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The Modified BEAD 4 String Bass Club

#207
Hi all, have been lurking & reading posts while assembling a J-style partsbass. Finished it tonight:

BEADJBass.jpg

Body is a $50 GFS paulownia with ~5 coats of Tru-oil. The routs were positioned so that either the guard or the control plate would be way off. Had to hog-out with my drill press and a 1/2" Forstner bit - boo, hiss. Neck, generic maple with rosewood, a $25 eBay find, 3 coats Tru-Oil, black Tusq XL nut. All generic Asian-made hardware except for the Hipshot string tree. Strings are D'Addario half-rounds, .130-.100-.80-.65 - the nut needed just a touch of filing to get the B into the slot gauged for an E, and had to hand-ream the string holes out in the bridge. Already considering a cheap cast bridge from the 'Bay that resembles the brass one on the old Ovation Magnum I wish I hadn't sold years ago; that beast would have been perfect for this project. Well, actually, this bass weighs half of what the Ovation did, so I take that back. Sounds pretty crisp other than the neon-light noise when I take my hands off the strings. The half-rounds kill the squeaks without totally dampening the snap when trying to slap. The B is a little floppy compared to a 35" scale Ibby I also sold years ago; my main electric bass is a 30" scale Squier Jaguar so I am used to it. Thanks everyone for the info on setup - it was a big help with this project.
 
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#209
Doner Designs said:
How many of ya'll use BEAD ONLY. I recently whittled down my lineup to 4 warmoth fender copies....all BEAD. Any other setup just feels wrong to me now.
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I use BEAD in my two doom metal bands (in one the guitars are tuned to B, and in the other the guitar is tuned to D but I can't be bothered to have another bass tuning setup) and EADG in the folk/rock band.
 
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#212
My main bass (Jazz) is tuned BEAD. I've got two 80's Aria Pro II's that are tuned EADG. I don't plan on changing those as it would involve modification to the brass nuts and bridges. Plus it's nice to have a few basses with G strings. I planned on changing the Jazz to BEAD temporarily while I waited to get a 5 string. I don't think I'll get one any time soon. Quite happy with BEAD.
 
#214
Doner Designs said:
I'm a BEAD-only player now and find that I rarely use the D string.

Has anyone here tried dropping down to F#BEA ?
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I did F# B E A D on my 5 string Ibanez BTB. I got rid of that bass in a trade, and currently am looking around for something else to tune to F# now. Honestly I am on the fence about whether to go with 4 or 5. I don't like playing 5 but I felt like i was almost missing a finger when I pretended I didn't have a D. The D is one of those strings that is almost a staple in all types of music. F# B E A works, but you'll find yourself just playing higher up on the neck at times, and also if you like to slap, you'll lose out on those cool pop plucks that you get with the D and G.
 
#215
castlev said:
I did F# B E A D on my 5 string Ibanez BTB. I got rid of that bass in a trade, and currently am looking around for something else to tune to F# now. Honestly I am on the fence about whether to go with 4 or 5. I don't like playing 5 but I felt like i was almost missing a finger when I pretended I didn't have a D. The D is one of those strings that is almost a staple in all types of music. F# B E A works, but you'll find yourself just playing higher up on the neck at times, and also if you like to slap, you'll lose out on those cool pop plucks that you get with the D and G.
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I might have to give it a try if I can find flatwound strings that would work for me. I'm guessing that might be a tall order. As far as the D string goes, I would just play an octave down.

I suppose another thing I could try is to drop down to ADGC tuning with my current strings which are very heavy high tension flats (LaBella 1954).
 
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#218
for those that do this, do you mostly play 5ers? I am thinking about making a bead 4 banger, so I can have a smaller neck, but keep my normal hand positions for the classic rock stuff I tend to generally play along with
 
#219
This is my solution after buying a VM jazz 5er, and I didn't like the larger neck, or the floppy B. My solution was finally pull the trigger on the dingwall I've always wanted. A lot of my favorite music is in Drop D so I'll have to get used to the ADAD Tunings, and using the D as my main for a lot of stuff ( could make reading tabs more difficult).

So I've been thinking about tabbing out everything myself, anyone have an easy way to type out your own tabs?
 
#220
kkaarrll said:
for those that do this, do you mostly play 5ers?
Click to expand...

After almost a year of putting it off, I just did it today.

And, to answer your quesiton, nope, I don't own a 5 and I don't want to spend money on another insturment. Considering how little I use the G string, I decided to just go for it.

My bass has the Fender "High Mass" bridge, and required quite a bit of drilling to slot that .132 B string on there. Matter of fact, in order to thread it through, I had to use a bit bigger than even my caliper measured the silk wrapped end with, I guess because of how much it has to bend. I'd tell you what the number was, but I put it all away and have already forgotten.

It was a bit harrowing just jamming a drill through the thing (while still mounted, because lazy) but it worked like a champ and now I've gone BEAD.
 
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