How many strings on your main bass?

[cheddatom]

I started on 4 string but got a 6 string after a year (playing 15 years now). Now I have 3 6 strings and my only 4 string is out of action. I have no problem with the size of the neck or any confusion due to the extra strings, so as it's no compromise I might as well have the extra flexibility

[Deep Thought]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1453729528' post='2962167']


Me too. I get all the advantages of fives, but my brain and hands just can't get used to them
[/quote]

Likewise. I've owned two 5's, never kept them for any length of time.

[GrammeFriday]

I voted 5 but play 6 nearly as much. Don't play or own any 4s nowadays; totally off the radar for me.

[72deluxe]

[quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1453803196' post='2962799']
I voted 5 but play 6 nearly as much. Don't play or own any 4s nowadays; totally off the radar for me.
[/quote]

I didn't realise you had migrated to 6s?? I found the 6 I had too difficult to play and it didn't help that it weighed as much as a small house.

I have been picking the 4s up more recently, oddly! Do you just find the necks too thin now or just miss the extra low notes? (assuming you haven't put EADGC on instead...)

[NickD]

Only fives for me. I traded my first and only 4 string for a 5 string back in 1990, it was 'good for metal'. Over the years,as my tastes have changed I've become accustomed to it. All my real learning was on a fiver, and as a result 5 strings is just what a bass has. I like the idea of a six, but I'm used to heading up the neck for higher stuff, so the high C would probably be mostly ornamental.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1453729528' post='2962167']
Me too. I get all the advantages of fives, but my brain and hands just can't get used to them
[/quote]

I've never got this. It's just an extra string and it's tuned to the same interval as the others. It was a long time ago (1989) but I can't remember the extra string on mu first 5-string giving me any problems when I started. Maybe I found myself on the wrong string a couple of times in the first couple of days, but that was it.

[skej21]

Main bass is a 5 but tuned E-C (not sure if that fully counts in the '5' for the vote, as you may have meant the usual B-G 5). I currently own 3 basses and I have 2 four strings and 1 five string. I have ordered an ACG which will be a 5 string E-C which will replace my current 'main' bass.

[EliasMooseblaster]

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1453815244' post='2962985']
Main bass is a 5 but tuned E-C (not sure if that fully counts in the '5' for the vote, as you may have meant the usual B-G 5). I currently own 3 basses and I have 2 four strings and 1 five string. I have ordered an ACG which will be a 5 string E-C which will replace my current 'main' bass.
[/quote]

How difficult (and/or expensive) have you found it to get hold of replacement strings for E-C tuning? This thread has got me considering whether to convert a cheap fiver and give this configuration a punt, but I presume I'd have to chop and change with string sets.

[Conan]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1453814973' post='2962979']
I've never got this. It's just an extra string and it's tuned to the same interval as the others. It was a long time ago (1989) but I can't remember the extra string on mu first 5-string giving me any problems when I started. Maybe I found myself on the wrong string a couple of times in the first couple of days, but that was it.
[/quote]

Cool. We're all different. I'm usually pretty flexible and ready to try new things, but for me there were no advantages of the various fives I've owned so I sold them on after a few months. To be fair, they were budget to mid-price instruments, so maybe I never gave fivers a "proper" chance?

I'm pleased for you that you get on so well with your fives, but they are just not for me (at this moment in time, in this band, playing this material...).

[tauzero]

Since I found a 5 with a neck that compared in playing terms with my Warwick JD Thumb (the JD has a very slim and shallow neck which I love), I've settled on 5s. However, I'm not selling my Thumbs as if I should ever go back to 4-strings, they're the ones I'll want.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1453815382' post='2962987']
How difficult (and/or expensive) have you found it to get hold of replacement strings for E-C tuning? This thread has got me considering whether to convert a cheap fiver and give this configuration a punt, but I presume I'd have to chop and change with string sets.
[/quote]

It's not that difficult, although there doesn't seem to be the range of sets available to match B-G stringing.

I tried it several years back, however I found that I didn't like the sound of the high C string much. For me it didn't have the required heft that playing the same note on the G-string did, and I found myself encroaching too far into the range of the guitars with insufficient tonal difference to make it worthwhile for me.

[skej21]

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1453815382' post='2962987']


How difficult (and/or expensive) have you found it to get hold of replacement strings for E-C tuning? This thread has got me considering whether to convert a cheap fiver and give this configuration a punt, but I presume I'd have to chop and change with string sets.
[/quote]

Never found it that difficult. When I wanted to try it, I bought an Ibanez SR605 and simply restrung it E-C. Nut didn't need any work which was a bonus. I loved the range so much (I never used a low B when I had a 6er) that I commissioned an ACG so that I could have a really nice E-C 5er as my main bass.

There's not a huge difference in price between 5 and 6 string sets, so I just buy 6 string sets and don't use the low B :-)

Edited January 26, 2016 by skej21

[GrammeFriday]

[quote name='72deluxe' timestamp='1453804308' post='2962816']
I didn't realise you had migrated to 6s?? I found the 6 I had too difficult to play and it didn't help that it weighed as much as a small house.
[/quote]
Not migrated - I've been playing 6ers for years. I think you may even have played my MTD KZ6 (now up for sale here on BC! ) at the first Mids Bass Bash a couple of years ago. But I do tend to opt for 5ers when playing in bands - the six string tends to be reserved for solo noodling, mainly.

[chrisanthony1211]

A bass guitar should only ever have four strings......

[Spoombung]

[quote name='Cameronj279' timestamp='1453755786' post='2962535']
I'm surprised there aren't more 4 string players. I certainly can't remember the last time I played a gig and someone in the other bands had a 5 stringer.

Infact...I can but only because I sold him it!
[/quote]

Same. I've rarely seen a 5-string at a gig.

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1453884744' post='2963676']
Same. I've rarely seen a 5-string at a gig.
[/quote]

I think it depends on the genre.

There is a pub over the road from me that puts on live music every night and each night features a different sub-genre of extreme metal.

You hardly ever see a four string bass on that stage... then again you hardly ever hear an audible bass note either

[40hz]

In all my years gigging around Oxford I've seen maybe 2-3 5'ers. So this poll surprises me in that respect. I'd say a good 80% of what I see are 4 string Fenders and curiously enough, Yamaha's.

[herbass]

I play my 5string almost exclusively and I love it just as much as I need it for the music I play. Lately I've been playing my Fender jazz 4 stringer at home between gigs and I wonder often if I could switch back somehow!
The thing is, I find the low B extremely useful and my bass is also very comfortable! So it ain't happening! :-)

[EssentialTension]

I know one guy who always plays a five string but other than him I can't remembr when I last saw a fiver at a gig.

[spectoremg]

Four... with an octave pedal

[BigRedX]

Most of the bands that we play with use double basses.

And hardly any of the ones who don't use Fenders.