Hi,
i love Ned S., but have a question about the nut and bridge screws on the NS stick. Since the screws touches the strings from the side, doesnt that make the strings placement on the fretbopard very uneven an not unprecise?? The center of the string would autmoaticly move according to string thickness if one choose to change gauge or tuning. In addition, in the nut side all the strings touches the nut from the same side, but on the bridge side half of them are from the left and the other half from the right. That should make some of the strings not totally parallell in relation to the others. Im sure im missing something techincal, which is why im asking.

All Sticks sound best with SE strings, period. Using other stings is not really worth messing with.

That said, there is a standard set of NS strings which I think SE calls "heavy" gauge
It goes from like a .125 to an .011, and drops in gauge quicker than most bass string sets.
For what the NS was designed for it is a perfect- compromise.

So yes, you are correct, there is no string spacing adjustment on the bridge and nut. If you used other (non SE) strings with different tapers or gauges it would mess with your string spacing.

Hope this helps.

Lee

thanks mate. That is good to know! A little shocking too me, specially since its advertised that any tuning will work, but i suspect the design in general is so good that it outweighs this thing.

I doubt any change in string thickness could noticeably affect the string spacing.

I mean - when your talking the largest string being a 0.130 and the smallest string being -a what - 0.01? That's a grand total difference of .129 INCHES.
Or about the thickness of 2 thumbnails.

I don't see how you could possibly tell the difference, let alone have it affect your playing.

Randy

Randy, I looked at it again, and you are right.

The Bass strings on an NS are a fairly tight spacing for fingerstyle or slapping.
Fender=19mm, Narrow Hipshot "A"=16mm, NS Bass=14mm, NS Melody=11mm

You could make it even tighter if you used mixed bass strings with different tapers (like a .130 on top with almost no taper near the ball, and a .100 next to it that tapers to a single strand near the ball).

Most string sets are well balanced, and you would really have to work at it to screw the spacing up royally.

Other Bass bridges like the Hioshot "A" bridge do let you adjust the string spacing a little.

Lee

The NS is different from other Sticks in that it's not designed to have a different "progression" of strings (inverted, in part or in whole) because of the way the nut is spaced.

The spacing at the bridge is different for the low and high strings. The thinner strings are actually closer together at the bridge, which makes it more like guitar, and the thicker strings are more like bass.

I don't think there's another tapping instrument out there that has this feature, which, together with the defeatable damper make the NS Stick the only true multi-modal instrument for all playing techniques, conventional ones with open strings, and dedicated tapping.

Here's a closeup of the bridge:

I have to admit - I really think the side-string saddle of the NS is ingenious!

I wish there was a way such a design could be incorporated into the Stick bridge - not having to unwind strings to change the intonation or height! Pure genius!

But it would probably be very difficult to make in a compact manner that would work with the Stick's aesthetics.

Randy

No, i'm sure one wouldnt experience any problems changing gauges. I was more thinking about changing tuning, like having a stick type tuning f.inst where the thickest strings would be in the middle. The center of the strings would change a bit relative to the fretboard, specially on string #1. In addition it would move one way at the bridge an another way at the nut. Im sure it wont cause any problems, but knowing about Ned S. it just SEEMS a little too unpresice! But i totally trust they have tought it trough, it just would be nice to know some more details. Thanks for the replys.