neilp

I don't have any Kaplan Lights spare, but I do have a set of Kaplan Solo, tune them to orchestra pitch and you'll get very much the same sound and feel. How do I know? I've tried it! They're in the classifieds, almost new, let me know if you want them. Neil

If you want an arco string, for me there's nothing to touch D'Addario Kaplan. Lights are just perfect on my bass. Rich, complex sound, great focus and projection and they speak easily too. I've been through Flexocor Original, Evah Pirazzi and Bel Canto but I won't be looking any further. Kaplan Lights it is, for all my bowed playing except the stuff in solo tuning. For that I use Helicore Solo - also D'Addario, and also fantastic, but totally different. Simpleton's right though, most of the sound comes from technique

I manage fine with one double bass, but it only has to do orchestral and chamber music... What amps do you have?

I own 3 basses now, having sold one recently (fretless Jazz that I bought cos I thought I wanted one. I was wrong). The Aria and the Wal will never leave me. They're inextricably bound up in the way I play. The Cort is a really really good fretless bass, but if something more interesting came along, I might part with it. I can see me acquiring another fretted bass, just to even things up. Don't laugh, but I think if I do it will either be a Ricky or a T bird, just because I've always wanted them. Collector? Nope, they all have to earn their keep.

I may well do that! I haven't played every 5 string available, and I won't, because I don't like the cumbersome feel of a neck that wide. My experience, though for what it's worth, is that most instruments that produce fundamentals as low as the bottom B on a 5 are hard to amplify effectively. Yes you get the rumble, and maybe a bit of transients for attack, but there's some clarity lacking that is hard to get - IN MY OPINION. I'm more than willing to be proven wrong about that, but that's not the deal breaker for me. I just very much prefer playing a 4

I wasn't going to bother, because it seems like we're not allowed opinions about subjective issues unless they fit with the herd. I'm not saying 5 strings are bad, I'm saying I don't like playing them and 99% of the time they are ENTIRELY unnecessary FOR ME. When was the last time a punter came up to you and said "I'm so glad you used a 5 string. It frustrates the hell out of me every time I hear 'I Think We're Alone Now' played without the low notes"? I've been playing bass as a pro or semi pro for nearly 35 years, and I feel no guilt in saying I neither need nor want a 5 string.

I'm glad you've found something that does it for you. I have too, and they all have 4 strings. I'm perfectly happy with them, and every time I've tried a five, I can't wait to get back to my basses. That's me, not you. I'm happy, hope you're happy too.... I really don't have any interest in spending time playing 5 string basses. I'd rather be making music than struggling with kit I don't want or need

Nobody listens on the internet do they? I think that's something nobody can argue with. I don't like playing 5 string basses, and the ones I have played have not satisfied me sonically. Given that I don't like them, and have no regular need of one, why would I spend ANY of my time trying them? If you like yours, great, go to it, you're not wrong. When I need one, I borrow a Stingray, which is OK, but I don't enjoy playing it AT ALL. Have your view, it's all subjective. I'm not wrong any more than you are.

This. Playing is good. More playing is better

I don't particularly like 5 string basses, I've never found one that doesn't feel awkward and unwieldy to me. I find the sound pretty unsatisfying too, in the main. No punch, difficult to amplify. In the double bass world the answer is simple - a C extension lets you keep your 4 string and have the low notes when you need them. To be honest, in bass guitar world I don't really come across the need very often. If you're making music for your audience's benefit, they won't notice or care. It's not very often a line just doesn't work on a 4 string. If I really need one, I borrow it. 5 strings are not progress, they're an alternative, and one I don't particularly enjoy. Your view may differ. Doesn't make either of us wrong.

I have a rack mount Korg which is first class, and I also have a couple of Pitchclips as backup, which clip to the back of the headstock with no problems. For classical gigs I use the Android Boss TU3 ap, which is just as good as the physical pedal.

Where are you? Best bet is to ask the local string teachers who they use, or if there's a pro orchestra anywhere nearby check with them. I either send mine back to the genius who made it, or take it to a guy in Brighton. I wouldn't use anyone else, and certainly wouldn't send it to anyone I didn't know personally. There's so little difference in cost between a great rehair and an average one, find the best you can.

If you need to name it, call it what ever interval it covers, for example a double stopped minor third

If the quality and sound are anything like my older B4FL, it'll be a great bass

Just about to put a Hercules stand in the classifieds if anyone wants one

It's almost the reverse for me. I played a gig the other day and on a whim took my Squier VM fretless Jazz. Never gigged it before, and spent the whole night thinking "why am I playing this when I have so much better at home in their cases?" .... In the classical world, there's no such thing as "too nice to gig". Granted, there are fewer drunken punters, but I know violinists who sit in the pub post-gig with a £50k instrument on the floor next to them. Look after your gear by all means, but instruments are for playing music, and music should have people listening, and the people listening deserve the best you can give them.

Led Zeppelin 2. The Lemon Song, then Ramble On. Almost everything I love about music right there in those two songs.

I have a nice Squier VM Jazz with an East J-Tone preamp that I might be persuaded to part with. Bought it on a whim and really like it, but I have a fretless Wal as well as the Cort, so the Jazz really doesn't get played very much. Immaculate nick, nice bass.

The words "attributed to" in my book almost always mean "there is absolutely no proof to this assertion, but I want the Fairy Dust of a Cremonese maker, and the scroll looks vaguely right" I'm sure it's a magnificent bass, and worth a lot of money just for that. Amati though? Who knows? And if you don't know, don't claim it. Gary Karr's bass, now thought to be French, was amazing, but REALLY hard to play...