5 String Purchase Dilemma-What would you do?

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Maybe one of the newer entry level Sadowsky models would work for you .

 

[Michael Jewels]

This is my Ibanez BTB1205E.
The width at the nut is 1.85".
It's very wide across, but thin front to back. It's my favorite neck.
I think the current models have the same neck profile.
Good luck.
Mike

 

[Wasnex]

I'm not exactly with the "Just practice and deal with it" crowd. They make all kinds of neck profiles for a reason. Some truly amazing players play wide necks. Find what you like. Don't keep what you don't like.

I play 19mm 35" 5 string basses mainly.

Am I capable of playing a narrow 4? Yup. Do I take one to the gig from time to time? Yup.

But a big wide 5 is home to me. And I don't plan on changing that.

I agree that just dealing with it indefinitely is not the right answer. However, it can take a bit of time to adjust to a new bass and get comfortable with it. This is especially true if you have only ever played one bass. My point is the OP may not be able to make an informed decision on an instrument, without dealing with it long enough for the mind and body to make a few adjustments and relax into the instrument. The OP may find that after getting comfortable that the bass is awesome. Or playing the bass for an extended time may solidify the opinion that it's not a good choice.

 

[Manticore]

I'm very sensitive to the string spacing at the nut. I prefer old-school P style string spacing. Anything less and my left hand cramps up. I play six string basses exclusively, so the fingerboard with full string spacing at the nut is quite wide. Your choices are to either resolve to getting used to tight spacing or get a bass more suited to your current preference.

 

[MrLenny1]

IMHO keep the Yamaha and make it your primary player. You will get use to it
in time. I have the opposite issue, recently got a 4 string. It has 20 mm spacing
and all my 5 strings are 17.5 mm. I can play it but fast licks and tempos are not clean at all.

 

[Carl Hillman]

So I have been on the five string fence for awhile and finally pulled the trigger on a Yamaha 435 in tobacco burst from Sweetwater.

The bass is a built really well, sounds great and looks fantastic.

Now being a 4 string player for over 10 years I’m not having trouble with the extra string, it’s the tighter string spacing that’s causing some issues.

Now my 4 strings include a Sadowsky NYC, Fender Jazz American Special and a Shecter Signature.

When playing the new 5ver, my hand has been cramping and I fumble with my fret hand overlapping strings and missing notes. Not so on my 4 strings.

Now I never really concentrated on playing five strings in stores, as they usually never have a decent assortment, but playing this 435 for about 10 days, I now notice these issues.

I bought the Yammi on a whim based on great reviews from here and magazines.

Sweetwater will accept returns up to 30days.

Do all 5 string bass guitars have this tight spacing?

Does anybody make a 5 string with the exact spacing as say a Fender Jazz or Precision?

Or is this just how it is with the 5 string bass?

View attachment 4267342

I don't think 10 days is enough to get completely used to a different string spacing.

I'd suggest that you keep playing it, and just it, for several more days before you pull the trigger on a return.

 

[fishdude101101]

I've never had a problem going back and forth after I switched to floating thumb on the 5 string and the added that back to my 4 string playing. As far as the extra string, it never really confused me.

 

[Windreaper]

Well, it's a personal thing. I own both a BTB1205 (wide nut, thin asymmetric profile) and a BBP35 (narrow nut, a bit more meat front to back), and can switch between them just fine. The BTB profile is definitely my favorite, though.

The only bass I sold because of the neck was one of the early G&L L-2500 Tributes with a really chunky neck profile (I think they make them thinner now), but I'm thinking OP would probably like it.

 

[TheSeagoats]

My LTD is a *&$^%& awesome instrument and has 19MM spacing (what you are looking for).

View attachment 4267357

I've been looking to get one of these for awhile now and your reply is pretty high praise, do you have any audio or video clips of you playing it?

 

[Clark Westfield]

Thanks for everyone’s comments, very helpful.

One thing I do not want to do is to ‘get used to it’.

I don’t want to abandon $5k worth of basses and play something and get used to it.

Then have to adjust with my 4 strings.

The neck is narrow, guitar like. Never played a guitar, or want to.

