C vs. B Extension with Capo's

[anonymous12251111]

Just out of curiosity, is there anyone on this site that uses a B-Extension? Do you find them useful at all? I don't know of many pieces that require a low B except for Wozzeck. If you have one, do you find your bass to be more/less resonant than if it was tuned to a C?

Also, would you use a high tension low C extension string and just leave it tuned to a B?

Thanks!

PS: Any info on repertoire that includes low B's would be kinda cool to know.

[CPike]

Pines of Rome & Ein Heldenleben - that's all I can think of off the top of my head. I got the B just because I could, ha ha. Normal tension string works fine. There's no change in tuning, the B extension is nearly 3 in longer than a C ext. I occasionally find myself dropping down to the B for gratuitous octave transpositions, especially doing pops stuff. It's just cool... Around these parts we refer to it as "the brown note".

Chris

[arnoldschnitzer]

I'd like to chime in here as a luthier. The B extension has become popular in the last few years. A few of my clients have had them installed (elsewhere, because I won't). I see the same problem with every one; the extension is so long that the string's pull causes the unsupported end to warp downward, forcing a bow into the extension fingerboard. In other words, the extension fingerboard becomes convex along its length, rather than slightly concave, which is what it is supposed to do. The result is uneven sound and rattling. Every B extension I have seen suffers from this problem.

I just noticed there is another thread below about this subject, and wanted to add that I have not seen any KC Strings B extensions, so my comments don't apply to those. But I will say that I have a problem with their weight.

[robobass]

Even though there are few calls for a B, it is cool to have. Although I wouldn't want a B-extension on my bass, we play 5-stringers in my orchestra, and use the low B rather often, called for or not. There have even been several occasions this season when I tuned my 5th string to a Bb. We have been playing some comtemporary stuff where the musical line just cried out for it, and there was a big choral work (sorry, I cant remember the composer) where it was actually written.

I wonder how far this will go. Looking at pop music, almost no one played a 5-string E-bass in the 70's. Now it's practically required. I wonder if orchestra bassists will one day be asked to produce contra A's and G's! It wouldn't surprise me.
Robobass

[CPike]

If you build it, they will come...