Ok,
This one might cause some flames, but is there anyone else out there playing a BEAD bass? I love having the low B, but much prefer the feel of a four string neck. So i got a new nut and strung up my '62 P reissue and it rocks.

Comments anyone?

Mike

Before I was playing bass, back in around '91 (?) I had a three-piece band which I was doing most of the writing for. I talked the bass player into B-E-A-D on a Ricky, then we took it down to A-D-G-C (everything went through a great PA with subwoofers). It was huge.

Getting strings for this back then took some experimentation, which the local Dean Markley rep helped us with, when they were getting ready to sell five string sets and wanted some feedback.

<-- greenboy ---<<<<

At NAMM I played a thing called the "D" Bass. It was a graphite necked instrument, 4 string and it had an extended neck allowing it to be tuned down to open D, there was also a C model. From the low E to the nut was still 34" scale, but it went lower to D or C. It was pretty huge sounding, though I'd never need it. If you played in a "heavy" band I could see it being useful.

Here's a photo of Scott Ambush playing one of the basses that Ed mentions above. The necks are made by Moses and they have a compact headstock so they can still fit in a standard bass case. (you sure they're 34" scale length Ed???)

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=637760&a=11582659&p=40529800

Yup...that's a capo on the neck!!!

If you want to hear a great example of someone playing some killer stuff BEAD (plus distortion & controlled feedback hehe) check out Peter Steele's playing with Type O Negative. I was blown away by his style when I recently interviewed him and caught their show live for the first time.

http://www.typeonegative.net/

This message has been edited by Dude on 02-19-2001 at 04:21 AM

Dude,
The D bass is 34" scale from the fret that low "E" is placed, the neck extends beyond that, so the point to point scale is longer, I think more like 38". Does that make sense?

------------------
http://www.edfriedland.com

Yup...gotcha Ed!

An alternative to consider is tuning in fifths.
You have to relearn some things but a four string tuned in fifths has more range than a five string tuned in fourths.
CGDA - "cello tuning" gets you within a fret of low B. With a hip shot you can get to Bb.
CGDG - is a bit schizophrenic but two strings are the same as the standard tuning.
I'm working on fifths tuned CDGA and enjoying the extra low notes a lot.
I take a B string and tune it up. Now I have 125/90/65/45.

I've got a six-string bass tuned Bb''-F'-C-G-d-a, top four the same as cello tuning, with additional range amounting to a 9th below.

<-- greenboy ---<<<<