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Are all six strings the same??

#21
Practice a whole lot (Good solid practice) and you will be comfortable. Then shopping for your "ultimate(s)" will be no different than shopping for your ultimate 4 string.

I dropped the 4 completely in 1995 in order to force myself to work on the 6. I find it was worth it. I can still pick up a 4 in a pinch but the neck now feels like a toothpick at first.

If you really want to play a 6 there's nothing stopping you but you. With a proper setup the instruments you list should get you started just fine. Again, with solid practice.:bassist:

Please apply IME and IMHO to all the above.
 
#22
Try as many 6str basses as possible (in bass shops as well from friends). Find what feels "initially" ok to great, and then spend some time with it. Patience and practice makes wonders ONLY if the bass feels comfortable from the start.

I had bought and tried several many great 6str basses only to end up selling them all. I was very comfortable with my two Conklin 7str basses, as well as my Aries 7str and another custom 7str; but not with any 6str bass. That was until I tried my first 6str Dingwall Prima (which I bought sight unseen), and it was a revelation!!! Everything fell into place. In fact, I even sold all my 7str basses (I admire 7+string players, but I'm not at their level and expertise to make the bass work as well as a 4,5 or a 6 in my hands)

After the initial 6str Prima, I bought another two 6str Prima Artist basses and have not regretted it. This is my experience.
 
#23
I played only 6s from 1992-2003. When I bought a new 4 for teaching I found I could flat fly around on it! So now I play a 5 string Sekou Bunch on my General Business gigs and commercial sessions, fretted and fretless 6 string Carvin and Modulus basses and a Groove Tools Bill Dickens 7 string for my Jazz, Fusion and other Gigs of Wretched Excess :D and have 4 strings for teaching students.
So when I get on a four I feel like Shawn Lane or Jimi Hendrix-I can rip on the things! So I guess I'm back to 4-5-6 and 7 again!
The necks vary widely from builder to builder, so you can probably find an easy neck to play. In the Brice/Douglas/SX I'd probably pay the additional for the neck through, they seem a little slimmer. The Ibanez neck-throughs seem a little easier to play to me as well.
FWIW, the Carvin and Modulus necks are really easy to play, IMHO.
 
#24
joe vegas said:
The new Alleva-Coppolo 6 is great. 34", traditional P style neck feel but wide and flat, and it's 19mm spacing with a wide nut. It's a new standard, a whole different sound than the TRB/JPII- big modern P bass sound, tight and punchy, but just as wide all around, dimension-wise. the yamahas are classic and built beautifully, but this is the new different kid in the sandbox. Once cats start playing it, word will spread.
Click to expand...

Oh, my! That is tempting......
 
#26
Technique isn't that much of an issue for me (between basses), I try to a play a lot of somewhat heavy technique tunes, (got a match, donna lee, flight of the bumble bee :P) I can play either on a 4 or 6

Anyway, I probably do think it's my instrument too, I played an Alain Caron F bass fretless today and I wanted to cry when I saw the price tag.. again it was fretless, the 6 string f Bass was nice too, but sadly wasn't set up.

When I say uncomfortable I just mean what's easier to play, I've been playing my six heavily for a year now, and started getting unmotivated until I picked up my 4 :hyper:
 
#27
the gtr ctr in hollywood has or had a very expensive fender 6 string that felt like playing a bicycle or a chainsaw. not good.
of course the answer to your question is no. I noticed the ibz 506 is similar to the 706 that you have, but it's unfinished, a mahogany body, & a little ugly compared to the 706, HOWEVER, it is super super comfortable & nice to play. I love looking at the 706 or btb776pb (?) neck-through devil-horned thing, but i must admit the 506 is a darling to play & hold. i think it's the non-varnished wood & neck that makes the difference. so if i was blind & didn't care about appearance of a bass--sometimes I don't--i'd take the varnish off the back of the neck. Scale also adds up or catches up eventually. I believe 706 is 34", no? strange how subtle things on a bass can direct our preferences.
I sand the varnish off my necks but then again I don't have $$$$ basses
 
#28
whathefunk said:
Technique isn't that much of an issue for me (between basses), I try to a play a lot of somewhat heavy technique tunes, (got a match, donna lee, flight of the bumble bee :P) I can play either on a 4 or 6

Anyway, I probably do think it's my instrument too, I played an Alain Caron F bass fretless today and I wanted to cry when I saw the price tag.. again it was fretless, the 6 string f Bass was nice too, but sadly wasn't set up.

