BEAD?

[iceberg]

Anyone restringing 4 stringers for 5 string shananigans? Curious if you guys have run into any obstacles/problems doing this. Might have to do it for a gig or two and thought I'd run it by yas.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

The mod is obviously not swappable back and forth easily, as You have to carve a new nut for the beefier strings.

Another "obstacle" is the saddle height and the saddle groove. Some of the 4-stringer bridges/saddles are not designed for .135 strings. OTOH some saddles can not be lowered enough for the normal .135 string without reworking the groove.

Some (Skulls for example) .135s have an exposed core that renders them useless if there's not individually adjustable saddles.

Sometimes there's not enough adjustment on the bridge to back the B saddle far enough to intonate it correctly. In that case a 5-10 millimeter bridge relocating is a must.

I'd suggest that You find an another bass to string BEAD, you won't regret it .

Regards
Sam

[iceberg]

Very good points. Thanks!

[slaerts]

I'm a 5 or 6 string player. I had an old acoustic bass that I couldn't sell and it was 4 string and useless to me. I simply restrung it with a cheap 5 string set with BEAD. My only problem was that the plugs that keep the strings in at the bridge kept comming out on the B and E strings. I threaded a nail through the holes of the string ends, has been working fantastic for last 3 or 4 months. No other adjustments were necessary to nut or bridge or anything. You will definitely need a second bass as it takes a long time to re-string between songs or sets. But cheap basses can be good ones. Give it a go.

[RickenBoogie]

I've recently done this to a brand new Ric 4004Cii. A bit of nut filing was all I needed. Using a .125 for the B string, absolutely no problems, intonation is spot on. Even has a better feeling AND sounding low B than my 5 string Gibson, hence, the Gibson is for sale.

[mikeyswood]

Try taper core strings. That will solve your bridge part and the nut part will be close enough for a practice bass. When you can justify multiple basses you can have multiple set ups.

[GeoffByrne]

Having done this on several basses, it's my experience that, when returning to EADG, you'll have fewer problems if the bass you modded has an angled headstock.

The Fender-type heads/nuts I've modded *did* tend to sip around a little bit when returned to standard and benefited from a replacement nut.

On the other hand, the angled-headstock variety seemed to be pretty stable even with the widened slots in the nut.

YMMV

[thumblypeg]

I'm in the process of doing this very thing to my MIM jazz right now. Is it necessary to use a 5 string nut and just file off the extra bit? Or can I just modify the existing nut. I need this pretty quick and can't find anybody local that carries a 5 string nut. I don't have time to wait for a shipment.

[T-Bird]

Hi.

The way I see it, You can't use the 5 string nut as the string spacing is different with 4 vs. 5 string at the nut.
You could, but it'd probably look and feel weird.

I've always either modified the original nut or cut a new one.

If You're really in a hurry and you don't have appropriate files or drill bits to roll the sand-paper over, I've used old strings (round-wounds obviously ) to reshape the grooves. NOT the best method by any means, but can be done.

Regards
Sam

[bassbombs84]

Oh yeah, did it to my warwick thumb bo. Totally beast. Best five string I ever played Intonation is right on. Put DR black beauties that my local store was able to order for me, custom gauge 130 105 85 65 (for the price of a normal 4 string pack). It worked out great on the warwick because i can swap out the adjustable nut to a diffrent one when I want to go back to EADG. (with a setup of course)