once you've played a 5 string what's the point of 4?

[Woodinblack]

8 hours ago, prowla said:

Rickenbackers are my favourite bass.

I tried one of their 5-strings and didn't gel with it.

So I now only have 4-string Rics.

 

And in a strange twist of fate, I only have 5-string Rics

 

[WalMan]

For many years before joining here I only played 4’s and having had a fretted, fretless and my original converted to 8 string for a while was down to just the one 4 (Wal) with a d-tuner.

 

Then I joined BassChat and the first of a number of 5’s arrived. In the last 15-20 years I have pretty much exclusively used 5’s and only had the Wal, which has been used mainly for recording projects and hasn’t really come out to gigs.

 

I love 5’s for the extended range and availability of different positions across the neck.

 

Still enjoying 4’s and have just picked up a second to which another d-tuner was added and I used that for a few songs at the gig on Saturday. The d-tuner covers a lot of the extended range I have got used to in recent years once I got back into the swing of switching down and up during songs, and I think it will be getting more outings 🙂

[Richard R]

6 hours ago, WalMan said:

Then I joined BassChat...

 

And that was your downfall. 😁

 

[prowla]

8 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

 

And in a strange twist of fate, I only have 5-string Rics

 

 

Hope you enjoy it! 🙂

[Stub Mandrel]

 

On Saturday did the second set with the five as I couldn't see the side dots on the P.

 

Yesterday, the one song where the five would have been handy, the guitarist  went straight into the intro. I've d-tuned on the hoof before but decided not to risk it, so I stayed up the octave.

[Beer of the Bass]

19 hours ago, prowla said:

Rickenbackers are my favourite bass.

I tried one of their 5-strings and didn't gel with it.

So I now only have 4-string Rics.

 

 

I do have some other 5-strings though.

 

 

I like the Warwicks and the neck on the Statii, but they don't sound like Rics.

(I don't have the Sub and Rockbass anymore.)

 

I suspect I would like those 5-string Rics a lot, they're the kind of spacing I like for a 5 string, they lose the anachronistic Ric metalware and I love the walnut/maple aesthetic. Bit out of budget for me though!

[Woodinblack]

13 minutes ago, Beer of the Bass said:

 

I suspect I would like those 5-string Rics a lot, they're the kind of spacing I like for a 5 string, they lose the anachronistic Ric metalware and I love the walnut/maple aesthetic. Bit out of budget for me though!

 

For a short while after brexit and before Thomman harmonised their tax collecing, they were on sale for 1350 euros - was keen then but they ran out and they have never had any back. Even with the taxes that would have been good.

[Beer of the Bass]

Just now, Woodinblack said:

 

For a short while after brexit and before Thomman harmonised their tax collecing, they were on sale for 1350 euros - was keen then but they ran out and they have never had any back. Even with the taxes that would have been good.

 

Yeah, with hindsight, if I'd timed it right and moved some other gear around I could/should have done that. Always the way!

[WalMan]

5 hours ago, Richard R said:

 

And that was your downfall. 😁

 

Indeed it was 🤣🤦‍♂️

[Steve Browning]

20 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

On Saturday did the second set with the five as I couldn't see the side dots on the P.

 

Yesterday, the one song where the five would have been handy, the guitarist  went straight into the intro. I've d-tuned on the hoof before but decided not to risk it, so I stayed up the octave.

I have had the same issue. Had either Luminlay or just larger side markers fitted to 4 of my basses. 

[Stub Mandrel]

3 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

I have had the same issue. Had either Luminlay or just larger side markers fitted to 4 of my basses. 

 

I'd do that... except it's an American Vintage II. Looking at small stickers.

[Baloney Balderdash]

Love this:

 

But it is 28.6" scale length, and tuned to G# standard tuning, as in one half step bellow the upper 4 strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning, plus a high E string.

 

I named it "Mr. Growly - The Noodlemancer", and it is my favorite bass at the moment.

 

Edited December 3, 2024 by Baloney Balderdash

[JeezyMcNuggles]

On 23/11/2024 at 17:54, DDR said:

I used to be a 5 hater and now I'm a convert to the point that I'm wondering, outside of the "getting hired" issue (some bands/artists won't like the look of it) why limit your range to that of a 4 string?

