First off, yes. This is crazy, I am crazy, What a crazy thing to do. The crazy things you see these days. You now have thorough understanding of this post and need read no further. 
This is a $90 shipped ebay purchase. It almost went to a local community fundraiser, but they stopped accepting by the time I got there. Now, it's mine for experimentation.
The nut is 41mm which I consider wide for a 4 string. 41mm is also smaller than the smallest 5-string neck around 43mm+.
To me, 41mm would make an excellent (albeit tightly spaced) 5-string with ideal bridge pitch of 14mm. 15mm is getting too wide for this neck.
Here's what that looks like.
Four spare Ibanez SR300 tuners + one stock
And just as importantly...There is plenty of edge space on the B and G and they fit within the stock 4 pole passive pups. Good enough for this experiment.
As you can see though, while the bridge is the perfect width, how do I brace that center string? Another saddle in front of the others won't work for intonation. The 2 saddles can't be welded as I have no welder and again lose 'precise' intonation. Can't add material on top of the saddles for the height disparity it would cause.
And yes, I simply drilled through the body, added ferrules on the back side and voila, through-body strings. And that other bridge down there...
This is the tightest 5-string bridge I could find at 16mm for $25 shipped. 16mm is 2mm too much. My option here is grind down ~2mm of distance from between each saddle and then pin the outer saddles so they don't wobble around side-to-side or slip out of final position (once known). This bridge allows for behind-bridge strings and through-body if I want to.
Status. If I hadn't 2nd guessed myself on the nut, I'd have it done I've done some painting and it's ready for the local Tech cut a new bone nut this week. While I await that, my option is to start grinding the 5-string bridge and consider how thin a piece of aluminum I could slip under the center string on the 4-string bridge and would it slip out with playing?
I am determined to make this work. I don't know how yet. Maybe someone here does. I don't have access to grenades, flamethrowers, burn pits, chippers, chainsaws, hatchets, large garbage disposals or shady 'friends' with 'suspicious names' who 'fix things' for 'you'. Nor is there much of any budget. What I do have is access to tinker-grade tooling, open ears and mind.
Anyone?
PS.
$90 Bass
$70 Paint
$45 Bone nut
$25 Bridge
$00 Ibanez tuners
$00 Spare strings
$230 subtotal. I may be able to justify another $20 to the project. It would otherwise revert to a 4-string with a 5th tuner.
This is a $90 shipped ebay purchase. It almost went to a local community fundraiser, but they stopped accepting by the time I got there. Now, it's mine for experimentation.
The nut is 41mm which I consider wide for a 4 string. 41mm is also smaller than the smallest 5-string neck around 43mm+.
To me, 41mm would make an excellent (albeit tightly spaced) 5-string with ideal bridge pitch of 14mm. 15mm is getting too wide for this neck.
Here's what that looks like.
Four spare Ibanez SR300 tuners + one stock
And just as importantly...There is plenty of edge space on the B and G and they fit within the stock 4 pole passive pups. Good enough for this experiment.
As you can see though, while the bridge is the perfect width, how do I brace that center string? Another saddle in front of the others won't work for intonation. The 2 saddles can't be welded as I have no welder and again lose 'precise' intonation. Can't add material on top of the saddles for the height disparity it would cause.
And yes, I simply drilled through the body, added ferrules on the back side and voila, through-body strings. And that other bridge down there...
This is the tightest 5-string bridge I could find at 16mm for $25 shipped. 16mm is 2mm too much. My option here is grind down ~2mm of distance from between each saddle and then pin the outer saddles so they don't wobble around side-to-side or slip out of final position (once known). This bridge allows for behind-bridge strings and through-body if I want to.
Status. If I hadn't 2nd guessed myself on the nut, I'd have it done I've done some painting and it's ready for the local Tech cut a new bone nut this week. While I await that, my option is to start grinding the 5-string bridge and consider how thin a piece of aluminum I could slip under the center string on the 4-string bridge and would it slip out with playing?
I am determined to make this work. I don't know how yet. Maybe someone here does. I don't have access to grenades, flamethrowers, burn pits, chippers, chainsaws, hatchets, large garbage disposals or shady 'friends' with 'suspicious names' who 'fix things' for 'you'. Nor is there much of any budget. What I do have is access to tinker-grade tooling, open ears and mind.
Anyone?
PS.
$90 Bass
$70 Paint
$45 Bone nut
$25 Bridge
$00 Ibanez tuners
$00 Spare strings
$230 subtotal. I may be able to justify another $20 to the project. It would otherwise revert to a 4-string with a 5th tuner.
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