It’s like those shoes hurt, but you will get used to them. No. Try a different mold or brand.

I have been playing up this bass for 10 days straight. Almost 2 hrs each day. Jam Kazam with my band, and it doesn’t feel like home.

Nothing to do with the extra string, confusing E for B, it’s tight.

Scales, arpeggios, songs, spiders. It’s just tighter than the 4 string.

Im playing my buddies Fender tonight back to back and will compare A and B.

To be continued:

 

[Solarmist]

The specs I found say the BB435 has 18mm string spacing at the bridge. In contrast, I believe 4-string P-Bass has 19mm string spacing at the bridge.

It's normal to get confused by the extra string. I moved from 4-string to 5-string, and then later moved from 5-string to 6-string. Both transitions degraded my ability to play.

Essentially you have a mental map of the fretboard in your head that helps you automatically know where the notes are. When you add an extra string it screws up your spatial references so you subconscious thinks you are on the E-string, when you are really on the B-string. When you realize this consciously it can lead to panic and confusion.

It's going to take you time to build and automate a new mental map, so you can play without thinking about where you are on the neck. My advice is play the 5-string exclusively until you get really comfortable. If you go back and fourth between 4-string and 5-string it tends to reinforce your 4-string map instead of allowing you to build the new 5-string map.

So IMHO you really need to make sure the string spacing is the source of your problem, rather than the confusion from dealing with the extra string.

My Yamaha TRB-6P (6-string) has 19mm string spacing, so it should be no problem finding a 5-string with 19mm spacing.

^^^ I would agree fully with this.

 

[Eon Sky]

Im playing my buddies Fender tonight back to back and will compare A and B.

To be continued:

You also mentioned going to a guitar store to try out some other fives hanging on the walls. Since you're still in the 30 day window, bring the Yamaha with you if you can so you can compare A/B with the wider selection (if the Fender still isn't feeling right). It's been my experience that playing something properly that feels "wrong" and then trying it on a different instrument to see if it feels "right" is a great way to help hone in what you're looking for.

 

[gg22]

Nut spacing, neck taper, and radius play a huge part in the feel. Unless you’re always playing at the bridge a la Jaco, that spec doesn’t tell the whole story for the plucking hand.

This x1000 times!
If you are heaving issues with your fretting hand, wider string spacing at the bridge won't mean much to you, nut width is much more important in this case. Btw - Yamaha's 5 stringers have, I believe, the narrowest nut width - 43mm, almost the same as a 4 string Pbass.

 

[LowActionHero]

Not sure on the spacing, but my 5 string through me off a bit when I first got it. Spent a weekend with it exclusively, thought I might have a problem going back to the 4s but I didn't, I feel pretty comfortable now switching back and forth

 

[Scott Lynch]

So I have been on the five string fence for awhile and finally pulled the trigger on a Yamaha 435 in tobacco burst from Sweetwater.

The bass is a built really well, sounds great and looks fantastic.

Now being a 4 string player for over 10 years I’m not having trouble with the extra string, it’s the tighter string spacing that’s causing some issues.

Now my 4 strings include a Sadowsky NYC, Fender Jazz American Special and a Shecter Signature.

When playing the new 5ver, my hand has been cramping and I fumble with my fret hand overlapping strings and missing notes. Not so on my 4 strings.

Now I never really concentrated on playing five strings in stores, as they usually never have a decent assortment, but playing this 435 for about 10 days, I now notice these issues.

I bought the Yammi on a whim based on great reviews from here and magazines.

Sweetwater will accept returns up to 30days.

Do all 5 string bass guitars have this tight spacing?

Does anybody make a 5 string with the exact spacing as say a Fender Jazz or Precision?

Or is this just how it is with the 5 string bass?

View attachment 4267342

If it’s your fretting hand that’s struggling, try a bass with a wider spacing at the nut. I believe the newer Yamaha 5ers are unusually narrow at the nut, somewhere south of 1 3/4” which is the most common narrow width I am used to seeing. Fender and Sadowsky 5 strings run 1 7/8”, which also is fairly common. I’d give one of those a try and see if that’s more comfortable.

