In this thread i want to propose the design idea of ultra-long scale tapping instruments, which i feel have a very exciting potential as low-tuned bass-guitar-like instruments.

I also propose this as a possible future instrument from Stick Enterprises, a sort of 'Stick Contrabass'. I feel such an instrument would be a suitable future development knowing how innovative and pioneering Stick Enterprises is.
No other tapping instrument manufacturer seems to have realised, or explored, the potential.

It was good to discover the experimental 38" scale Stick elsewhere in this forum.

Scale length of bass guitars
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Scale length is a critical specification for bass instruments. Leo Fender chose a 34" scale for bass guitar as a compromise between tone and playability, but that was for a lowest string at E1. Since then, although the more flexible roundwound strings have helped, a modern lowest string at B0 on a 34" or 35" scale has significant problems due to the stiffness of the large gauge, more specifically, the gauge relative to the scale length.

Most string sets have the low B at a lower tension than the other strings, to minimise the gauge and the issues caused by stiffness. But a low tension makes the low B rather loose and floppy. Larger mass strings inherently need more tension to support their vibration, so these standard gauge low B strings are borderline undertensioned. But more tension requires a larger gauge, which is stiffer and negatively affects tone.

Strings are limited in how flexible they can be made, so the only solution is a longer scale length, for example the Dingwall basses at 37" or the Kalium basses at 40".
This helps in 2 ways:
For the same tension, a thinner gauge can be used, increasing flexibility and therefore improving tone and sustain.
Additionally, the string effectively becomes more flexible because it is longer.

Ultra-long scale tapping instruments
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Tapping instruments use a string damper, this reduces the usable scale length by 1 or 2 frets. Many tapping instruments that use a 34" bridge to nut distance therefore have their tappable scale reduced to roughly 32" or 30", which has a very significant effect on the tonal quality of the lowest bass strings.
This is a good reason to use a longer scale, and i'm very happy to see that Stick Enterprises uses 36" as the standard bridge to nut distance, preserving a 34" scale for the lowest tappable fret.

The tapping technique creates a rich, bright, clear tone, this is ideal for very low notes.

Below i list the primary problems of ultra-long scale bass guitars and how a tapping instrument solves them:

* Reach

A bass guitar is already a very long instrument, a longer scale moves the 1st fret and the bridge, and therefore the hands, even further away from each other.
With a tapping instrument, one hand does not need to be near the bridge, so the bridge can be moved away, out of reach, to increase scale length, while also leaving the 1st fret unmoved.

* Fret spacing

A longer scale results in the frets being further apart. With a bass guitar the fretting hand has to either stretch or shift more.
A single-region tapping instrument, such as the Stick Bass, allows both hands to be present on the fretboard, which doubles the length of the fretboard covered relative to a single fretting hand.
If the tuning is kept as fourths, the scale length can be significantly increased while also making it easier to cover a particular number of frets. To cover 5 frets, the hand nearest the nut only needs to cover 2 frets, the other hand only needs to cover 3 frets.

* String availability

Most tapping instrument companies already have custom strings made for them.

An example using string 'slenderness'
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Roughly, string flexibiity can be thought of as being determined by its gauge (width) relative to its length.
It's useful to be able to put a value to flexibility, so i came up with a rough measure of string flexibility i call 'slenderness', which is scale length in inches divided by gauge in inches.

Stick Enterprises currently uses a maximum gauge string of .128 to avoid excessive stiffness and inharmonicity. The longest tappable scale is 34" so the slenderness is 34 / 0.128 = 265.63. This gives us a slenderness value to preserve.
The tension of a .128 tuned to it's lowest official pitch of Bb0 and on a 34" scale is (approximating using Kalium's tension calculator) 31lbs.

Now for example let's imagine a Stick Contrabass instrument that is 3 frets longer.
The longest tappable scale is now 34 * 2 ^ (3 / 12) = 40.433".
The bridge to nut scale is now 36 * 2 ^ (3 / 12) = 42.811".
A string preserving a slenderness of 265.63 can now be of gauge 40.433 / 265.63 = 0.152".

Now the nice surprise, this instrument doesn't play only 3 semitones lower.
A string of gauge .152 on a 40.433" scale and at roughly 31lbs will tune to (approximating using Kalium's tension calculator) F0, which is 5 semitones lower than Bb.

A Stick Bass is normally tuned from a low B0, an instrument 3 frets longer could therefore start from a low F#0 string 5 semitones lower, preserving standard bass tuning F#BEADGCF.

Interesting idea. I would however say, just as a data point, that I had a dingwall in addition to my regular Ibanez 34" scale basses, but didn't find that the 37" B string actually had a better tone than the 34". Maybe it could be said that the sustain could be longer, but I never had a sustain issue.
On the other hand, it does make the fret spacing longer at low frets, not much but enough with smaller hands. Not necessarily an issue on a B, as there aren't many fast runs on the low frets of a b, but if they were spread to all strings it might be an issue.

I would so love to have a 40+" scale length Stick, oof those super low bass notes would be mighty juicy.... Even considering the huge fret spaces I would take an ultra extended scale Stick over any other model any day.

Woodinblack,

Certainly some people find they do not prefer a 37" Dingwall over 34" or 35". I believe that is because it is not an 'all else equal' comparison. Other differences between the basses may make someone prefer the shorter scale bass. Maybe there is something about the Dingwall someone does not like, not related to scale.
Many are very impressed with the B of a Dingwall.
I'm fairly sure, all else being equal, you would notice the improvement in tone.

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The advantage of scale can be proved in an 'all else equal' test using a 5 string bass.
A shorter bass can be simulated by detuning the B by 1+ semitones, playing the B0 pitch at the corresponding fret, and then attempting to improve the tone of the B0 pitch by trying different gauges and strings.

For example to simulate a 30" bass (fret 2 on a 34" scale):

Detune the B string to A.
Play the B0 pitch at fret 2 on the string
Then try to improve the tone of that B0 at fret 2 by trying different gauges.

Because the string has been detuned by 2 semitones the tension has dropped to 79% of it's former value, and it was already near-undertensioned to start with.
Because the string is shorter relative to its gauge, its effective stiffness has increased.
Both the above result in poorer tone, sustain, intonation.

But if you try to maintain the tension by using a larger gauge (to do so would require increasing gauge from .130 to .145), stiffness is increased even further.

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Concerning large fret spacing, this is why i presented the idea as a single region tapping instrument, so that both hands are available to cover the larger distance that needs covering, 2 hands playing 1 musical line. This way even a fifths tuning could be used.
When very low notes are not being played, which will be very often, higher frets can be used which do not increase the distance that needs covering.

I do have a concern about high strings becoming overly-long. This might cause their action to be unnecessarily high or it may possibly not be good for the tone. I seem to remember some claiming that shorter high strings have a 'sweeter' tone, i have no opinion on this.
If this is a problem i propose that the nut could be 'stepped' towards the bridge by 1 fret every string, for the higher strings, reducing their scale lengths while still using parallel frets.