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Any of you play a 5 string with EADGC strings?

X

xantometapon

Jan 23, 2011
81
3
#1
I have recently sold the only 5 string I had, mostly because I coud not get used to the low B string and seldom used it.

I was ready to pull the trigger on another 4 string, a Cort Artisan B4, and then I saw a video of a guy playing a B5 and said wow!

Super fast playing, seemed like a very low action and super punchy sound..wait a minute! the bass is strung and tuned EADGC!

Has any of you played or still play this configuration?

Pros and cons?
would you pull the trigger on the 5?
No real damage anyway as I will be spending only what I received for the bass I sold...

Thanks mates
 
#2
That's the way 5's were back in the olde days. I played several but never got into having a high string availble - I just didn't see the benefit compared to having a low B to expand my register in upper positions (which is the real value of a 5 - not the low "Below E" notes).
 
#3
The 5-string Bass Collection that I just bought off Ebay was strung EADGC and I quite liked it so kept it that way.

I also have a Dean Hillsboro single (EADG) which gives me my driving bass sounds and I tend to use the jazz-style Bass Collection for more poppy tuneful notes so thought a high C would really suit that. It lets me keep my left-hand positioned so that it doesn't have to move too much when playing up a scale.

It's still early days for it and I *may* string it BEADG (however I'm having a new brass nut made for it and it's not likely to be able to accommodate a low B without being recut).
 
#8
my fivers are both BEADG, but i once played one strung with a high C. i was in guitar center and saw a fretless alembic orion 5 leaning against an amp and two guys were by it talkin, i ask whos it was and if i could play it. the one guy said i could, then after a couple seconds i realized that it didnt sound right. i talked to the owner and found out it was strung with a high C, and that the owner was Trip Wamsley.
 
#10
BigOldHarry said:
That's the way 5's were back in the olde days. I played several but never got into having a high string availble - I just didn't see the benefit compared to having a low B to expand my register in upper positions (which is the real value of a 5 - not the low "Below E" notes).
Click to expand...

i don't really have much use for a 5er these days, but i agree that this is how a 5 string should be approached. not for the low B C C# and D.
 
#15
I play both, and find they are positively different. The EADGC offers scope for some very nice high chordal work, and places the bass in the right 'place' in my trio work - the low notes from the BEADG are not so useful there. The ability to get a fourth higher does not seem so important - above the high G on the C string, say. The BEADG sits together better, as the rather large variation in tone between the G and the C strings on the EADGC is absent, and is less than that between the B and E strings on the BEADG. But you loose the high chords. Very interesting. For me the main gain from them both is the ability to play over two octaves in one position, and the effects of this on the way they play overall. Both are fretted. Both are Warwicks so reasonably good basses.
 
#16
My Corvette has probably 3.5 of the 4 years I've owned it tuned E-C. I've been largely bandless in that time, mostly playing by myself through a junky Ibanez combo that can't handle a B, or with a drummer friend of mine. Alone, the melodic and chordal opportunities of the C string are really fun to explore, and its fun with the drummer, too, because you've got space to just rock out with power chords and suspended seconds.

When I got back into a pop/rock band, the C went away pretty fast. In a practical setting playing top 40 and classic rock, with 2-3 guitars, the C was useless, but the B was great for thickening notes for hip hop baselines and totally ignoring how the guitarists were tuned. Eb, D, whatever I needed without needed to tune on stage, between songs.

And of course, thunderous accents when needed. I love letting a B or C sustain at the end of a song that resolves on those chords.
 
#17
I believe there is a reasonably large minority here who tune EADGC. Shortly after I finish this message I am going to install the brand new strings sitting on the table beside me right now and tune my fiver that way, but backwards: CGDAE!!

Here is the true value of a fiver: it gives you five strings that you can tune any way you like. So have at it and enjoy!

Ken
 
#18
I think this makes a load of sense "My Corvette has probably 3.5 of the 4 years I've owned it tuned E-C. I've been largely bandless in that time, mostly playing by myself through a junky Ibanez combo that can't handle a B, or with a drummer friend of mine. Alone, the melodic and chordal opportunities of the C string are really fun to explore, and its fun with the drummer, too, because you've got space to just rock out with power chords and suspended seconds.

When I got back into a pop/rock band, the C went away pretty fast. In a practical setting playing top 40 and classic rock, with 2-3 guitars, the C was useless, but the B was great for thickening notes for hip hop baselines and totally ignoring how the guitarists were tuned. Eb, D, whatever I needed without needed to tune on stage, between songs.

And of course, thunderous accents when needed. I love letting a B or C sustain at the end of a song that resolves on those chords."

EADGC is better suited to trios (where I use it) than in the bigger settings. Recent trio work saw the guitarist detuned to Eb, which was nice as I could play in jazz keys (EB, Bb, maybe Ab) with the EADGC. The high C worked in that setting.
 

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