Why are b-strings so hard to get right?

[morgansterne]

I've been using the alvarez 5 string that belongs to our drummer . . . clearly alvarez thinks you don't need to use heavy strings. The hole in the bridge needed to be widened (a LOT!) to accommodate my elixir .130 string.
my complaint with the b string on the fivers I've played (all cheaper ones) is that it's just not as loud as the other strings. (I use an acme 2x10 so I know it's capable of handling the lows!) You can't really tilt the pickups because it makes the E string too loud.

I played for about six months with a prog rock band tuning my MIA fender jazz to C G C F. It felt and sounded great.

 

[cheechi]

So I don't have decades behind me or thousands of gigs or hundreds of recordings behind this...

It's mostly the player. I think it's partly what YOU prefer vs what someone else prefers that gets you to this point. The guy that designed that bass that doesn't play the way you want plays differently, so he designed it differently, than what you want to play.

My B string is loose to my feeling. It also has that piano quality to it. I bet it will sustain for 5 minutes or more. All of the good things you can say about it, it sounds good through my amp (well it sounds like B) or acoustic, it doesn't have weird characteristics through this pup or that one, etc etc etc.

I don't like it. feels like it needs another few winds on the tuning peg. Can't get it to intonate perfectly though that may be more the bridge. Same bridge works for the other 4 strings. It's just me that doesn't like it, the bass and the string are fine functionally.

 

[Baird6869]

Pretty simple IME....

You don't play your E string as hard as your G when you really dig in. Same applies to the B vs. the E. Play the B a bit lighter than the E and most of us should be good.

My B is almost always louder than the rest of my strings. Adjusting pickup height can help as well.

If the B is too loose feeling, get a bigger gauge...if it is too tight, get a lighter gauge.

YMMV