I know there are probably a million posts about a topic like this so i apologize in advance. I'm starting up a band with a few friends of mine and we're gone play stuff like bring me the horizon, attack attack, etc (tuning like B standard A# stuff like that) i was gonna get a new bass because i wana keep my p bass set up for standard and im really not a fan of the spacing and neck of 5 strings and i heard about the 5 string setup on a 4 and thought id try it out. Do you guys think this would work on a fender jazz? If not know any other bass this would work better on?
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BEAD tuning on Fender Jazz?
- Thread starter Pickftw
- Start date
Works fine, just have to get your nut slots adjusted. The tension isn't really a big change, but a little tweak of the truss rod will set you right up.
I've been thinking of doing a BEAD and was wondering if the nut is widened, can it be re-strung up as EADG or is the nut too wide and need to be replaced?
Yes! Jazz basses in Bb sounds amazing and the transition is a breeze. I'm actually making the transition from drop A to drop F on my 6. You'll want to purchase an unslotted blank nut (I'd suggest a graphtech black tusq) and new strings to compensate for the tension loss (Circle K drop tuned .136 set should be good.). Take both to a shop and have them slot you a new nut with your new strings and you should be good to go!
please don't abuse it by playing Attack Attack on it 
It will work fine though, Tim Commerford used a Jazz tuned BEAD in Audioslave
It will work fine though, Tim Commerford used a Jazz tuned BEAD in Audioslave
I have tuned 3 Fender Jazz basses CGDA and it worked fine on all of them. With that tuning you only have to widen one slot on the nut but I don't think it is any harder to do four slots on one bass than one slot on three different basses. 
You can use the Circle K and D'Addario string tension charts to build a custom string set that will give you the same tension you have now or any other tension setup you would like to try. BassStringsOnline.com can sell you a custom string set for many brands, Circle K will sell you their strings. But since you are tuning BEAD you can just use the bottom four strings from a five string set to get reasonable tensions.
You might want to consider getting a 24 fret bass though. When you tune BEAD you lose five half steps off the top of your range to get the extra five at the bottom end. People vary, some find that to be a major issue, some find it to be a non-issue. Since you seem to be a 20 fret Fender guy at the moment you can gain four of the five back by using a 24 fret bass for BEAD tuning.
Ken
You can use the Circle K and D'Addario string tension charts to build a custom string set that will give you the same tension you have now or any other tension setup you would like to try. BassStringsOnline.com can sell you a custom string set for many brands, Circle K will sell you their strings. But since you are tuning BEAD you can just use the bottom four strings from a five string set to get reasonable tensions. You might want to consider getting a 24 fret bass though. When you tune BEAD you lose five half steps off the top of your range to get the extra five at the bottom end. People vary, some find that to be a major issue, some find it to be a non-issue. Since you seem to be a 20 fret Fender guy at the moment you can gain four of the five back by using a 24 fret bass for BEAD tuning.
Ken
