Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

The Laklands do look pretty nice too. I should try to find a dealer around here.

Jeff, any fivers for sale?

I have a SX musicman clone with a 3 band circuit that is not being used right now ... it needs a little fret dressing and fret leveling ...

Greg,

This was my Alembic Essence 5er. Man, was she BEAUTIFUL..... but a BEAR to play.

I don't remember the width at the nut, BUT it was 3 1/2 inches at the 12th fret! You could land jets on it! It had a 9 piece maple neck!

I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks. I kept messing up and confusing the B with the E.

My V63 did come tuned as a BEAD tuned bass and I loved it, for a while. I will either tune one of my basses back to BEAD or pick up a cheapie Japanese (they tend to have smaller necks) bass and put some Lindy Fralin's in for that classic jazz sound just to play around with. I'm a 4 stringer for life though. I'd rather have a fretless sound than those few extra low notes.

I have a REAL CHEAP Washburn Lyon with Lindy's in her and she sounds fantastic. A great bass to use when you are worried about losing a RIC.

I seem to be a minority of one on this topic but just for the record I'm one of those who believes that if basses were intended to have five strings, G-d would have invented them that way.

I just don't see how five extra notes is that big of a deal.

And a low B is so low, it's almost as if only dogs can hear it.

Beautiful bass Tony! I sure love my Essence.

About the Fralins, I was just looking at those online yesterday. I have this Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Fretless that I bought recently. It has "designed by Duncan" pickups that I may look to replace and was looking at what would be a good replacement for a Jazz fretless. I saw Dimarzio Model Js being recommended for a fretless, but how about the Liny Fralins?

I am first going to put a Badass II bridge on this fretless bass and see what that improves.

Thanks

Greg,

I had a pair of Duncan's on my MIM Fender Jazz. I don't remember exactly which ones they were, but they sure did sound nice for the money.

I REALLY like the Lindy's. They CAN be a little expensive compared to some other brands but (I had to order a split P/J setup and they were about $250.00) well worth the extra cost.
They give you a TRUE classic VINTAGE Fender sound. A set of Lindy Jazz pickups are a lot less. Great investment IMHO.

I know a few other Fender guys who will use NOTHING less than the Lindy's. All a matter of preference I guess. I'm SURE Sergio can also make you a set of sweet pickups as well.

Of course, If you think in terms of bass "guitar", should'nt the darn thing have had six strings from the start?????

The only reason I like a 5 is the low D. It is wonderful in spots and at the end of tunes. Otherwise it is just a thumbrest for me. But I REALLY like the low D.

What about a sub octave pedal to just drop the notes down by an octave? Does anybody have one of these?

I have one, haven't installed it yet, I may need to talk to Dane for moral support whilst doing this and the 2V2T mod on the 4004.

The Low C is very cool on a 5 string bass ... if you play any songs in the key of C ...

Here is a fine example of a 4-string song being played on a 5. I was playing N.I.B. by Black Sabbath, there is a decending part during one of the solos where it is E, D, C, B.

I added in the low E, D, C, and B while playing the others as an octave and it sounded HUGE.
There are a lot of ways to use the B once you start playing with it.

(Original question from Greg - "Is there a time when you 5-string owners who also love your 4-strings say "man, I really need the 5-string for this song"? "

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I'm to the point after almost 16 years of 5 string playing that I do not like a 4 stringer anymore. I tried switching between a 4 and 5 on different sets at a gig last summer and it thoroughly screwed with my playing. I've become so used to using the B string not only for lovely bombastic low notes that make your pants flap in the breeze, but the string opens up a whole other world of room above the 5th fret.

For example, a band I play in does Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" in E. When the song goes to guitar breaks, I prefer to play that section with the root at the 7th fret of the A string. It gives me more punch and clarity to go up there, then drop back down to the root being at the 5th fret of the B string for verses. Just a lot simpler, to me, to think in terms of playing what would be the first 5 frets of the E string in the "above 5th fret" positions of the B string.

Of course, there are those lovely bombastic notes of the B string that just cannot be done on a 4 stringer that add so much rumble and emotion to the right songs. I don't like to over do that, but when it's right, holy cow.

I try to spend equal amounts of time playing 4 and 5 string basses. There are certain songs in E flat or D tuning that are just easier to play on a 4 string bass that is tuned down.
For one of the bands I'm in, I only use a 4 string for one song, but the in the other band, I use a 4 string for a little more than half the songs we play.

When I played with my blues band we did a few modern songs that screamed five string bass.

So I went out and bought a Warwick. As it turned out, I wound up using it as my main bass toward the end.

Very easy to get hooked on / very useful and versatile. But now that Im pretty much a garage bass player, I reverted back to four strings. If I ever do the band thing again, I'd probably reach for a five.