Did someone ever try CGDA on short scale basses? If yes - what strings, especially for the C?
Medium scale should be easy - the situation for the C string is close enough to the B at 34".
Yes, I do and it is a non-typical short scale bass at that. My new Squier VI is tuned CGDAEB with a custom set of strings from LaBella. I used the biggest string they offer for the Bass VI instruments for the C string, 0.120. Gives me about 30 pounds of tension which puts it in the range of the strings it came with.
Why exactly would one want to tune an electric bass in fifths? Does it make classical stuff like Bach's prelude for cello easier?
It started out of a desire to get the range of a fiver from four strings for many of us. And that it does, you start a half step higher than a five on C but you end a whole step higher on A so you get 5.2 strings worth of range. And the modern father of the concept, Red Mitchell, did that on a double bass and did it so well that a growing number of double bassists are following in his footsteps. As you can see, others are coming to the BG from the cello so a fifths tuning just seems right to them. But curiously even though I tried it to get more range, I fell in love with the tuning within a few minutes of trying it. I just like it and I can't really pinpoint why I like it but I do. Composers generally do write their music for particular instrument so most of the cello suites will play nicely on a fifths tuned bass and probably nicer than they do on a fourths tuned bass. Some parts of the cello suites were adopted from music written for other instruments and they are notoriously difficult to play on a cello. If you switch to fifths you will find that a lot of classic fourths bass lines are more difficult to play in fifths although some are actually easier. It is just the nature of music that some things are easier to do in one tuning than the other while many are about the same. So you adapt if you tune in fifths, you might consider a short scale bass, and you might find yourself playing old songs in new ways that fit your tuning better and that can be a good thing.
The whole reason the double bass wasn't tuned in fifths was because of size - it's just not ergonomic to have to stretch so much for scale runs and such. The electric bass is much more manageable in that regard.
To be sure the reaches on the traditional BG are shorter than on the DB and they are shorter yet on short scale basses which approach the 27 inch (or there 'bouts) scale of a cello. Historically, however, double basses were tuned in fifths from the beginning. In the beginning there was no standard tuning for the DB but the fifths tuning was popular, especially in Germany and England. Some feel that the name of the instrument, double bass, was derived from the fact that it was originally intended to double the cello but an octave down and so the intended tuning was CGDA. String technology back then could not produce an acceptable C string and so those fifths tuned basses in Germany and England were typically tuned GDA. That is right, they often had only three strings! It was a French school of music that bucked the trend and started tuning EADG like the bass strings on a guitar. Eventually their idea won out but if you look at music for the DB written before about the 19th century you will find that it is often written as though the DB was tuned CGDA. I go to a lot of concerts of baroque music and the one DB in the orchestra that has a C extension on the E string gets a lot of mileage out of that extension. Fifths tuning is becoming increasingly popular in the DB world. I am told that pretty much everyone considers a five string DB a beast to play, the various C extension technologies have problems of their own, and the reaches to notes in the fifths tuning are manageable. Something called the New Dutch Method of fingering apparently helps with that, but don't ask me about details, I've already told you everything I know about the NDM. A lot of double bassists feel that their instruments resonate and sound better when tuned in fifths and a recent mathematical analysis supports that impression. Players who switch to fifths suddenly find themselves in sync with the rest of the string section in a way they never were before. On movie industry composer was reportedly delighted when he found out that Red Mitchell was tuning in fifths because he could then treat the DB just like any other string. Fifths on the DB may or may not regain preeminence over fourths but I think it is here to stay as a minority tuning at least. I don't play DB but those who do say that fifths is a very practical tuning for the DB and one,
Dennis Masuzzo, has told me in a private email conversation that he tunes his DB in fifths but continues to tune his BG in fourths!! Of course that could have changed since I last corresponded with him....
