Evil Undead

The rhythm guitarist in my band plays Vintage guitars - an SG and a Les Paul. Both are awesome.

Following on from my thread of yesterday, I've decided to store my beautiful Warwick for a while and focus on getting used to 5 strings. Now then. I'm not sure how to store it without causing problems or damage. I have a TKL hard case with furry type stuff in it, which I guess would be ideal. Would this protect the bass from temperature and humidity changes? And what about putting a couple of sachets of silica gel in - would that help stop damp or would it dry out the bass? I'm keen to not cause any problems for the bass as I don't know how long it will be in storage for. Could be a month or could be years. Also, I live in a 2nd floor flat, and the case will be flat under my bed. I know some people are going to suggest selling it, and buying another 4 string at a later date if I want to switch back, but it's not an option - too much sentiment! Any advice appreciated

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1326296852' post='1495087'] It sounds like you have it stuck in your head that to play metal you need access to a B string. You might end up in a traditional thrash band that riffs away happily in E! If you really do need access to the lower notes, just re-string you 4 as BEAD - or, do as we did in the 90s and just tune down! As long as you've got at least a 110 you'll be ok tuning down to B. It will be floppy and rattly but it can work very well for certain types of metal and can be very brutal. [/quote] Not so much just for metal, but it's handy in other genres as well. More and more modern rock/alternative bands are tuning lower, plus reggae, funk etc. I guess I've just got it in my head that I'll be limiting myself by sticking to 4's - but my favourite bass is a 4, so that's where the difficulty comes in with making a decision. My band plays classic rock and punk covers so we're in EADG tuning for all of our songs and I use the G a lot, so BEAD isn't an option. But even with the band in standard I still find the B string really useful on perhaps 3 or 4 songs of our 2 hour set.

Oh also... The string spacing is much narrower on the 5. And, finally, you can rock out better on a 4

I'm having trouble deciding between 4 and 5 string basses. I've always felt more physically comfortable on a 4, but that B comes in really handy on occasion. And it certainly will if I play in a metal band in the future. But the downside is that the B also gets in the way on the odd song. And I get terribly confused switching between a 4 and a 5 mid-set! Which do you prefer and why? And does anyone have any advice for me?

Andy sent me some free picks as I'm a bit of a collector of them (or should I say hoarder?) Thanks mate, very kind of you

Mark sent me some picks that he'd bought and didn't get on with. And he didn't even want me to pay postage! Very generous of you mate, cheers

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1325427821' post='1483014'] Cheltenham is also notable for the following: Brian Jones, a founder member of the [i]Rolling Stones[/i] Jaz Coleman, singer, musician and founder of [i]Killing Joke[/i] Post-Punk pop funksters [i]Pigbag[/i] Richard O'Brien, writer of the [i]Rocky Horror Show[/i] and, er... Gustav Holst. . [/quote] How could I forget Brian Jones? Doh! You know any more from Gloucester?

Welcome! I don't know of any famous bands from Gloucester. The Guillemots are from Cheltenham (down the road) and they're ok I guess. Kind of. But Simon Pegg is from Gloucester, and that's extremely cool

[quote name='Paul Lynch' timestamp='1325240110' post='1481170'] Any words of advice you can offer? [/quote] Enjoy it! That's the most important thing. Oh, and stay out of the classifieds... they'll ruin you. Haha!