5 string bass, is extended scale a must?

[hahallur]

Ok so I've been trying out a bunch of 5 string basses. It's a bass I'm going to be using for recording and live play.

I've tried 34" and 35", both have pros and cons. The 35" is tighter while the 34" is a bit looser and easier to play. My friend thinks getting a 34" 5 string is blasphemy.

I'm just wondering if I end up getting a 34" bass if the low B is going to have problems.

 

[Baird6869]

My Fodera 5er is 34" and I ordered another "34" 5er.

Depends on the bass but there are many great 34" 5ers out there IME. Sadowsky, Fender, Stingrays, etc....

 

[msact]

I have a Spector 5er that's 35 and a SR5 thats 34. They are both fine. Actually the Spector has a smaller body so I don't really notice the difference in length between the two.

 

[mindwell]

In a word, nope. 34" scale works just fine on any number of 5-string basses.

 

[Doctor J]

You'd think the percentage of 34" 5ers out there would be in the high 90's. Clearly, a 34" scale B string is not, in itself, a problem. Build quality goes a lot further in B string quality than scale length.

 

[Emanuel Apascaritei]

My Adamovic fiver is 34". The low B is to die for.

Ken Smith are 34", killer B string

Sadowsky are 34" and are reknown for its B string.

 

[Dregg]

My Tobias has a 34" neck and the B sounds fantastic. That said, if you plan to detune to A or even Ab then 35" might be the thing you want. But as others pointed out; build quality goes a long way.

 

[Ric5]

5 string bass, is extended scale a must?

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Absolutely not!!

I only own 5 string basses. I sold all of my 35" scale basses years ago. All of mine are 33" or 34".

 

[MaddAnthony_59]

I have several of both, 34" & 35" 5/6 strings. It varies.

My ESP LTD F105FM is a 35" scale bass, and not the best sounding "B" ever. In fact, it is next to last... But my Carruthers MM/J is also a 35", and is my best sounding "B". My Warwicks are all 34" scale, as are my Aria, G&L 2500, and Valenti PJ. All sound Fabulous. (Especially the Valenti! )

 

[Sheffield]

+1 to all of the nopes. It's not needed.

(TL; DR addition: An engineer or physicist could probably make this point more clearly, but I can't see a reason that the tension on a string should be more than a function of string gauge, string material, and scale length - meaning you should be able to just figure out the tension that feels right to you on an E string, and buy a B string that's close in feel to that.)

 

[Fuzzbass]

My friend thinks getting a 34" 5 string is blasphemy.

That's just crazy talk. Seriously.

Like you, I've owned 34" and 35". I have no difficulty playing 35", but the overall timbre sounds different so I prefer 34".

I'll put my Sadowsky 34" B strings against any 35" -- except perhaps a composite neck beast like the Modulus Quantum, but they have a very different timbre overall, too modern for me.

Note: the 35" I owned were no slouches: in addition to the Quantum 5, I had a Lull P5 and MTD 535. All fantastic basses, and my Lull P5 (passive bolt-on) was as traditional as you can get aside from scale length, but again the 35" timbre isn't quite my thing, not even in that case. So, like Ric5, I sold/traded all my 35"ers.

 

[Jaco Taco]

35" basses are silly. If you are worried about the B string on a 34" just get it a 135 gauge.

 

[Bassdirty]

In a word, nope. 34" scale works just fine on any number of 5-string basses.

+34

 

[Hankenstein]

I have 34" and 33" 5 strings and 6 strings. They are just peachy.

I've had 35" fivers. 35" is uncomfortable to my hand

 

[PastorofMuppets]

There is no such thing as "must" in bass playing.
I have 35" laklands and dig em, and I also have liked a few fenders and all that.
Key word here is like. What do you like. play dat.

"There's no crying in baseball...."

 

[Lonnybass]

Your friend should try out a couple of Sadowsky's.

Personally, I think a lot of "B" strings sound wimpy and thin because the amplication being used doesn't always do it justice. Which is precisely why as a 5 string player I've liked the Acme & Fearful concept much more than cabinets with a big midrange hump.

Lonnybass

 

[Roscoe East]

In a word, nope. 34" scale works just fine on any number of 5-string basses.

...so long as that "any number" is less than the total number available, agreed.

I wouldn't want to make any generalizations based on my experiences. But I do know that all of the 35" 5-string basses I've played had a better sounding B string than any of the 34" 5-string basses I've played.

Doesn't mean I wouldn't buy a 34" 5-string, just that I haven't found one yet that sounds as good as the longer scale instruments I've heard and/or own.

But there are a ton of 34" 5-strings out there that I've never played, so it would be ludicrous to suggest there's an inherent difference based on my limited sampling.

 

[Guitalia]

Under 30" scale 5-strings work, too: playing with a modern country band, I use a mid-'70s P bass occasionally, but my Ibanez Mikro 5er and LTD B5-Jr get used most.

 

[Herrick]

Doesn't Birdsong make short scale 5-strings? Those are supposed to be great. So no, you don't "need" a 35" scale. How did the 34" scale sound when you played them?

 

[awilkie84]

In my band, I play mainly a 5 string for the versatility. That low B can be really nice to have. This is especially so in blues/pop/rock.