How Many Strings Does Your "Main" Bass Have?

[davio]

Just curious...

[Basshappi]

4

[ATM]

4

 

ATM

[WCunha]

I'll raise you one for a total of five.

[kenfxj]

No knock against five, but for me it's four.

[moot]

All of mine are now 5.

I sold my Steiny last week - it was a great 4.

[Luke73]

Four for me

[LOWBOY]

FOUR

the only bass ive ever wanted that has more than four

is a fender jazz VI

( and its THE CURE's fault)

[tnb]

My "main" bass is my beloved Sadowsky. It has 5 strings and hasn't made me a dime in weeks.

 

My main gigging bass has 4 strings. It's also an upright.

[Phoney McRing Ring]

I use my Marcus and my five Spector pretty equally actually but i went ahead and voted 5. I only crack out the 6(wonderfuly known as "that peice of crap" by my band) on special jazz related occasions.

 

Much Love

Dave

[EddiePlaysBass]

Technically I still own only one bass, and that's a 5-string.

 

My fretless should arrive in about two weeks, and that's also a 5-string.

 

And if I buy another bass, it'll most likely be a 5-string.

 

No real reason, I just switched from 4 to 5 when I bought my current bass, and I like it that way.

 

But if I come across a nice 4-string that I can afford, I won't say no Hell, it's pure luck that the fretless bass I bought off eBay is a 5'er ...

[bc_dup1]

Voted 5. It's years since I played an entire gig with a 4. However I've mainly been taking my 4-string Jazz to rehearsals recently. I prefer the looks and feel of a 4. If I didn't need the low B for any songs I think I'd prefer to play a 4 nowadays.

[ATM]

Originally posted by bc:

Voted 5. It's years since I played an entire gig with a 4. However I've mainly been taking my 4-string Jazz to rehearsals recently. I prefer the looks and feel of a 4. If I didn't need the low B for any songs I think I'd prefer to play a 4 nowadays.

You know, you can tune BEAD.

http://www.frightcatalog.com/images/morris/200B/va246.jpg

 

ATM

[erikmag]

i have a four. But ive never really owned a five so i dont know if i would use one as my main bass if i did. There certainly have been times recently where i wanted either a 5, or even a 6 to make lines a lot easier to play.

[groover]

V

[Seamy ALB]

6 for the last 3 years. I love my bass.

[Stackimo]

4, someday when I don't suck I will try a 5.

[Tenstrum]

Can't vote in this one as my "main bass" changes depending upon the type of music.

[EddiePlaysBass]

Originally posted by Stackimo:

4, someday when I don't suck I will try a 5.

I suck, and I play a 5 It's just like, one more string, you know?

[ZeroXtrem]

two stingray 5's one fretted one fretless, gonna move up to 6 within the next year

[ZZ Thorn]

A bass has 4 strings.

 

If it has more than 4 strings, it's not a bass. You have to add a qualifier like '5 string' or '6 string' in front of it. If I recall correctly Anthony Jackson called his 6 string bass a 'contrabass guitar.'

 

Those things are like playing ironing boards.

[Tenstrum]

*sigh*

Here we go again...

42...

[mcbn]

4.

 

I like the feel of a 4-string neck more. All 3 of my current basses are 34" scale, 4 string, passive basses.

 

I used to have one strong BEAD and it served its purpose quite well. I will end up with another bass strung like that or may just get a 5'er. We shall see.

[PhilMan99]

6 - I like the range and flexibility, but if I slapped I'd probably want to do that on a 4.

[zeronyne]

Some related threads instead of just a poll:

 

HERE

 

HERE

 

HERE

 

HERE

 

HERE

[davio]

Well, 09, I've heard many people's reasoning for their choices before (and I've read a few of those threads before). I was just curious as to what everybody's preference was...not so much why.

 

Just curiosity.

[EddiePlaysBass]

Originally posted by ZZ Thorn:

A bass has 4 strings.

 

If it has more than 4 strings, it's not a bass. You have to add a qualifier like '5 string' or '6 string' in front of it. If I recall correctly Anthony Jackson called his 6 string bass a 'contrabass guitar.'

 

Those things are like playing ironing boards.

Sure, yeah, why not. Go for it ... I'm tired of this discussion. I play a bass. Period. It happens to have 5 strings. It's a bass.

 

What you should add when making such statements is the qualifier "in my opinion" because that is just what it is. An opinion.

[ZZ Thorn]

Originally posted by EddiePlaysBass:

Originally posted by ZZ Thorn:

A bass has 4 strings.

 

If it has more than 4 strings, it's not a bass. You have to add a qualifier like '5 string' or '6 string' in front of it. If I recall correctly Anthony Jackson called his 6 string bass a 'contrabass guitar.'

 

Those things are like playing ironing boards.

Sure, yeah, why not. Go for it ... I'm tired of this discussion. I play a bass. Period. It happens to have 5 strings. It's a bass.

 

What you should add when making such statements is the qualifier "in my opinion" because that is just what it is. An opinion.

Even tho I just got to this site, I know this is a sensitive issue among us bassists. I bet this issue has been hashed and rehashed ad infinitum. I'm not going to get all upset over it. Play what you want and try to play it well is all that matters. I play a 4 string and that'll never change - I'm just old school.

[jeremy c]

I'm just old school.

Well, my old elementary school was torn down after I went there. It was just a big pile of bricks for twenty years and then they built some apartments on the site.

 

My old jr. high school got so bad that now there are metal detectors at the doors and I even saw the name of the school mentioned once in a book about ghetto schools.

 

My old high school was renamed. And it too went downhill......their basketball team was nicknamed "The street kids" in the local paper.

 

So much for my "old school" credentials...however I was born in the '40s, is that old enough?

 

Just giving you a hard time, ZZ.

 

The number of strings is a matter of endless debate on the internet.

 

My bass has all its strings on it.

[ATM]

Originally posted by Tenstrum:

42...

So Tenstrum, have you seen it yet?

 

ATM