You don't see these every day...

[jefrs]

Originally Posted by harmonicon

Someone needs to tell bass players that 4-strings can already handle all 12 notes just fine as they are... but, you know, that's just me and every single record ever made up until the 80's in every single style of music which gives me that impression.

That would include The Shadows' Jet Harris playing his Fender VI Bass then?



Jack Bruce used one too ...

[x2plex]

My 2001 Jazz V doesn't look that odd to me. Plays pretty well and sounds fine since I upgraded the pickups.
I grab it when a tune really wants the lower notes.

[bcat]

Originally Posted by kp8

i like cake

I like a girl with a short skirt

and a looooong jacket

[Wally]

Immo, the only bass that I have worked on and played that could put more fear of the unknown into a person than a double-course 8-string was a triple-course 12 strign. IF you think the 8 is big, find a 3-course 12 to play!!

PUmpJockey, most of the tiem when I see a 5 or 6 string bass withth e 'loose low string' that you describe, I am looking at an instrument that is not well set-up. I am not afraid of setting an instrument up where it functions well even though looking at it might scare the uninitiated. Taht is, that low string has to be off of that fretboard in oreder to creat correct tension. Many set-ups leave the low side of an instrument at roughly the same height as the treble side. That doesn't function..for me. I like an instrument to feel the same at every fret position. The only way to do that is to elevate the radius on the bass side. This will create even and proper tension....and better sounds. The instrument will feel better---even though some of the strings are hgiher than some people thinkthey should be---because the tension is uniform everywhere on the fretboard. The instrument will intonate better. The player will relax and play better. The girls will dance more....therefore the guys will dance more. The world will smile more. Peace will come to the planets, and love...love...comes shining through. This is the age of.....uh---uh....Hey, man why did you wake me up in the middle of that beautiful dream!?!?! (:^)

[harmonicon]

Bass VI doesn't count!!

[Dave W]

Originally Posted by harmonicon

Bass VI doesn't count!!

Go back under your bridge.

[4mal]

4, 5, 6 strings.... It's just a tool. It's up to the carpenter to make use of it or not as he sees fit. Saying that real basses have 4 strings is just dumb. I use my 5 string fretless with horn players a bunch. Do I use it to just wail on the low B ? No... It's for the low Eb, D and Db mostly. Another option available in the turn around doesn't bother me a bit... Also nice to get under they keys on some latin tunes as well. I'm way more comfortable on a 4 but the 5 has it's place in my stable. Not in your's ? maybe you should discover why not ...

[Lunchie]

Originally Posted by Immo

Honestly, though, I'd like to have an 8 string bass - the double four string two octave one, strung in a fashion like this one:

Played this particular bass once on a bass players meeting, incredible sound.

(On pic, Filip Hałucha, one of the best black metal bass players in Poland)

What kind of bass is that? I saw one of those at a pawn shop and had no idea what the heck it was.

[Lunchie]

holy moly, I opened a can of worms with that pick

I have seen a Waterstone TP-12 once, but I didnt pick it up because it scared me. When someone knows how to utilize all the octaves its an amazing instrument.

[Jakedog]

Originally Posted by Lunchie

What kind of bass is that? I saw one of those at a pawn shop and had no idea what the heck it was.

It's an old BC Rich. Very high quality stuff. The early USA BC Rich guitars and basses are some of the best instruments ever built. Works of art. Not everyybody's cup of tea in the looks department, but certainly very nice stuff.

[MrTwang]

Originally Posted by Jakedog

FWIW, I do not consider the Dano 6, or the Bass VI actual basses. They are instruments unto themselves. Not the same thing at all of a 6 string bass. YMMV.

I'm with you on this the Dano and Bass VI have narrow string spacing (like a guitar), short scale length and are really geared up to produce a thin trebly (although low in pitch) sound.

These are very different beasts from the 5 and 6 string basses that retain the same between string spacing as a 4 string bass, long scale necks and are often tuned even lower in pitch (with a low B string).

Whilst there is some crossover (people have used a VI or a Dano as a "traditional" bass in the same way as people have used cellos instead of a double bass to play a bass part) I think they should be classified as different instruments.