 

[Lackey]

I don't quite understand this, but, I play everything from an aircraft carrier necked TRB-6 to a 32" scale 4 string, not to mention fretless and classical guitar.... I think this is a technique thing you need to work on if playing the instrument for a while is causing such big problems. I've found that being able to jump from one instrument to another is a big plus and has only helped my overall musicianship. IMHO

 

[Kipp Harrington]

So I have been on the five string fence for awhile and finally pulled the trigger on a Yamaha 435 in tobacco burst from Sweetwater.

The bass is a built really well, sounds great and looks fantastic.

Now being a 4 string player for over 10 years I’m not having trouble with the extra string, it’s the tighter string spacing that’s causing some issues.

Now my 4 strings include a Sadowsky NYC, Fender Jazz American Special and a Shecter Signature.

When playing the new 5ver, my hand has been cramping and I fumble with my fret hand overlapping strings and missing notes. Not so on my 4 strings.

Now I never really concentrated on playing five strings in stores, as they usually never have a decent assortment, but playing this 435 for about 10 days, I now notice these issues.

I bought the Yammi on a whim based on great reviews from here and magazines.

Sweetwater will accept returns up to 30days.

Do all 5 string bass guitars have this tight spacing?

Does anybody make a 5 string with the exact spacing as say a Fender Jazz or Precision?

Or is this just how it is with the 5 string bass?

View attachment 4267342

Stick with a 4.

 

[Windreaper]

I don't quite understand this, but, I play everything from an aircraft carrier necked TRB-6 to a 32" scale 4 string, not to mention fretless and classical guitar.... I think this is a technique thing you need to work on if playing the instrument for a while is causing such big problems. I've found that being able to jump from one instrument to another is a big plus and has only helped my overall musicianship. IMHO

I think most of us have at least one type of neck or string spacing we're not really comfortable with, though. I mean, I play everything from 6-7 string electrics to 4-6 string basses, fretted and fretless, and you learn to adjust your technique to neck dimensions. Even so, don't like chunky necks or 16.5mm string spacing (fine with a pick, though), just mechanically uncomfortable to play.

We all have hands and bodies of slightly different proportions, and use different styles of plucking and muting to get the desired effect. I've played for quite a while, and still have similar preferences as when starting out despite having a more refined technique at this point.

I think my first fiver was an early 2000s G&L L-2500 Tribute I bought totally blind like the OP. I recall it took about a day or two to adjust to the 5th string, but never got to like the chunky neck profile despite owning the bass for at least a year. I've since bought multiple fivers that clicked with me right away, so I don't think it makes much sense to hang tight expecting things to get better down the line.

 

[Altitude]

The specs I found say the BB435 has 18mm string spacing at the bridge. In contrast, I believe 4-string P-Bass has 19mm string spacing at the bridge.

It's normal to get confused by the extra string. I moved from 4-string to 5-string, and then later moved from 5-string to 6-string. Both transitions degraded my ability to play.

Essentially you have a mental map of the fretboard in your head that helps you automatically know where the notes are. When you add an extra string it screws up your spatial references so you subconscious thinks you are on the E-string, when you are really on the B-string. When you realize this consciously it can lead to panic and confusion.

It's going to take you time to build and automate a new mental map, so you can play without thinking about where you are on the neck. My advice is play the 5-string exclusively until you get really comfortable. If you go back and fourth between 4-string and 5-string it tends to reinforce your 4-string map instead of allowing you to build the new 5-string map.

So IMHO you really need to make sure the string spacing is the source of your problem, rather than the confusion from dealing with the extra string.

+1. I suggest the OP put the 4 strings in the case for 6 weeks or more and only play the 5. It’s the only way to break those spatial mind habits.

 

[KevinMG]

Sounds like you know the answer. Send it back. 1.69” on a 5 string is tight and your hand is giving you a signal. I’ve experienced similar discomfort on narrower necks. You won’t adjust. You might injure your hand instead. Fortunately, Sweetwater is easy to return to. They’ll arrange return shipping at their corporate rate which was around $35 when I sent a bass back a few years ago.

Plenty of wider neck options out there. Finding local stores with decent stock might be a different challenge these days. But at least you have an idea of what you’re after. Happy hunting!