adriansmith247

It is all personal to each bass player. The issue I am struggling with is. do I want to get used to narrow spacing and then have to adjust back to wider spacing. The 16.5 feels so good. I also play the bass with a lighter touch and I agree that it is essentially a different instrument. The adjustment time is short between basses and I am VERY unlikely to take two basses out anyway. This is all down to me having too much time to think about it. A few gigs with the bass would soon help me work out what to do. I have no problem with double bass string spacing but that is a completely different technique with the right hand. I would not be able to play an electric that had double bass spacing.

On a 16.5 it is more about the left hand feeling a bit cramped and the right feeling more comfortable. That’s how I feel at the moment.

@binky_bass I don’t tend to find the switch difficult. It is more a case of noticing a different when switching. This triggers the GAS 😀

Some sensible points made, thanks. I am certainly overthinking this and am also throwing in a healthy dose of GAS In my mind I can see a nice 5 string fretted with narrow spacing to go with my fretless. Although I will probably just keep what I have. I agree that you get used to whatever you are playing. This 5 string feels so nice to play

Do I need more space or should I just get used to swapping between 19mm, 16.5mm and double bass? I mainly play double bass, so I am used to pretty wide string spacing. I do play electric though and have a couple a good 4 string bases, Jazz and Wilkes. I have just recently purchased a beautiful Ibanez SRH 505 Fretless five string bass because I wanted a piezo sound. It sounds lovely and plays great, but it has narrow string spacing 16.5. I am now considering selling/swapping the 5 string for the SRH500 four string fretless with 19mm spacing. Maybe I need to just get over it and move between spacings, or maybe I should sell my 4 string basses and stick to the narrow spacing? The more I play 16.5, the better it feels. Moving over to 4 string is now feeling too spacious. This is all happening due to me not having any gigs and having way too much time to think and no opportunity to just play.

Are Washburn guitars holding their value and status as good quality instruments? I only owned a cheap bass for a few months so I really didn't have experience fo their good quality basses. I think the local music shop had a deal with them at one point, as the shop seemed to be full of Washburn. This is great to see so many high quality instruments here. Plus I am now spotting more Washburns for sale in the usual places. Hiding in plain sight.

Lots of great looking basses. Maybe Washburn were what Cort is now?

These Washburn basses are a lot better than I remember them being. I just remember Washburn making cheap basses but maybe I was wrong. The shop I used to frequent in the 90s was full of them that one on eBay looks amazing for sure

Just saw an ad here for a Washburn bass and it made me wonder. Where have all those 90s Washburn basses gone? There seemed to hundreds of them around at the time.