5 String Bass help needed

prowla

Bridgehouse said:

mixolyd said:

ICBM said:

And you can always tune your bottom string down to D to play Stand By Me...

Mind. Blown.

Or, buy a Hipshot drop D tuner, flick the lever, play "Stand By Me", flick it up again and carry on... 

And if that's too pricey, then just tune the bottom-E string down to D - that's what folks did before Hipshot came along...

Funkfingers

DLM said:

€2k is too much for a "basic" US Fender 4-string. Those prices are either too high.

All musical equipment in the Irish Republic is subject to an extortionate mark-up.

In the case of Fender, the further you get from their European distribution hub, the greater the overheads become. Various middlemen expect a cut. The government adds purchase tax. The customer's options are pay up or manage without. 

DLM

@Funkfingers How about buying online from Europe then? What's the Irish ceiling on tax-free EU imports?

Funkfingers

I do not know. 

What I can say, however, is that mail ordering will not help if the OP wishes to try before buying.

crunchman

ICBM said:

I have sometimes wondered about tuning my bass BEAD exactly for that reason. So still four .

I've thought about this tuning as well.

I did borrow a 5 string off of a friend for a while, and it just felt wrong.  G should be the third fret on the top (looking down at it, not pitch) string, but it's on the next string on a 5 string, which my brain thinks should be a C.

If I was going to play 5 string then I would probably need to play it full time because moving between 4 and 5 is not easy.

The other thing that I discovered is that my short fingers and the width of a 5 string neck don't work well together.

I would like a low D, but almost all the music I like was recorded with a 4 string.  If it's good enough for my musical heroes it's good enough for me.

DefaultM

I use a 5 string in a pink floyd cover band, because then for the songs in D like another brick and run like hell I don't have to detune.
So it's not needed but sometimes it's convenient anyway.

Rocker

I have decided against a 5 string bass in favour of a Fender Precision. The 5 string bass has a wide fretboard, which I don't like, and having tried out a Precision, the quality of the notes won me over. USA built basses are uber expensive here in Ireland, so it will most likely be a MIM bass. Used will bring the purchase price down so it is a question of waiting until a suitable bass comes on the market. Thanks for all your contributions guys, they helped me a lot.

DefaultM

I played a Roger Waters signature precision a bit ago and I really liked it. I thought it sounded better than my stingray 5, but they're probably trying to do different things.

DLM

Rocker said:

I have decided against a 5 string bass in favour of a Fender Precision.

Hardly mutually exclusive. https://www.thomann.de/de/fender_am_pro_p_bass_v_rw_3ts.htm

Funkfingers

<Facepalm> Somebody has not read this Discussion from the beginning.

It is a pity that this board does not allow a Discussion starter to close it once the question has been answered.