Bass VI - standard tuning or all 4ths?

[HaphAsSard]

Is it?

Yes.

Or is it just culturally ingrained, something we are accustomed to through years of exposure?

E.g., if guitars had been tuned EADGCF for the past ~600 years, would we (still, now) be bemoaning how awkward it is to form chords on that instrument?

Possibly. Or, more probably, people would use a number of alternative tunings, as some do in our universe.

Look at it from another perspective: tuning the higher two strings of a guitar a semitone up is trivially simple, yet rarely done (if I'm not mistaken, Stanley Jordan is one guitarist that does it). Why? Habit, tradition? Certainly true for many, but, as I said, alternative tunings are a thing. Why isn't all-fourths king among them?
My conclusion - others may come to a different one - is that there is indeed something to be said for that pesky major third thrown in.


Speaking of which:

let me clarify the question:

Are you wanting an instrument tuned BEADGC?

You need to clarify who you're questioning, first. Poster #9 above is. The OP has his options clearly laid out in the opening post.

Or an instrument tuned BEADGbB?

The major third of D is F#, not Gb. Six of one, but not one of seven, so to speak.

Or an instrument tuned EADGFC?

That would be wild, with a whole minor seventh between the G and the F, and a perfect fifth between the F and the C. But hey, might work for some.

Or an instrument tuned EADGBbE?

Also wacky: minor third between G and Bb, an augmented fourth between the latter and high E.

As an attempt to answer the question: I am NOT a guitar player. I know the CAGED chords and that’s it. I am a bass player.

But in an attempt to experiment a little, I want to buy me a Big Lou guitar with an extra-wide neck, and I plan to have it tuned BEADGC, because that makes the most intuitive sense to me.

Why should we have one string that’s not like the other strings? Why can’t they all be uniform? Then job don’t have to re-learn your basic shapes. They apply all over the fretboard, not just the top half.

For all the shade this forum throws guitarists, especially the tee-eh-arr-dee suffix, I wouldn't find fault with them twisting the old joke against us:
"How do you get a bass player to stop playing?

You tune one of their string pairs a major third apart."

I declare war on the Bb! No Bb! No Bb!

You're literally the only one considering Bb as an open pitch in this thread - except for the OP, who does...in the context of an all-fourths tuning (DGCFBbEb), in practice agreeing with you.