What is it with all the 5 strings for sale?

[gub]

seems to be loads atm!

Edited April 19, 2011 by Rich

[stingrayPete1977]

Everyone has realised you don't need them, All their favourite players use fours, all their favourite songs were recorded on fours, if they needed to they could fit a hipshot detuner, 34" thumbrest etc. Have I missed any?

[tauzero]

Bassists are too stupid to play anything with more than four strings.

[bigthumb]

[quote name='tauzero' post='1204051' date='Apr 18 2011, 07:59 PM']Bassists are too stupid to play anything with more than four strings.[/quote]

God knows I am!

[thisnameistaken]

I would really like the range of a 5 string bass but I don't like the look and I don't like the feel. I might still get one anyway if I can find one that looks and feels like a 4-string bass. Doubt that's going to happen.

Plus I think I would miss having a low B on my double bass if I had one on a bass guitar, so I'd rather not have one at all and not know what I'm missing.

[ThomBassmonkey]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1204046' date='Apr 18 2011, 07:57 PM']Everyone has realised you don't need them, All their favourite players use fours, all their favourite songs were recorded on fours, if they needed to they could fit a hipshot detuner, 34" thumbrest etc. Have I missed any?[/quote]

Someone fetch the noose, we have a lynching!

Things come and go in phases, people see that there's a few 5 strings around and think "I fancy that", so loads of people rush out and buy one, 6 months later there's loads of 5ers available in the for sale forum. The thing about forums like this is that even though people aren't neccessarily prone to following trends as such, it opens their mind to more things. Dingwalls have had a phase of being very popular, Sandberg seems to be going that way at the minute, things like fretlesses and 5ers follow the rule too.

I moved from a 6 to a 5, I'm a bassist, I don't need to go too high or I'm interfering with the guitar, much lower than a B seems pointless though as it'll get lost and/or leave a gap in the mix (unless your guitars are tuned right down too). 5's a nice amount, it gives you an extra few notes to finish that run down but it never feels like there's a gap in the mix.

[Johngh]

I'm only selling mine because I've just bought another 6er

[Conan]

Maybe there are a lot of people with five string basses who want to sell one?

[voxpop]

[quote name='Johngh' post='1204080' date='Apr 18 2011, 08:20 PM']I'm only selling mine because I've just bought another 6er [/quote]


6 is the way .... No wimpy 4.

[Soliloquy]

What's with all the 4 strings that are for sale, are the owners selling to buy the 5's that are for sale ?

Are the owners of the 5 string basses that are for sale selling to buy a 4 string bass, or are they selling to fund another 5, or maybe a 6 string ?

Get a life .

Edited April 18, 2011 by Soliloquy

[Shockwave]

I already got all the 5vers I need thanks!

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='Shockwave' post='1204107' date='Apr 18 2011, 08:34 PM']I already got all the 5vers I need thanks![/quote]

But where are your fours?

[skej21]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1204128' date='Apr 18 2011, 08:54 PM']But where are your fours?[/quote]

You've got them all!

Get some up for sale so we can have our share

Edited April 18, 2011 by skej21

[hubrad]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1204060' date='Apr 18 2011, 08:04 PM']I would really like the range of a 5 string bass but I don't like the look and I don't like the feel. I might still get one anyway if I can find one that looks and feels like a 4-string bass. Doubt that's going to happen.

Plus I think I would miss having a low B on my double bass if I had one on a bass guitar, so I'd rather not have one at all and not know what I'm missing. [/quote]
I was hooked on 5ers from the first time of playing one, long before they were common.
Interestingly, I don't think I've ever missed the low B string when playing DB.

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='skej21' post='1204131' date='Apr 18 2011, 08:56 PM']You've got them all!

Get some up for sale so we can have our share [/quote]
What and start a "what's with all the Stingrays for sale " thread

[steantval]

Funny that, me and another bassist were discussing 5 strings tonight and both agreed a bass should have 4 strings, that's what they started with.

I think most of the pro bassists I admire all play 4 strings, if it's enough for them it's sure enough for me.

[Soliloquy]

[quote name='steantval' post='1204301' date='Apr 19 2011, 12:01 AM']Funny that, me and another bassist were discussing 5 strings tonight and both agreed a bass should have 4 strings, that's what they started with.

I think most of the pro bassists I admire all play 4 strings, if it's enough for them it's sure enough for me.[/quote]

I guess it depends who you admire.