Because it's so much more comfortable.

[Steve Browning]

3 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I'd do that... except it's an American Vintage II. Looking at small stickers.

Not sure I get that. One of mine is a 1972 bass. Anyway, horses for courses. 

[Stub Mandrel]

5 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

Not sure I get that. One of mine is a 1972 bass. Anyway, horses for courses. 

 

I deliberately bought a 'replica' of  1960 precision, it seems perverse to make an irreversible modification.

[Beer of the Bass]

I suppose a lot of players develop their playing styles around the E or G string being on the outside, particularly for pick players in heavier styles, or more old-school slap techniques.  My bass guitar style transitioned to 5 smoothly enough, but I think I'd struggle adding a high C or low B to double bass.

[Terry M.]

Dedicated 5 string player here. One advantage is on the second hand market where loads of bassists try one and don't get along with it and can't wait to get rid of the thing. I've nabbed a few bargains based on that alone. To each their own which has been said before. Play what makes you happy.

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

The extra low notes are vital for my preferred genre; Doom metal. I know a lot of players use a 4, but I like having the extra range and choice of notes.   I still love my 4 string glasses, which I tend to use for other types of music. 

[prowla]

10 minutes ago, ProjeKtWEREWOLF said:

The extra low notes are vital for my preferred genre; Doom metal. I know a lot of players use a 4, but I like having the extra range and choice of notes.   I still love my 4 string glasses, which I tend to use for other types of music. 

I haven’t done it, but you can tune a 4-string BEAD. 

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

Just now, prowla said:

I haven’t done it, but you can tune a 4-string BEAD. 

True, and I did it once, but I didn't like permanently changing my bass.  It was more limiting. 

[Schnozzalee]

Gotta have these in the collection...

 

1) Punchy vintage sounding bass

2) 2 octave modern sounding soap bar bass

3) Fretless bass

4) 5 string bass

 

Vintage fretless and 2 octave modern 5 is also fine.

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, ProjeKtWEREWOLF said:

The extra low notes are vital for my preferred genre; Doom metal. I know a lot of players use a 4, but I like having the extra range and choice of notes.   I still love my 4 string glasses, which I tend to use for other types of music. 

 

I've found I can still use my 5-string glasses with 4-string basses.

[OliverBlackman]

8 hours ago, Schnozzalee said:

Gotta have these in the collection...

 

1) Punchy vintage sounding bass

2) 2 octave modern sounding soap bar bass

3) Fretless bass

4) 5 string bass

 

Vintage fretless and 2 octave modern 5 is also fine.

Close to my utopia:

1) vintage fender P with flats

2) vintage fender J with rounds

3) fretless jazz bass

4) modern 5 string (probably soapbar or similar).

 

If I found a money tree I’d probably have a bigger vintage collection but I wouldn’t see the point in more than one 5 string in my situation, not even a fretless one.

[Merton]

On 02/12/2024 at 07:44, Richard R said:

 

And that was your downfall. 😁

 

I think 90% of us on here can say joining was our downfall 😆

Id been very happy either way a Fender Jazz and late-90s Trace Elliot rig til I came here, and since then things seem to come and go with alarming regularity.

 

Back OT, I am hoping that in 2025 I’ll only have 2 5ers in my collection, a fretless and a sexy new ACG. Worst case I’ll have two ACG 5s but the rest will all be 4s

[Terry M.]

On 25/11/2024 at 11:28, neepheid said:

 

I am a stirrer, but TBF I only phrased it that way because the OP came in swinging on the 5 string side of things and it's the premise upon which this thread was started.  I personally don't believe in any bass supremacy - I'll play what I like and I expect to be afforded the freedom to do that without judgement while I afford that freedom to others.  Anyone coming up to me giving it all the "5 string's better/why aren't you playing a 5 string?" bollox (and it has happened IRL to me, BTW) will get the short shrift they deserve.  I don't think I'm better than anyone else because of my choices that don't affect anyone else in the slightest, I just want to be left alone to work within the parameters I have decided are correct for me.

Did you feel the op was being judgemental and claiming superiority? I didn't get that vibe personally.