I know I should just try it, but am curious if any others are using A standard tuning which would be ADGC (plus F on a 5 string). I already tune to BEAD and tend to play down low on all types of music and almost never use the D string. I could drop down another full step or could even shift the strings over and tune to F#, B, E, A. I almost like that option better but it would be hard to find a suitable F# string. For A standard I could just drop down a step with my current LaBella 1954 flats which have plenty of tension. I'm thinking that the only downside for me would be having to learn the fretboard again.
Well, yes, on my Knuckle Quake 5er, but not really, because the lowest string is the E below that A. But I gotcha covered with the other 4. You want to get really low, you have to get some very special strings. Kalium (used to be Circle K) is the only place I know to get the strings I need for the Quake.
So you are an octave below the usual E standard? Wow! I have heard of that on an 8 string but not a 5. Do you basically play an octave down most of the time? I have heard about Circle K and should look them up. Do you happen to know if they have flatwounds?
Yup, EADGC starting at E0, 20.6hz. Shakes the very ground. Seriously, I am looking for a better amp / speaker system. I haven't been playing it all that often lately. It's fretless, and what I love about the sound isn't so much the ultra low notes (though those can be quite awesome), but playing in the middle of the neck - like any fretless, that's where all of that gorgeous "mwah" tone is, and it is most certainly there - but with everything, harmonic structure and all, one full octave down. So I'm playing the usual "low E" at the 7th fret on the A string, and getting that mwah tone in a whole different register. That's the part of the sound I love. "Organic" mwah tone an octave down, in a way no octave box could replicate. Like singing thunder.
I don't know offhand if they have flats, don't recall seeing them. Someone does really long thick flats, though, I think, for "electric uprights". The GHS Crossovers are like that, except somewhat pressure-wound, not flat, I have them on my Bassoguitar now, loudest set I've tried yet. (Going to try those mandobass strings too!)
Awesome! Are you familiar with Yves Carbonne? He plays an 8 string which is basically your bass plus a standard bass with a super wide fingerboard.
Haven't heard of him before, I don't think - that must be huge! I don't think my fingers are long enough for an instrument like that, I have trouble even on a wide 6er.
As I mentioned in another thread my basses are tuned starting on C but one of them does have a Hipshot tuner that can go as low as an A if I want to. I use the Eb and D a lot, the C some, and I have only dropped down to a B on one occasion in the last three years although I may do that more frequently going forward. My main bass is a Reggie Hamilton sig and it is the one that comes standard with the Hipshot. The MIM versions like mine are only available as four strings but there is a Custom Shop version too that is available as a IV and a V. The V of course is intended to be tuned BEADG however it also has a Hipshot tuner on the low string. So that would imply a certain amount of market popularity for the notion of dropping below a B at least occasionally. Oh, and Kalium makes a huge range of string gauges. They certainly could make you an F# string if it will fit your bridge and tuner. Unless they have added flats since earlier this summer they only make rounds however.