Inexpensive 5 string bass

[LeftyP]

For some time now I have been thinking of getting a 5 string bass. I play in church and some of our worship songs drop down to an Eb and even to lower D.  I usually play them up the octave (Eb on the A string) and can get away with it but I then have to go to an F and then G by which time I am venturing into six string guitar territory!  I didn't want to spend a lot of money in case I couldn't get the hang of the extra string and my 75 year old back won't take a lot of weight to I hunted around the internet and eventually found a likely candidate at Gear4Music.

 

 

They do a "Chicago 5 string Bass" for £129.99 plus 99p postage!  This includes a lightweight carry case, audio lead and strap! How could I refuse?  When DPD delivered it the next day my wife joked that they must have sent me a toy plastic bass because the box was so light!  The bass was well packed inside a stout cardboard box that was inside another stout cardboard box.  When I eventually uncovered the bass I was impressed - it really looked good in a deep transparent red colour.  Using my luggage scales it weighed in at only 6.5lb (2.9kg).  That's about 1lb lighter than my 4 string semi-hollow Italia short scale and just a few ounces more than my Tanglewood violin (Beatle) bass!  On the strap there is very little neck dive and its contoured shape is kind to my aging body.

 

I changed the strings to LaBella lightweight flat wounds and the instrument sounds very good through my home system.  Getting used to the extra string is a challenge!  I'm either hitting the wrong string with my fretting hand or my plucking hand or both at the same time!  It's starting to come together and for £130.00 plus new strings this is one very capable bass guitar.  If you are thinking of venturing over to the dark side of 5 string but don't want to break your bank give this one a go.  I shall be playing in church this coming Sunday so there'll be plenty of practice to do between now and then.

[Mokl]

Looks very respectable, and I still find it remarkable that you can even get a functioning instrument at that price, yet here we are! 

 

Enjoy it, and my advice re the extra string: stick with it and say some point it will just click! 

[Geek99]

If I’ve learned one thing about 5, and it’s my third attempt it is to forget it’s there until you need to “play across” to avoid open strings - few songs use notes lower than E

example you could play teenaged dirtbag by playing across from fret 5 rather than use E and A open strings, then youre free to shift up and down by a semitone if needed

 

[Burns-bass]

43 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

If I’ve learned one thing about 5, and it’s my third attempt it is to forget it’s there until you need to “play across” to avoid open strings - few songs use notes lower than E

example you could play teenaged dirtbag by playing across from fret 5 rather than use E and A open strings, then youre free to shift up and down by a semitone if needed

 

Yes this is it. A 5 string is about economy of effort. You can basically play 90% of songs in one position. 

[HeadlessBassist]

The weight distribution of that bass sounds like a home-made Precision I have knocking around. The body is so light that it's almost comical. The bodies must be made from the lightest mdf/ply or balsa wood. But they do still sound pretty good.

 

I have two students who initially had G4M stuff. One had an average weight one, and the other had one that weighed more than a boat anchor. They must use the cheapest wood they can get in the Chinese factory. Weight be damned  

 

As for adjusting to 5-strings, initially just treat the B-string as an incredibly wide thumb-rest, then just accept that you have an extra string and more notes to play with. It will blend in in your mind in no time. I grew up with a 5-string Double Bass, so I really had to treat it as a full 5-string instrument, as opposed to just something merely with an extra string. You may find yourself occasionally playing on the wrong string. This too shall pass!