6feet7

Simon Farmer at GUS Guitars. If they are good enough for Prince........

If you're ever in East Sussex pop in for a cuppa and a try of a 5 string upright

I converted to 5 string electric bass a few years back, so obviously sold my 4 string 3/4 upright bass and got a 5 string 3/4 upright. Managed to get a set of black nylons strings (that cost a fortune) and hardly ever touch the low B. Too damn difficult to play.

I only play 5's now (2 Patrick Eggles, 1 'converted' Epiphone Zenith and a 3/4 double bass). Only because it makes my life easier by playing pretty much everything between the 5th and 8th fret - very little moving around (which for someone who isn't the best player in the world is a godsend . As far as weight goes, my Eggles both only weigh about 8 1/2 lbs, so a 2 hour gig is easy on the shoulder.

Everyone does a 'more traditional' shape. This isn't exactly 'out there' in the design department but at least they've tried to not do yet another Fender clone.

New 4 string Piezo element and rosewood bridge from my Epiphone Zenith project Free to a good home

I'm in Buxted near Uckfield - the band I'm in is a covers function band but we seem to be in a very quiet spot at the moment.

Joinmyband.co.uk

I'm 54, our singer and guitarist are 21 and 24 respectively. Drums 46 and keys 39. We are a function band (so cheesy pop from 50's to now) but age has never had anything to do with it. We get on together and are all around the same standard, so we fit together musically too. The drummer and I are both into heavy rock (so nothing like the music we play) but that makes no difference to the band at all. Age shouldn't be an issue.

Same here in the South-East

Added a piezo to the bridge if anyone is interested

I wish I'd managed to do it all myself, like you, but sometimes it's best left to the professionals PS. If anyone wants the original rosewood bridge then they can have it for free.

Just got the Zenith back. All I can say is OMG. It's gorgeous. Simon at GUS has managed to fit a 22 fret 5 string neck to a 21 fret 4 string bass and you'd never know. The passive EMG's and greasebucket tone mod sound lush with a threeway switch and wired in series and parallel. The piezo only has a volume pot but it's got a hidden secret. Instead of being battery run it's powered by a capacitor that takes only 1 minute to charge and this will last 16 hours. I've put the original brass bridge logo on the headstock instead of where it should be. In my opinion it just looks better on the headstock (it looked good on the original rosewood bridge but now that has been made larger it looked out of proportion and 'wrong'). Anyway, I know I didn't do anything to convert it (unlike some of the skilled people on BC I would have just ruined something that, in my eyes, is probably one of the best looking basses I've ever laid eyes on), but I knew what I wanted and luckily had one of the finest luthiers on the planet just down the road from me who managed to transform my thoughts into a work of art

Yup

Just seen some 3M black/white chequered vinyl on eBay. You could stick that onto the scratch plate

It's for a 5 string bass. 5 string is a lot more. Love it. Going out to buy some ice lollies and I'll give it a go

I was thinking of that, but the pickup is straight and the double bass strings and board are curved. Don't think all the strings will get the same volume

Yes, just looked it up - $290 in the USA https://www.krivopickups.com/store/p6/The_Krivo_Magnetic_Pickup_for_Upright_Bass.html

Rather more costwise unfortunately

Unfortunately they don't seem to do the pickup for 5 string db's and I can't find anyone who does anything affordable. Any ideas?

Please someone answer this. I don't even bother taking my db to gigs nowadays (even not particularly loud ones) as I can't even setup without feedback, so I just default to my piezo equipped electric bass.

I used to be in an originals band, and the '*unt' word was on one of the songs on the album. Even our band leader/singer, who had written the song and recorded it with pro musicians, would change the word to runt (I know, not much better but.....) when we played it live.