Longer neck for Fender P bass

[miles'tone]

41 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Maybe it's the stiffer neck that does the job. Doesn't the ric have a super wide neck and 2 Truss rods?

No they have a thinner neck, almost uniform from nut to fingerboard end. The thru-neck (not bolt on) probably helps though. 

[fretmeister]

Go to .135 B string IF it will intonate properly.

 

But the main problem is the P pickup itself. By its very nature- with the Bass side forward- it is flubby. Add a bridge J or even just reversing the P so the bass side is closer to the bridge will make a world of difference.

 

There is a reason why 5 string Ps aren’t as popular and it’s the inherent flub.

[ezbass]

24 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Go to .135 B string IF it will intonate properly.

 

But the main problem is the P pickup itself. By its very nature- with the Bass side forward- it is flubby. Add a bridge J or even just reversing the P so the bass side is closer to the bridge will make a world of difference.

 

There is a reason why 5 string Ps aren’t as popular and it’s the inherent flub.

Inherent Flub, top band name.

[mario_buoninfante]

I was thinking maybe you could come up with something like the solution on the Kubicki basses, where on the E string there are 2 extra lower frets.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=kubicky+factor&t=newext&atb=v356-1&iax=images&ia=images&iai=https%3A%2F%2Fmedias.audiofanzine.com%2Fimages%2Fthumbs3%2Fkubicki-factor-408412.jpg

 

 

Edited January 16, 2023 by mario_buoninfante

[Longwheelbass]

Yo Steve,

Just came across your post.

Did you ever get a solution?

I ask because I am just ordering a 35" four string neck for P Bass (well it's going on an old Jazz Bass body) through Musikraft in the US because I hate five strings but love the low B.

You are on the right path with your original musings, the extra inch in scale will give you a better B fundamental. Two options - order a 35" "conversion neck" from someone like Musikraft, which would mean in effect you'd have a P Bass with a slightly brighter treble tone as you don't move the bridge - and the pickups are effectively what move in the scale length,

or order a full 35" scale and move the bridge back half an inch on your P body to get the full 35" scale. Which will still be the beefy P Bass tone but without the silly 5th string and ridiculoussly wide neck to accommodate said silly 5th string.

I'm not sure how the doom guys get the low B sounding good on Rics, probably by using a lighter gauge string, but if you've ever played a 34" Musicman fiver they're pretty loose and muffled when you hit the low B. The extra inch in scale gives a much better fundamental note. Weird bridge bizzo to get a good sounding low B on 34" doesn't seem to make any sense.

There's a reason why so many of the expensive five string basses are 35's.

Anyways

[Dan Dare]

I agree with Dr J. Construction is the important thing. There's quite a bit of compliance in a P bass - bolted, reasonably flexible neck, light BBOT bridge (assuming you're using it and haven't added an after-market one), etc - which combine to make it sound a little indistinct. The lack of really clear low end, combined with the upper bass and low mid emphasis, is part of the character of the instrument and the thing many love about it. Imho, you need a different instrument for more extreme de-tuning.

[SteveXFR]

1 hour ago, Longwheelbass said:

Yo Steve,

Just came across your post.

Did you ever get a solution?

 

 

Yes, sort of. I changed to an extra long scale 5 string fan fret Ibanez which was perfect for the job. Then I sold it and gave up playing. 

[6feet7]

DR Downtune strings - designed for what it says on the tin

[Geek99]

On 08/01/2023 at 23:29, Doctor J said:

Don't waste your money on a neck, just get a string appropriate for that kind of pitch. I use a .145 for A and occasional dropped G on a 34" scale jazz bass.

 

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B000OR75QQ/ref=pe_27091401_487027711_TE_SCE_dp_1

Doesn’t he say he does that already ?

perhaps I misunderstood