When I say uncomfortable I just mean what's easier to play, I've been playing my six heavily for a year now, and started getting unmotivated until I picked up my 4 :hyper:
Click to expand...

Well I do think Spade is right about technique - a 6 isn't quite a plug-n-play replacement for the 4 and you do have to relearn some things (as you already know I'm sure).

But I honestly think the reasons not to play a 6 are only going to boil down to ergonomics nowadays, such as the case with me.

And I still do play my 6 but only for stuff I can't play on the 4 (and only playing seated so I don't crease my wrist too much).

Finally, a good 6 string doesn't have to make you cry. My two Bunnies here probably together come in under the price of an F bass, but quality-wise are going to be pretty close, for sure far better than would ever make a difference for my level of playing....

LS
 
#29
joe vegas said:
yeah roy, i think you'd dig it! it's definitely a new thing- P/J grit and punch, in a wide 6.
i just checked out your samples from Urban Legend- it's a great disc, and the bass sounds are huge.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Joe!:) I was very happy with my tone on that CD. The basses are the Conklin/GTBD7, the Modulus fretted 6, a Carvin Claro Walnut fretless 6 (my "A" studio fretless) and a Carvin LB76 with piezos and the bridge humbucker on the shuffle (I dug it's "sizzle" from the piezos) all through the Eden Navigator. My engineer, Voytek Kohanek, is amazing! He's worked with Steve Vai, Larry Carlton, Chaka Khan, and Ozzy Osborne among others-so he gets major props for the tone, IMO!
I'll see if Corner Music or The Low End will be getting one of these beasts in so I can check it out.:bassist:
 
#31
i prefer a 4. i have owned fives and never really liked them. I have big hands so thats not an issue. And i pick up and play a 6 anytime i see one just for kicks and at some point would like one. the only 6's i ever played and liked where an late 80's maybe early 90's warwick thumb nt. Not set up at all to my liking but it sounded good and i was comfortable on it. If i had the cash i would have bought it off the guy. And i played a yamaha of some kind i think it was a trb. It was comfortable and sounded good. it was used at a sam ash. I have never really liked the ibanez 6's that i have played i just dont like how flat the back of the neck is and how thin the neck was (not width) i just feel like there is nothing to hold onto. I have found the more "high end" the bass was the better it felt to play. but again i still just prefer a 4.
 
#33
Roy Vogt said:
Thanks, Joe!:) I was very happy with my tone on that CD. The basses are the Conklin/GTBD7, the Modulus fretted 6, a Carvin Claro Walnut fretless 6 (my "A" studio fretless) and a Carvin LB76 with piezos and the bridge humbucker on the shuffle (I dug it's "sizzle" from the piezos) all through the Eden Navigator. My engineer, Voytek Kohanek, is amazing! He's worked with Steve Vai, Larry Carlton, Chaka Khan, and Ozzy Osborne among others-so he gets major props for the tone, IMO!
I'll see if Corner Music or The Low End will be getting one of these beasts in so I can check it out.:bassist:
Click to expand...

thanks, roy! that is truly an awesome smorgasbord of sound-machines! some of the low end reminded me of anthony j. with michel and with eyewitness: rich, grand piano-like lows, that orchestral "punch & spread" tone that waves out from the B. excellent.
i'll alert jimmy about those 2 shops, and will send you info as that develops.
peace jg
 

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