4 strings only?

[mcapote]

I owned a 5 string for a while, but now, all 4's. One of them is tuned DGCF, and that covers me just fine.

I thought about doing Db A D G to one of my basses for the couple songs I do that need it.

 

[KaizerWilhelm]

Im in the club. I don't plan on owning one any time soon. I love my 4s. If I want a B string, Ill string a bass BEAD. That simple.

 

[Tom Howland]

Started on 4-string.
Went to 6-string, then to 5-string.
Now play 4-string 80 % of the time.
I still have a MTD 535, if I need, or, want a 5er.

 

[marwady]

All but one are 4 bangers.

I have a Am Dlx P 5 that I really like, especially on transposed tunes where I need the extra notes or a more comfortable position.

Other than that, 4s are just fine for me.

 

[ZB3]

Four string basses just fit my hands better so that is what I own. Have fun with whatever you play, Wayne

 

[mccartneyman]

Every 5-string and 6-string has a free 4 string included!

 

[Danny Fox]

I owned a 6 string for a few months, it's four strings all the way for me.

 

[Greyfin10]

Can't say I'm proud to be in this club since it smacks of inflexibility on my part, but I just cannot feel as free on a 5+ as I do on a 4. I find that it automatically turns the bass into a foreign language that I only marginally know, whereas I'm fluent in four strings. Weird thing is, Hipshots don't bother me (so I use 'em extensively). As someone alluded to earlier, I think it has alot to do with my right hand placement...

It's too bad too because I really think it'd be a sonic improvement to go to 5 (I can't imagine a need for a six, but a fiver seems ideal for modern music).

 

[Danny Fox]

Weird thing is, Hipshots don't bother me (so I use 'em extensively). As someone alluded to earlier, I think it has alot to do with my right hand placement...

Hipshots changed my life

 

[David Jayne]

I played a 5 for a few years but I'm all 4's now, P basses.

 

[themacinator]

Yep...7 of them. 4 strings only for me...ever

 

[joshmat]

strictly 4-bangers currently

 

[dvh]

Tried a five but acquired an upright around the same time. There's a life's work so I'm concentrating on that and limiting my electric basses to 4 bangers.

 

[Orpheus55]

If I wanted six strings I'd play guitar (which I've proven I can't do!). Actually, I have been tempted by five-strings, but I'm an old dog and have played 4-stringers since the mid-sixties. And yet...you never know!

 

[EricF]

The only 5 I have is currently looking for a new home. I'm a 4s guy all the way.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

I only use 4-strings...

...when my 6-string basses are in the shop.

 

[T-MOST]

I own one but havn't played it since '95.

 

[Bryan R. Tyler]

If I wanted six strings I'd play guitar (which I've proven I can't do!). Actually, I have been tempted by five-strings, but I'm an old dog and have played 4-stringers since the mid-sixties. And yet...you never know!

That's a funny statement considering six-string bass guitars are quite a bit different than six-string standard guitars. That's like saying if I wanted four strings I'd play violin

 

[rosanne]

I have only 4 stringers. I'd love a 5er but my hands are soooo small.

 

[JohnnyB53]

I have a massive collection of two basses, and "all" of them are 4-stringers, a 1987 G&L Lynx and a 3-bolt G&L ASAT semihollow fretless. When I got the ASAT in Oct., I immediately started playing along with a lot of recordings and realized a fiver would enlarge the pocket I was playing in, and make it less necessary to go down to the first 3 frets (which is sort of uncomfortable for me on the ASAT). That put me on a 5-string obsession that kept me up late at night on the computer ogling a wide variety of 5-strings of various configurations and price points. But every time I go to a store and pick up a 5-string to see how I'd like it, I don't. I find the extra weight and neck size to be too much of a sacrifice in comfort and familiarity to get a few extra notes, or even to avoid dropping down to the 3rd fret on the E string when playing in C.

Maybe I should just de-tune the Lynx to DGCF or CFBbEb and play it on the few songs where the lower reach would be handy. Can't beat the price for finding out if it would work for me.