5 string or Hipshot Xtender

[bassist_lewis]

I have a 5 string - a good one too, a Lakland Darryl Jones - which I use for functions and for reading gigs when they come my way (musicals love low B strings apparently). However, I much prefer a 4 string (feel, sound) so have been thinking about ditching the 5 and getting a Hipshot Xtender with the double stop lever (I'd have it to D and C).

Would I be limiting myself or making life unnecessarily difficult, given that I sometimes play with unfamiliar singers and occasionally sit in the pit?

If this has been discussed already (I'd be surprised if it hasn't) please post a link.
L

[JapanAxe]

That seems like quite a difficult adjustment to make.

[stingrayPete1977]

I wouldnt want to be trying to transpose from a possible C or D or E when I previously had a B

[jimbobothy]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I prefer the feel of a 4 but the range of a 5 is just better imho. I've got two 5 strings after having four passives 4's, I do miss them tbh but really don't like having to think more than I have to, hence the low D on the B and not a drop D tuner etc etc.

[RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE]

Slightly confused; what about the other strings? If you have a 5string, you must be tuned bead or is it EADG C?
Got me thinking now. Surprisingly, I've never done dead. Sold a 5 string recently, and one of my basses is bead.

[risingson]

The reason I'd always use a 5 if I were doing musical theatre gigs all the time is that you don't have to worry about position playing, whereas with a drop D or C you'd constantly be adjusting unnaturally to the lower string. For me personally the practicality of the low string would be lost on the fact that my position playing had been thrown.

It would be difficult if you were reading away only to encounter a run that would find you jumping up and down the first 5 frets of your instrument. My advice would be to seek out a new instrument if you're not keen on your Lakland DJ, it's a 35" scale so if it feels at all too long then maybe look to picking up a Sadowsky 5 or alike that use 34" scale. Either way I'd be sticking with 5.

[bassist_lewis]

That's what I like about the 5, once on a gig the singer called Living on a Prayer, then a moment later said, in D, I jumped straight in. Ignoring the fact that the song is actually in G starting on Em, this would have been a total headf##k on a 4 drop tuning... but I love playing my 4!!

I need something as comfortable as my 4 but with a low B, the only solution I can think of is a 5 string shorty like a callowhill OBS or MPB, or a custom build.

[patrikmarky]

Used to have hipshot ..as we did a lot of drop d stuff..I changed to a fiver at Christmas which is great.....some drop d songs don't seem to transpose very well to being played on a fiver!...unless it's me...???? Slither by velvet revolver at classic example..

[White Cloud]

I have both and gig with them...5 string and a 4 string with the Hipshot Dtuner. For me the Hipshot is not a patch on the 5er!!

[Karnage]

I'm a fairly recent convert from 4 string to 6 string (wanted a 5, but preferred the 6 to all the 5s I tried at the same time).

I can't imagine going back now. The band I'm in has 1/3 of the songs or more needing the lowest string, but wouldn't want to be 'messing around' with the tuning as opposed to playing the one thing. Don't really miss the 4 that much, and when I pick it up it feels like playing a pencil with strings on it!!

The enjoyment might wear a little more thin in time maybe, but I can't see it right now, even with the extra weight I have to shoulder.

Edited November 25, 2013 by Karnage