Compensated nut on the fretless Big Al?

[bassmonkeee]

So, the compensated nut that started with the Bongo, but my fretless Bongo has the standard non-compensated nut.

My new fretless Big Al has the compensated nut. What prompted the change?

Are all of the fretless basses moving to compensated nuts, or is this something specific to the Big Al?

Curiosity more than anything. I'm finding it really easy to hit the correct pitch on the Big Al, but I don't know if that is simply because I've been playing more fretless over the last couple of months, or if it's because I haven't played it with a band yet.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

The compensated nut should only make a difference in open strings. Once you "fret" a note, the nut is completely out of the equation.

 

[Manfloozy]

Last I heard ALL new basses whether fretted or freeness come with the comp nut.

My old Dargie Ray did not have one. But both the DD2 Bongo and 25th fretlesses did. Not sure when the change occurred specifically though.

 

[bassmonkeee]

Last I heard ALL new basses whether fretted or freeness come with the comp nut.

My old Dargie Ray did not have one. But both the DD2 Bongo and 25th fretlesses did. Not sure when the change occurred specifically though.

Okay, that's what I was wondering since my fretless Bongo does not have the compensated nut. It probably comes down to standardization of production.

And, Rick--you are absolutely correct. It would only affect open notes (and, I guess, harmonics).

 

[oli@bass]

And, Rick--you are absolutely correct. It would only affect open notes (and, I guess, harmonics).

I'm not sure about that... the string will be tuned slightly different because of the compensated nut, therefore every fretted note will be affected as well. As I understood, that's the idea of the compensated nut.

 

[Rick Auricchio]

Now that I think about it, oli may be right. The string length would be slightly different from an exact 34", so intonation would be a tiny bit different.

It could also compensate for the normally-imperfect fret alignment. Typically, this is more important for chordal instruments like guitars, but it will have a slight effect on a bass.

On fretless, of course, a subtle tuning difference isn't an issue, because your fingers control intonation.