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I plan on tuning B, e, a, d, g, b, e.
I tune the same, I ordered my first 5 string in 1990 with a high B because I had been playing guitar for a few years to teach myself chord and lead theory to use on bass. I was looking to fill out my original prog & jazz adjacent original power trio stuff... and the internet didn't exist to tell me that 'bass needs its own special tuning that goes against the rest of the instrument family!'
I spend a lot of time in college on classical guitar as well as popular styles.. although I gig a lot of double bass and bass because I can read and know a lot of tunes. I'm not super interested in slap outside of my four or five string. Happy to pick but mainly I'm finger style.I tune the same, I ordered my first 5 string in 1990 with a high B because I had been playing guitar for a few years to teach myself chord and lead theory to use on bass. I was looking to fill out my original prog & jazz adjacent original power trio stuff... and the internet didn't exist to tell me that 'bass needs its own special tuning that goes against the rest of the instrument family!'
I ended up switching to a 6 string set of TI Jazz Rounds with a .020w nickle string from Curt Mangan on mine this year after a lifetime of only using stainless rounds. I had used custom CM sets for a while prior... 120-90-70-50-35-25-20w but slowly ended up switching all my other basses to TI strings and the 7 (my main bass) was the last to switch. I use 19mm spacing on all my basses, 7 included. I play fingerstyle and some slap... rarely with a pick and never tap, so I appreciate the standard room between.
I tune the same, I ordered my first 5 string in 1990 with a high B because I had been playing guitar for a few years to teach myself chord and lead theory to use on bass. I was looking to fill out my original prog & jazz adjacent original power trio stuff... and the internet didn't exist to tell me that 'bass needs its own special tuning that goes against the rest of the instrument family!'
I ended up switching to a 6 string set of TI Jazz Rounds with a .020w nickle string from Curt Mangan on mine this year after a lifetime of only using stainless rounds. I had used custom CM sets for a while prior... 120-90-70-50-35-25-20w but slowly ended up switching all my other basses to TI strings and the 7 (my main bass) was the last to switch. I use 19mm spacing on all my basses, 7 included. I play fingerstyle and some slap... rarely with a pick and never tap, so I appreciate the standard room between.
I'd like one, but can't justify it, so please purchase one, and find out it's horrible to alleviate my GAS.
Why the 31" scale? Just curious.
as for the short scale i have a bunch of 4 and 5 strings at 34"... really happy with the tones i get there (mainly fenders and a Brubaker jazz 5 string), but the tone isn't there for what i want to do with this one. On shorter scale bass the tone is more consistent from top to bottom, although this is on the smaller end of a medium scale Bass ( see this clip on the pro's ), also shorter scale length helps with chordal stuff. the type of music i plan on playing with this is more in line with moto fukishima (who plays 33" , ) and tony grey (who plays a 30.75" on his headless fodera ),Why the 31" scale? Just curious.
I'll try to keep this short - I have a Conklin 9 string that has 19mm spacing, a Bill Dickens at 16mm, and a Galveston 8 string unpaired bass that has 13.5 spacing. All are 34" scale.
I'm fine with 34" scale length but would also like 35" as it tightens things up a bit; helps with picking in the Christian metal band I'm in. I've been playing the 9 on my worship team and it's too wide - 16mm would have been better, or 17mm. I'm used to the Bill Dickens but now I feel like I'm missing a string or two up top.
I like using the 8 string with the metal band as it's easy to transition from string-to-string but the spacing messes with my muscle memory when going between different basses. My main bass with that band is a custom 5er w/19mm spacing. If I could, I'd probably have them all at 17mm and either 34 or 35" scale length as that would simplify things.
I can slap on the Bill Dickens as I'm used to it now; takes a little more attention to detail on the Galveston with the narrow spacing. The 9 string is easy - but again, muscle memory screws me up. Been trying to play it a lot more though.
I briefly owned both a BTB7 and 747; I preferred the 7 but both were excellent basses.
Are flats/tapes a requirement? I wonder how Kalium stainless string would work for you. Although I’m also in FL, I play indoors the majority of the time. They last me 2-3 years or longer depending on how much play time I have on them, when DR’s would go dead in 3-4 months.