Gary Willis, Steve Lawson, Anthony Jackson, Janek Gwizdala, Matthew Garrison, John Patitucci, Jimmy Haslip, Andrew Gouche, Anthony Wellington, Todd Johnson, Damien Erskine, Tom Kennedy, Tony Grey, Kai Ehhardt, Adam Nitti, Richard Bona, and Jimmy Johnson are some of my favourite players. All play either a 5 string or a 6 as their main instrument.

The only 4 string players I really like are Michael Manring, Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller .

Edited April 18, 2011 by Soliloquy

[Lozz196]

[quote name='tauzero' post='1204051' date='Apr 18 2011, 07:59 PM']Bassists are too stupid to play anything with more than four strings.[/quote]
It`s rare I use that many!

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='steantval' post='1204301' date='Apr 19 2011, 12:01 AM']Funny that, me and another bassist were discussing 5 strings tonight and both agreed a bass should have 4 strings, that's what they started with.

I think most of the pro bassists I admire all play 4 strings, if it's enough for them it's sure enough for me.[/quote]
See post #2

[tom1946]

[quote name='Soliloquy' post='1204323' date='Apr 19 2011, 12:29 AM']I guess it depends who you admire.

Gary Willis, Steve Lawson, Anthony Jackson, Janek Gwizdala, Matthew Garrison, John Patitucci, Jimmy Haslip, Andrew Gouche, Anthony Wellington, Todd Johnson, Damien Erskine, Tom Kennedy, Tony Grey, Kai Ehhardt, Adam Nitti, Richard Bona, and Jimmy Johnson are some of my favourite players. All play either a 5 string or a 6 as their main instrument.

The only 4 string players I really like are Michael Manring, Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller .[/quote]

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never heard of any of the 5 string players.

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='tom1946' post='1204384' date='Apr 19 2011, 07:41 AM']I'm embarrassed to say that I've never heard of any of the 5 string players. [/quote]
But you will of heard most of them play even if you don't know who they are.

[Shawman]

[quote name='steantval' post='1204301' date='Apr 19 2011, 12:01 AM']a bass should have 4 strings, that's what they started with.[/quote]

it's called evolution

[Rich]

[quote name='steantval' post='1204301' date='Apr 19 2011, 12:01 AM']Funny that, me and another bassist were discussing 5 strings tonight and both agreed a bass should have 4 strings, that's what they started with.[/quote]
Absolutely. Just like aeroplanes should be Wright Flyers and cars should be Benz Patent Motorwagens. After all, that's how they started.

[noelk27]

[quote name='steantval' post='1204301' date='Apr 18 2011, 11:01 PM'][M]e and another bassist were discussing 5 strings tonight and both agreed a bass should have 4 strings, that's what they started with.[/quote]
And it really does depend on what you mean by "started with", and whether or not you'd argue the "Fender" electric bass/bass guitar is an interpretation of the double bass or the bass viol. The bass viol, devised in the 15th century, was the original fretted bass instrument, but it had six strings, so was the "Fender" the simpleton’s version of the viol? It's also the case that Fender devised a six-string "bass" in 1962 and a five-string bass in 1964, so by the time the "Fender" reached its teens it already had five and six string siblings.

Turning to the OP, I'd wonder if it were partly the result of people not learning to "play" (use) a five-string to its full potential, with the consequence that they end up selling those instruments on. Mid 80s, when purchasing my first five-string, it wasn't unusual to find instruments that were strung with an additional C string, as opposed to B string. Like most people my thinking at that time was that the additional low string would provide the best use, after all, I was playing "bass", but found that the additional low string simply encouraged me to play lines in the middle of the neck. It also encouraged me to fret every note, and not use open strings, taking some of the "colour" out of my playing. Why it took me until the late 90s to realise this, and to switch to using a five-string with a C is beyond me, but using a five-string tuned E-A-D-G-C has forced me to construct lines with extended range, but retaining the techniques I'd use with a standard four-string. So, maybe it's learning to use the tool correctly.

Edited April 19, 2011 by noelk27

[jacko]

[quote name='Soliloquy' post='1204323' date='Apr 19 2011, 12:29 AM'].

The only 4 string players I really like are Michael Manring, Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller .[/quote]

Marcus plays a five string fretless as does victor wooten. Chris Squire used a 5 string Tobias and so on. It seems to me that all the 'real' players use the tool that's best suited to the job and all those that reckon a bass should only have x number of strings are only really limiting themselves.