[Dave W]

Originally Posted by MrTwang

I'm with you on this the Dano and Bass VI have narrow string spacing (like a guitar), short scale length and are really geared up to produce a thin trebly (although low in pitch) sound.

These are very different beasts from the 5 and 6 string basses that retain the same between string spacing as a 4 string bass, long scale necks and are often tuned even lower in pitch (with a low B string).

Whilst there is some crossover (people have used a VI or a Dano as a "traditional" bass in the same way as people have used cellos instead of a double bass to play a bass part) I think they should be classified as different instruments.

The number of strings, the string spacing and/or the tuning have nothing at all to do with whether or not a bass has a thin trebly sound. That's determined mainly by how well the pickups reproduce the fundamentals and overtones the notes (regardless of the frequency) of each note. There are other factors, of course, including how well the wood and strings reproduce the notes.

The scale length does affect this somewhat, but it's a fact that the shorter the scale length, the fewer upper harmonics are produced. i.e. somewhat less trebly, not more.

If you think Danos and Bass VIs naturally sound thin and trebly, then you must have a tin ear.

They're basses because they cover the bass clef, regardless of how you think they ought to be classified.

[Lunchie]

Originally Posted by Jakedog

It's an old BC Rich. Very high quality stuff. The early USA BC Rich guitars and basses are some of the best instruments ever built. Works of art. Not everyybody's cup of tea in the looks department, but certainly very nice stuff.

interesting... I would of never guessed BC Rich!... any idea of price ranges on them? The pawn shop has one that looks real similar but 4 string for $400. I need another bass like a I need a hole in the head but if its a good deal....

[chauncy]

tony levin like lots of strings sometimes

[Lunchie]

There is a solo using 16 strings...

[mndean]

Originally Posted by Dave W

Go back under your bridge.

It's really more of a low-tuned baritone guitar and it's not a great bass qua bass from what I've heard from them. Some people like 'em, though. A long-scale 6er sounds rather different. Personally, aside from the standard 4 I would only play a 5 string or an 8 double-course. It's all up to the player. If he can make a Bass VI work with his band, more power to him.

[martini]

Originally Posted by harmonicon

Someone needs to tell bass players that 4-strings can already handle all 12 notes just fine as they are... but, you know, that's just me and every single record ever made up until the 80's in every single style of music which gives me that impression.

Anthony Jackson started using a Carl Thompson 6 string in Bass 1976....He used that on quite a few records prior to the 1980's.....

[Arbiter]

Originally Posted by martini

Anthony Jackson started using a Carl Thompson 6 string in Bass 1976....He used that on quite a few records prior to the 1980's.....

Jean-Luc Ponty's Demagomania for one. My mom got that record when I was just starting out - she was hoping I'd pick up the violin again, which I did, but I kept playing bass too - and that album drove me crazy. I could not figure out how he got those awesome low tones for a couple of years.

I have three five-strings at home right now and ran my #1 in BEAD tuning for years, I didn't feel like getting in a frequency war with my guitarists, and that low string is a great way to get around them and get heard without maxing out the amp.

That being said, as re: the OP, Fender's five and six strings are **** and their active electronics for bass are as well.

[sa paine]

Originally Posted by marshman

They (more than 4-string Fender basses) do seem somehow...wrong. Like a 4-door Camaro or something.

Or like lowered pickup trucks wearing 50 series tires....

[telequacktastic]

4, 5, 6 strings.... It's just a tool. It's up to the carpenter to make use of it or not as he sees fit. Saying that real basses have 4 strings is just dumb. I use my 5 string fretless with horn players a bunch. Do I use it to just wail on the low B ? No... It's for the low Eb, D and Db mostly. Another option available in the turn around doesn't bother me a bit... Also nice to get under they keys on some latin tunes as well. I'm way more comfortable on a 4 but the 5 has it's place in my stable. Not in your's ? maybe you should discover why not ...

These guys that are hating on 5+ strings... I think it may be fashionable to prefer 4 strings around here.