Thanks everyone, very interesting to read you comments and ideas about this.
I do want to stress that there was nothing antagonistic about my post. I was literally asking myself whether i would play my 4 strings again as, since picking up my new 5 string a few weeks ago i have not enjoyed playing them. They feel weird, pretty flimsy thin, small and are missing a sting!
So it's literally a question i put to you because of my own contemplations. I now have an amazing 5 string P with flats and i love it so, will i now buy a 5 string jazz put roundwounds on it, sell all my 4s and have done with it?
It may just be that the quality of this instrument is particularly high and I should look at getting a new 4 from this company but not sure yet...
Obviously someone who plays bass is not better by playing a 5 string, we know good music is good music, who cares how many strings its made with but it does seem to me that for this instrument, being so young in it's history, going from 4 to 5 strings that include that lower range is conceptually some kind of progression.
You don't need a low C till you do no? I can't imagine a piano without access to it's lowest range because it's hard to control or makes the piano heavy or someone has small fingers. Those notes are there because they exist full stop. There are shortscale 5 strings so...
I really love a good octaver sound but if i want a clean bass guitar sounding Db in that lower octave? I donno it makes sense to me to have it there for when i need it. Hard to imagine going back on this right now but it could be.
I didn't mention 6 strings or the 5s with the high C because i believe this takes the bass in a range that takes it away from the bass role. I'm not hating on 6 it's just that the upper range seems to conceptually move away from bottom end.
I guess i should give it some time and see if it's just a phase before i sell all my 4 strings and get another 5 string!