on hipshot's website, they sell a kit for converting a four-string into a five. it includes 5 tuning machines, a bridge, and a nut blank. i don't get it. won't the string spacing be a bit unmanageable? especially on a jazz bass, which is what they show it on in the pictures. am i not getting something, or are other people more willing to put up with so little spacing?
I don't know if they are around anymore, but Wilkinson used to make a 5-string conversion kit that didn't require any special drilling of the headstock. You'd replace the bridge, the nut, and the string retainer (which was the fifth string tuner). I de-converted a G&L that had one of these, and it was a breeze to make it a 4-string again.
Is this the one that the extra tuner was on the bridge? I played a bass like that in a pawn shop a few years ago. The spacing wasn't that big of a deal, to me at least. It was tight (about 9/16" or so) but playable. I would be more concerned about the long-term impact on a neck designed to be a four string that is taking the tension load of a five string. Chas
pardon me if i'm misinterpreting, but i think he's saying that the fifth tuner was where the string tree would go, and it has grooves, so it acts as a string retainer as well. i guess maybe the string retainer/tuner would be the fourth tuner, and the one that was the fourth gets bumped to fifth. does that make sense? 1---2---3---4 e---a---d---g gets bumped to 1---2---3---sr---4 b---e---a---d----g sr being the newly added tuner. maybe that's not how it is; just my mind trying to envision. i agree about the tension - especially with the truss rod problems of fenders.
From what I have gathered, kits like that came out back when five-strings were very hard to come by, and they allowed people who couldn't get one the opportunity to have a fiver. Seems pretty useless nowadays, when fives are everywhere and don't cost much more than fours.
