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Why does drop tuning sound better than a 5 string?

pickles

pickles

Gold Supporting Member
Mar 23, 2000
10,454
2,836
Ventura, CA
#1
My sadowsky 4 sounds great with the .105 E string tuned to C, yet most 5 strings sound relatively wonky with a .125 or .130 tuned to B, especially past the 4th fret. I find that confusing.

Should we all be running .115s for low B?

For the record I've had some 5s with great B and E strings, but they are crazy rare IME, and even rarer that the one bass with the great B and E is the bass I want to play overall. And scale length has nothing to do with it.

Most 4s sound great in D, if not lower.
 
#4
Your sadowsky is a better bass then most of the fivers by other makers. Its going to do better low B then most. In my experience very few five strings basses have a great sounding low B. You are correct that lighter gauge string can actually sound better. But Id say main thing is your bass is better then a large percentage of bases out there to begin with.
 
#6
Lower tension of the same mass along a string. The thicker it is, the more mass and less flexibility. Then fret it several inches up and make it shorter...all that inhibits free vibration.

I have my workhorse EB, a Stingray 5. But my basses for "me" are 4's. My Fretless Stingray 4 has a HIPSHOT D-Tuner and low D is just thunderous, even with a .95 Chrome.
 
#8
I totally get where the OP is coming from - I play both 4s and 5s, and pretty much only use my 5ers for stuff that goes down to low D and below... I very much prefer the sound of an open Eb on a 4 string over the same note played on a 5er... My band plays in alot of diferent tunings, and *for me* the best solution is to use a standard tuned BEADG 5er, a 4 standard tuned 4 string with a Hipshot for standard and drop D, and another 4 string tuned down a half step for our Eb set... Sure, I can transpose and make pretty much everything work on my 5ers, but *to me* it's less work(playing-wise) to bring 3 basses than it is to do that, and I sound better as an added bonus... Now, my typical gig runs 4 hours, and covers around 50 songs - so I play long enough to justify bringing that many basses to a gig, IMO...


-georgestrings
 
#14
georgestrings said:
Or, your standards regarding "sounds incredible" - I've played tons of Warwicks, and their B strings are certainly not superior in any way to EBMMs, Laklands, Spectors, Ibanez, etc...


- georgestrings
Click to expand...

When Warwick and EBMM are considered the best low B, usually means that they haven't tried many basses. Most luthiers can blow the doors off of those basses.

Back to the subject, I don't like a .105 tuned to C one bit.
 
#15
spade2you said:
When Warwick and EBMM are considered the best low B, usually means that they haven't tried many basses. Most luthiers can blow the doors off of those basses.

Back to the subject, I don't like a .105 tuned to C one bit.
Click to expand...


I don't recall saying anything about a "best low B" - just stating that IMO, Warwick isn't anything special...

Agreed on the .105 tuned to C thing, though - I don't care for a .105 tuned below D, for the most part...


- georgestrings
 
#20
Well since he plays stuff in Drop C, I can only say that it sounds better (for him then) compared with a 5 string, cause there is less tension on the Dropped Down string, so you get a fatter and bassier sound.. Could be wrong, but hey, that's how I think about it :p
 

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