F as in F0? Sounds cool to me, I have a 34" scale tuned GDAE that's kind of fun, I'd look for a 36" over a 35.
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The Fifths Tuning Club
- Thread starter ~M.o.M~
- Start date
I thought F0 as well. Hence my comment.
My Fender VI is in 5ths (CGDAEB). Shorter scale helps a ton to chord effectively. Wish it had a bit wider spacing as my pick skills $uck. Maybe not as wide as a standard 4 (19mm?), but definitely something wider than the 10mm on the Fender VI.
John
My Fender VI is in 5ths (CGDAEB). Shorter scale helps a ton to chord effectively. Wish it had a bit wider spacing as my pick skills $uck. Maybe not as wide as a standard 4 (19mm?), but definitely something wider than the 10mm on the Fender VI.
John
Argh, as tempting as it is to tune down to F0 for fun, I know I can't do the subcontrabass justice with my current set up. Maybe one day when I can justify splurging on a multiscale Dingwall or BTB, plus a HPF, a subwoofer, etc...
Sometimes the C1 doesn't feel low enough for me, maybe stopping at Bb0 or A0 would satisfy that itch. But in all fifths, tuning down messes my sense of where the notes much more than in all fourths, so I've stuck to CGDAE for now.
Sometimes the C1 doesn't feel low enough for me, maybe stopping at Bb0 or A0 would satisfy that itch. But in all fifths, tuning down messes my sense of where the notes much more than in all fourths, so I've stuck to CGDAE for now.
What I think is that fifth tuning works pretty good for most of the viol family however once you get to the contrabass the stretch of the scales would have been very great and maybe too much to handle in certain instances so they came up with the fourths tuning to tighten up and compact the fingerings for that particular instrument.
That's my hypothesis anyways and it makes sense to me having played instruments tuned in both fifths and fourths.
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How about AEBF#C#? It’s kind of like the range of a 6-string bass with a drop-A. And it might be convenient to have that open E string available.
You could convert a short scale 5 string to a 6 String with individual bridges.
I have tuned the low C string on my electric down to A a few times, and on DB to A and even to G, but I do want to try CGDA on top for familiarity. Therefore the low F string makes sense, though if it doesn't work out too well I could try restringing higher.
Though if I'm going to do a low G, I'd be OK with four strings GDAE, which is also Australian for "hello".
Though if I'm going to do a low G, I'd be OK with four strings GDAE, which is also Australian for "hello".
Ha, I do have a longish-scaled tenor banjo that somebody had stuck guitar tuners on, and I got it in cello tuning.
With tuning to F0 if it's not quite clear enough you could probably tune up to GDAEB with the same set of strings.
Different strokes for different folks, 5ths is good for increasing range and makes chords slightly clearer.
You ever seriously try 5ths tuning on the bass?
You ever play the Bach Cello Suites tuned in 5ths? They sit under your hands so much better tuned in 5ths like the instrument they were written for. Playing very guitar-centric music like the blues seems more natural tuned 4ths tuning for the same reason. If that's all you do 5ths might not ever make sense much to you.
4 string tuned CGDA gives the range of a six string tuned in 4ths. This is a huge attraction. The trade off is you make more shifts.
If I didn't find out about 4ths until I'd been playing 5ths for ten years I'd probably think 4ths was some kind of weird joke. The only reason the double bass ended up tuned in 4ths is the 41"+ scale length and people started writing more difficult orchestral bass parts. 34" scale is quite manageable in 5ths and 30" is almost cello scale length.
A brief flirtation with the cello 25 years ago is what got me understanding the benefits of 5ths tuning on the bass.
Happy New Year fellow fifths fanatics! I was alerted to a new Ibanez offering from another thread: a [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]! This might be the perfect 6 string instrument for tuning in fifths. Scale length on the long end is 30" and 28.5" on the short end.
When I used to have my sixer in fifths (C1 to B3), I GAS'd for an SRC6 in F1 to E4 to complement it. Since then I've moved down to 5 strings max for fifths tuning. I also wish Ibanez stuck with the old finish, the new one isn't doing it for me. Still, this is quite tempting...
When I used to have my sixer in fifths (C1 to B3), I GAS'd for an SRC6 in F1 to E4 to complement it. Since then I've moved down to 5 strings max for fifths tuning. I also wish Ibanez stuck with the old finish, the new one isn't doing it for me. Still, this is quite tempting...
The Evah Pirazzi bass high C is quite high tension at pitch, but makes a good high A (or even a G if you like) at lower tension, then you can assemble a similarly lower tension Evah 5ths set going down from there (solo II string tuned to D, solo or weich III tuned down to G, and medium IV tuned down to C).I used to play metal strings, but found I couldn't keep up hours of bluegrass playing. After switching to synthetic it would be hard to go back - I tried Spirocores recently and that wasn't a success. But finding synthetic in fifths tuning is going to be a problem I think
Just saw this club, nice one!
My '74 Rick 4001 and FrankenMIDIjazz are both in CGDA. Half the guits are the Fripp one, CGDAEG and the Chapman Stick.... how bout mirrored 5ths with the fripp min 3rd on the treble top cos strings wont go thin enough! that makes it EADGC-CGDAC....
Yes my head is spinning but I've been more creative than ever lately.
My '74 Rick 4001 and FrankenMIDIjazz are both in CGDA. Half the guits are the Fripp one, CGDAEG and the Chapman Stick.... how bout mirrored 5ths with the fripp min 3rd on the treble top cos strings wont go thin enough! that makes it EADGC-CGDAC....
Yes my head is spinning but I've been more creative than ever lately.
Haven't been over every page, so I'm sure they have copped a mention by now, but how good are Newtone Strings?! They can do all my Stick, BG and guitar strings in one order haha!
