[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1428397769' post='2740797']
Buy cheaper strings (and typically from a wider selection), worry less about muting unwanted notes, have a smaller neck on your bass, and choose from a wider selection of instruments. And four strings weigh less than the equivalent five string. Only little things, admittedly, but they are real!
Five string basses are all well and good but only if you actually need that fifth string.When I owned a five string bass I found that the only time I touched the B string was to mute it. Being able to play two octaves in a single position is useful, but I didn't ever need to do that. Four strings are perfectly usable for massive swathes of music and not all of us are interested in the stuff that needs more.
I get really bored of this whole "debate" to be honest. The "who needs five strings, four is enough" people are just as tedious and predictable as the "five strings are like four strings but much much better and everyone should get one" people. Fours work for some people, fives for others. Just buy what works for you and let other people do what works for them!
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With regard to the strings comment. Well you're gonna pay slightly more because there's an extra string to pay for.
With regard to choice, you get all the choice of a 4 string bass. My 6 is currently strung with a 105, 85, 75, 50, 30, 20 set. It may have been the case years ago that string gauges were limited, not anymore though.
Muting comes with playing, it's just practice.
Wider neck, well you have an extra string. Though some 5s do have narrow necks, there's an ibanez 6 with 14mm spacing and a really narrow neck.