converted an inexpensive Japanese fretted bass by removing the frets. The first production fretless bass was the Ampeg AUB-1 introduced in 1966, and Fender introduced a fretless Precision Bass in 1970. In the early 1970s, fusion-jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius created his own fretless bass by removing the frets from a Fender Jazz Bass, filling the holes with wood putty, an

d coating the fretboard with epoxy resin.

Some fretless basses have "fret line" markers inlaid in the fingerboard as a guide, while others only use guide marks on the side of the neck. Tapewound (Double Bass Type) strings are sometimes used with the fretless bass so that the metal string windings will not wear down the fingerboard. Some fretless basses have fingerboards which are coated with epoxy to increase the durability of the fingerboard, enhance sustain and give a brighter tone. Although most fretless basses have four strings, five-string and six-string fretless basses are also available. Fretless basses with more than six strings are also a vailable as "boutique" or custom-made instruments.

An example of a fretless bass's fingerboard.

Strings and tuning

Main article: Bass guitar tuning

The standard design for the electric bass has four strings, tuned E, A, D and G, in fourths such that the open highest string, G, is an eleventh (an octave and a fourth) below middle C, making the tuning of all four strings the same as that of the double bass. This tuning is also the same as the standard tuning on the lower four strings on a 6-string guitar, only an octave lower. String types include all-metal strings (roundwound, flatwound, groundwound, or halfwound), metal strings with different coverings, such as tapewound and plastic-coatings. The variety of materials used in the strings gives bass players a range of tonal options.

In the 1950s, bassist often used flatwound strings with a smooth surface, which had a smooth, damped sound reminiscent of a double bass. In the 1960s and 1970s, roundwound bass strings similar to guitar strings became popular. Roundwounds have a brighter timbre with greater sustain than flatwounds. Flatwounds are still used by some bassists who want a more 'vintage' or Motown-style sound.

A number of other tuning options and bass types have been used to extend the range of the instrument. The most common are:

Note positions on a right-handed 4-string bass in standard EADG tuning.

• Four strings with alternate tunings to obtain an extended lower range.
• Five strings usually tuned B-E-A-D-G (the earliest 5 string basses were tuned E-A-D-G-C and this is still a popular tuning for jazz). Other tunings such as C-E-A-D-G are used, but this is rare. The 5th string provides a greater lower or upper range than the 4-string bass, and gives access to more notes for any given hand position.

Washburn XB600, a six string bass.

• Six strings (usually B-E-A-D-G-C, but sometimes E-A-D-G-B-E or F#-B-E-A-D-G). The 6-string bass is a 4-string bass with an additional low "B" string and a high "C" string. While much less common than 4- or 5-string basses, they are still used in Latin, jazz, and several other genres. A few players have tuned the high C down to a B (giving B-E-A-D-G-B) matching the E-A-D-G-B found on the first five strings of an acoustic or electric guitar.
• Detuners, such as the Hipshot, are mechanical devices operated by the right or left-hand thumb that allow one or more strings to be quickly detuned to a pre-set lower pitch. Hipshots are typically used to drop the "E"-string down to "D" on a four string bass.

[edit] Extended range approaches

Some bassists have used other types of basses or tuning methods to obtain an extended range or other benefits. Instrument types or tunings used for this purpose include basses with fewer than four strings (1-string bass guitars , 2-string bass guitars, 3-string bass guitars (E-A-D) ^]); alternate tunings (e.g., tenor bass ^[, piccolo bass^[, and guitar-tuned basses) and 8, 10, 12 and 15-string basses, which built on the same principle as the 12-string guitar, where the strings are grouped into "courses" tuned in unison or octaves, to be played simultaneously.

Extended Range Basses (ERBs) are basses with 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12 strings which are not doubling unisons or octaves. The 7-string bass (B-E-A-D-G-C-F) was built by luthier Michael Tobias in 1987. This custom instrument commissioned by bassist Garry Goodman was an early example of a bass with more than six single course strings. Goodman developed a special playing technique requiring seven or more strings. Conklin builds 8- and 9-string basses. The Guitarbass is a 10-string instrument with four bass strings (tuned E-A-D-G) and six guitar strings (tuned E-A-D-G-B-E). Luthier Michael Adler built the first 11-string bass in 2004 and completed the first single-course 12-string bass in 2005. Adler's 11- and 12-string instruments have the same range as a grand piano. Sub-contra basses, such as C#-F#-B-E ("C#" being at 17.32 Hz) have been created