should i buy a new bass?

[Beerserker]

I play hard rock and heavy metal. Everything from ac/dc to brutal thrash. i have always stuck by my 4 string when playing bass, but my new band wants the 5 string tuned down one whole step. i cant do that with my 4 string but i noticed they dont use the G string or the first string only the top 4 of the 5 string.
I am wondering can i buy a 5 string set and throw it on my 4 stringer and take it to battle or should i break down and get the 5 string?

 

[devinp17]

I would suggest get a 5 string set (or you could go with the Rotosound Drop Zone strings), file your nut, set intonation and action and there you have a BEAD 4 string. Good luck!

 

[lz4005]

There are a lot of bass players who tune BEAD. Lots of threads on here about it too.

 

[devinp17]

There are a lot of bass players who tune BEAD. Lots of threads on here about it too.

Yup. I've also looked into it as I'm planning on doing it with my BC Rich Warlock bass.

 

[GIBrat51]

Just got my faux-Rickenbacker Carvin LB-20 back after having it tweaked for BEAD tuning. Have 60-135 LaBella Black Tapewounds on it. Tried this once before with another bass (posted about it on the BEAD club thread about it, in fact); had problems getting my head around the tuning. The Carvin plays just fine this way-now, if I can get my head to do the same this time..

 

[KingDeeDee]

Get a polyphonic tuning pedal. They allow you to artificially drop your tuning and not lose any tone and your strings won't go floppy. You can get pedals like the DigiTech Drop and I think the new EHX Pitchfork has it too.

 

[thewildest]

Should you "guy" a new bass? How do you do that? Add some hair in the neck and the back of its body? Add a second nut?

 

[Beerserker]

Well yeah doesn't everybody do that? Excuse the type o

 

[thewildest]

Sorry, just thought about some funny thing to add... Typo is my middle name

I am a 6 string guy, my only recommendation would be to jump to a 6 beast and orchestrate the heck of your tunes in your band, whatever style you play

 

[Jon Moody]

The clear answer is YES! Buy another bass! This is the perfect rationale and argument against anyone saying "What do you need another one for?"

In seriousness, I probably would so that I would have a "standard" tuned instrument and another one, more specifically set up for this gig. Either a 4 string tuned BEAD or a 5 string would work well, but it comes down to your preference and comfort level. I'd do the 4 string BEAD myself.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Get big 125 string and string it A D G C. Save your $$.

 

[vxjoe]

You can tune your 4 string to BEAD to get the 5 string equivalent. You would lose the use of the G string. it worked great, I stuing it with the heaviest set of 4 string GHS Boomers I could buy at the local GC. But nowadays I purchase online from Basstrings Online, like most others do. On the other hand it is a good excuse to buy a 5 string if you have the coin.

 

[GIBrat51]

While I've done the BEAD thing to my Carvin, and it sounds great and plays fine, I'm not sure I'd have done it, if it was my only bass. You will almost certainly have to open up the slots in the nut, and it might be hard to go back to regular strings without replacing it, truss rod tweaking, etc., etc. In my case, I have 16 other basses, and the Carvin wasn't really getting used at all; I don't really need a bass that was built as a Rick substitute when I have 2 of the real thing. So, now it has something useful to do. You might be better off getting a decent 5 string, if you can. I don't like them, myself, so my Carvin is a good substitute-for me.

 

[Beerserker]

I didn't think about the nut and all the tweaking thank you cause its not BEAD its gonna be ADGC. BEAD down one hole step