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Why hasn't the 5-string P become more prominent?

tranceFusion

tranceFusion

Supporting Member
May 15, 2008
1,130
110
Frederick, MD
#1
When I play a Jazz I want to tear up and down the fretboard, slaps/pops, lots of muted or stuttered notes, slides, and various other frills. This, IMO, is more easily to accomplish on a 4.

When I play a P, it is a big thunderous, no frills bassline. Straight and to the point. Every note is played with authority, and every note counts in the line. This style IMO lends itself much more readily to a thicker neck and additional effort required for muting the extra string, not to mention getting the extra thunder down low.

Why is it that the 5-string P has not been heavily demanded like 5 string Jazzes have? Is this related to America's obesity epidemic and modern day bass players being unwilling to move horizontally down the fretboard? :smug:
 
#3
Of course not, they just aren't cool! LOL! Think about it, most of the guys that are playing p-bass now days are not doing it for the tone, but for the retro vibe. What's reto about a five string p-bass?

Me personally, I am a p-bass freak. I really just have not quite adjusted to a five string neck. I have really dug the concept though.
 
#4
Dark Horse said:
My guess (and my personal experience being a P Bass/Fender guy) is that a lot of P Bass players are fairly "traditional" and aren't really into 5 strings.

YMMV
Click to expand...

and i would also add that most 5 string guys dont like 5st p basses . i think the stingray took all the steam away from the pbass in the 5 string dept . but i play spectors , so what do i know about a p bass ....
 
#5
The "traditional" nature of some P-bass players is probably part of it. I also think the additional definition from a bridge pickup is advantageous on a five, so despite the P/J possibility, the straight J is a more obvious choice. This is largely why I went with a J for my first (and so far only) five.
 
#7
Fender is one of the few mainstream vendors to really make a traditional 5-string P-bass. Yamaha makes a great BB, and others also make some variants but usually with different body shapes, etc.

Personally, I've been hounding Kurt at rondo every 6-months or so to make an SX 5-string P and P/J, but the response is always "I don't have an affordable source for 5-string P pickups."

Also, you take into account how many people already have P-basses they like and you're mainly selling to 'new sales' with a minimal benefit of the added B-string.

I'm a huge 5-string fan, but have struggled with justifying a 5-string P myself. However, I had no problem getting custom 5-string TeleP with singlecoil P pickup built. :: shrug ::
 
#11
Dark Horse said:
My guess (and my personal experience being a P Bass/Fender guy) is that a lot of P Bass players are fairly "traditional" and aren't really into 5 strings.

YMMV
Click to expand...

Guilty as charged. Even if I ever made the move to a 5, a P-Bass would not be on my short or even long list. Something about the 5-string P-Bass just doesn't look right. The proportions are all wrong. And I would make the same argument about the 5-string Jazz.

I would be much more likely to go with a StingRay for a 5-er even though I HATE what they did with the pickguard on the Ray 5s.
 
#14
Dark Horse said:
My guess (and my personal experience being a P Bass/Fender guy) is that a lot of P Bass players are fairly "traditional" and aren't really into 5 strings.

YMMV
Click to expand...

That makes sense, I guess 5 strings players are not looking to the traditional anyway, so would opt for a more modern instrument anyway

Just a guess, but it is true in my small hobby bands circle
 
#16
IMO, it's a combination of things already mentioned. Most P-bass fans are fairly traditional and don't see the need for the low B. And getting a split coil PUP that faithfully captures the traditional sound of a P bass in a five-string format has been a real problem.

Related to the first issue, most of the people wanting and pushing for a five-string have also traditionally been looking for more tonal range, and tended towards being more "out-front" bass players than the traditional P bass player. So there's not been much impetus from the market for a 5-string P. That seems to have been changing the last few years as the 5-sting becomes more ubiquitious. And after 30 years of trying, it appears that folks have come up with a PUP that sounds like a P bass but handles five strings.

John
 
#17
I've always seen the schools of thought regarding "five string" and "P-Bass" as two different camps that rarely, if ever, met in the middle.

It could be observed that there are different goals and intents with these two types of instruments - the five string implies more modern designs, active electronics, and a forward-thinking approach. The P-Bass implies a traditionalist approach and a firm stance in time-proven design. It's interesting that it took so long for manufacturers to introduce the 5 string Precision as regular production models - they're a relatively new (+/- 5 years) choice in the market.

I like both Precisions and 5 strings myself, but haven't had a real interest in a 5 string P. My remarks are only observations and opinion, in respect to the fact that there's always exceptions and that my explanation doesn't apply to or for everyone.
 
#18
My guess only reflects my own experience (disclosure: own both but am a P-man to the bone). Which is that while a P 5 string is to a J 5 string the way a P is to a J, I've not played (in my admittedly limited attempts to determine) a 5 string P that satisfied why I play a P in the first place. They were more fatback than my J, but not my P, and I want full fatback. I don't want punchier and girthier than, I want full on punchy girth.

And like Dark Horse said.


I used to have a fretless 6 string and it's not that it wasn't nice, but it didn't honk and fart, and you can eq girth into something with 6 strings for days but it's not the kind of girth I like to play.
 
#19
serein2j said:
I simply don't really need 5 strings. Added Hipshot D-tuner that can do down to C will do it for me.
Click to expand...

That's kind of my deal, too. I play my 4-string P in drop D tuning about half the time and I've gotten used to it enough that it's not really that big of deal. It's a heck of a lot easier for me to switch between standard and drop-D tuning on the same bass than it would be to switch between a 4 and a 5.
 
#20
I have a Lakland 55-02 and a DJ5 too, and I'm very happy with both. I never thought of a 5 string p bass, but today durring lunch i went out to the bass club in Chicago and played a Mike Lull 5Pbass. It sounded and played real nice. Now I'm gasing for 5 string P bass. Thay also had a Fender 5P bass that played real nice too.
 

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