Building a fivestring bass

[Hollowway]

So are those pickups slanted? If so, I assume you did it for a bit more crispness on the low strings? I applaud that! I keep feeling like all guitars/basses should be made that way, but almost no one does.

 

[flo]

So are those pickups slanted? If so, I assume you did it for a bit more crispness on the low strings? I applaud that! I keep feeling like all guitars/basses should be made that way, but almost no one does.

Yep, they are slanted, again an idea I got from Ritter basses, and it makes sence, sounds better imo.

And what you say is true... when I put the electronics in, i felt that it's incredible guitars are not like that. Why do basses have three bands EQ and balence pots and guitars don't?

 

[Hollowway]

Yep, they are slanted, again an idea I got from Ritter basses, and it makes sence, sounds better imo.

And what you say is true... when I put the electronics in, i felt that it's incredible guitars are not like that. Why do basses have three bands EQ and balence pots and guitars don't?

Yeah, especially these days (at least on this forum) where the line between guitar and bass is pretty damn fuzzy. All these 8 strings people are getting are well into bass territory, so it would make sense.
And same with body styles, use of wood, etc. Bassists have some seriously open minds compared to a lot of guitarists.

 

[SD83]

All these 8 strings people are getting are well into bass territory...

... and they are still a small minority. Out of about 60 or so guitarists I know/seen with their (local) bands, 3 have 7 string guitars. As for the bassists, I'd say more than half of them has 5 or 6 strings. Interestingly enough, I've seen 6 string basses for less than half the cost of a cheap 8 string guitar and the pickups (same brand, both active) for 6 string bass & 6 string guitar cost about the same... I honestly don't get the reason for that.
But hey... we need people like Flo to give those "6 strings are the only real guitars" (tele/strat/les paul/superstrat style body, mahagony/maple/swampash/ebony/rosewood) a big and come up with something creative

 

[flo]

Yeah, especially these days (at least on this forum) where the line between guitar and bass is pretty damn fuzzy. All these 8 strings people are getting are well into bass territory, so it would make sense.
And same with body styles, use of wood, etc. Bassists have some seriously open minds compared to a lot of guitarists.

That's true... nothing against all the vintage guys, I think an old Les Paul sounds and looks great, but today you would have so much posibilities to improve the guitar. A les paul isn't really ergonomic for example, and you could get more sounds from the pickups only by adding a push-pull. But that's not a true LP so people don't want it Honestly, I get maybe over 50% of my inspiration for guitar building from basses, like body shape ideas etc.
I moved from sixstring guitar to sevenstring, then to eightstring... and thought "mmm... could it be possible you want a bass?"

... and they are still a small minority. Out of about 60 or so guitarists I know/seen with their (local) bands, 3 have 7 string guitars. As for the bassists, I'd say more than half of them has 5 or 6 strings. Interestingly enough, I've seen 6 string basses for less than half the cost of a cheap 8 string guitar and the pickups (same brand, both active) for 6 string bass & 6 string guitar cost about the same... I honestly don't get the reason for that.
But hey... we need people like Flo to give those "6 strings are the only real guitars" (tele/strat/les paul/superstrat style body, mahagony/maple/swampash/ebony/rosewood) a big and come up with something creative

Stefan, we should put our brains together and open a "progressive guitar workshop"

Thoman (the biggest german music store) offers a sixstring bass for 169€ , fretted or frettless...try and find an eightstring guitar for that price for people to try out if they need the extra strings, no way.