Extended Range Racism

[lucasreis]

I'm a bassist and guitarist... My basses go to E0... Your move...

Not to hijack the thread... but I have a 5 string bass tuned to standard (and sometimes I tune it to Drop-A as well). I have this project of buying a 6 string bass and ditching the highest string to convert it to a 5 string + heavy ass string (so I can tune it to F#). Is this doable on a regular 6 string bass? Which gauge should I use?

 

[facepalm66]

^ this has been answered more than 3 million times, maybe more. To answer your question - yes it's doable and you need ~160 to 180 depending on your taste on 34".
But i'd rather just check the bass subforum and you'll find more than plenty of answers.

 

[insanebassninja]

Not to hijack the thread... but I have a 5 string bass tuned to standard (and sometimes I tune it to Drop-A as well). I have this project of buying a 6 string bass and ditching the highest string to convert it to a 5 string + heavy ass string (so I can tune it to F#). Is this doable on a regular 6 string bass? Which gauge should I use?

As s bassist, I would go to .182 you can buy that at circlekstirngs.com. I hear it does the job the best.

 

[Robby the Robot]

I'm a bassist and guitarist... My basses go to E0... Your move...

 

[Murmel]

you have to understand that most people, including musicians, are dumb, narrow-minded and uncreative. 90% of the guitarists I've come across play Fender and Gibson, they use the same blues licks they used 10 years ago and that's it.

This might have been mentioned already, but too many pages to read:
I get your analogy, but the way you phrase it makes you sound just as ignorant as those hating on ERG's

 

[InfinityCollision]

^ this has been answered more than 3 million times, maybe more. To answer your question - yes it's doable and you need ~160 to 180 depending on your taste on 34".
But i'd rather just check the bass subforum and you'll find more than plenty of answers.

160 for F#0 is super f*cking light by bass standards (29 lbs tension), let alone E0. I wouldn't go any lighter than .182 (38 lbs). A .190 would be better (42 lbs), and/or go longer on the scale length.

 

[Nag]

This might have been mentioned already, but too many pages to read:
I get your analogy, but the way you phrase it makes you sound just as ignorant as those hating on ERG's

I'm being SO offended right now, you couldn't even imagine how offended I am.

 

[boxsmiley]

As my dad would say "f... em if they can't take a joke"

 

[StevenC]

I've actually never encountered anything but intrigue when I've shown people my 7. The only strange reaction I've gotten is a violinist asking why I added a B string, when I already have a B, suggesting instead a C.

 

[ThePhilosopher]

160 for F#0 is super f*cking light by bass standards (29 lbs tension), let alone E0. I wouldn't go any lighter than .182 (38 lbs). A .190 would be better (42 lbs), and/or go longer on the scale length.

I have a .182 at G0 and it's just barely tight enough for me. I can get it down to E0 for some things if I really need to.

 

[Dayn]

You know it. It's saved me hundreds on top of already good deals.

 

[abandonist]

I'm a bassist and guitarist... My basses go to E0... Your move...

I'll bite: Your bass may be tuned there, but you don't hear that note when you play - that equipment doesn't exist. You're hearing 2nd and 3rd harmonics of the root.

 

[InfinityCollision]

Your brain still interprets the harmonic series as relating to E0 even if the fundamental is completely absent, as in a lab test. Same sh*t as hearing someone's voice through a telephone, which band-passes something like 300-3kHz iirc. Your brain may or may not "fill in" the missing fundamental - musicians are actually less likely to do so than most - but your ear still recognizes the overtone series as belonging to the missing fundamental. Through a mid-tier bass rig the E0 fundamental is probably 30~40 dB down from the octave harmonic; it is possible to get the fundamental, but the necessary equipment is inevitably both expensive and bulky.

Missing fundamental - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Shawn]

Not to hijack the thread... but I have a 5 string bass tuned to standard (and sometimes I tune it to Drop-A as well). I have this project of buying a 6 string bass and ditching the highest string to convert it to a 5 string + heavy ass string (so I can tune it to F#). Is this doable on a regular 6 string bass? Which gauge should I use?

I play with a bass player that pretty much tunes his 5-string to my 8-string but if he had a 6-string, would work. I thought of the same thing. Before, he had his 5-string tuned standard but a half step down which matches the 8-string but he did not have the low F so yeah, I like the idea of him having the low F but if he had a 6-string bass, he could have more range.

 

[Orgalmer]

I didn't realise E0 was a bass tuned down a whole octave. So yeah, I tune to E0.

Even when I was using .175 strings on my 34" 4-string you could hear the E. I don't know where you get this idea that you can't hear that note. It doesn't just disappear below the second fret...

 

[InfinityCollision]

Not getting a frequency and not getting a note are two very different things.

 

[jimwratt]

The baroque guitar had 5 courses. I'm sure "standard" guitarists went through this back when 6 strings took over. "Why doeth thou needeth an sixfold unaccompanied strings? Hast though mastered the standard five courses?" Now a five string guitar is about as useful as 3/4 of a penny.

The obvious response to the "why don't you just play bass" nonsense is that you want to hold the low end down while your bass player takes a solo like a keyboard player would. Also, ask them why they don't just play the mandolin if all they want is limited range.

 

[abandonist]

Your brain still interprets the harmonic series as relating to E0 even if the fundamental is completely absent, as in a lab test. Same sh*t as hearing someone's voice through a telephone, which band-passes something like 300-3kHz iirc. Your brain may or may not "fill in" the missing fundamental - musicians are actually less likely to do so than most - but your ear still recognizes the overtone series as belonging to the missing fundamental. Through a mid-tier bass rig the E0 fundamental is probably 30~40 dB down from the octave harmonic; it is possible to get the fundamental, but the necessary equipment is inevitably both expensive and bulky.

Missing fundamental - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sure, but it's subjective - and as you say, no one here has that kind of equipment at their disposal for band practice..

I'm just playing devil's advocate on the E0 thing. No worries where anyone tunes. You can tune to drop Z for all I care - I do. I have a whole string on my 8 that's just a super thick floppy thing to bomb on where the high E would be.

 

[Orgalmer]

The baroque guitar had 5 courses. I'm sure "standard" guitarists went through this back when 6 strings took over. "Why doeth thou needeth an sixfold unaccompanied strings? Hast though mastered the standard five courses?" Now a five string guitar is about as useful as 3/4 of a penny.

The obvious response to the "why don't you just play bass" nonsense is that you want to hold the low end down while your bass player takes a solo like a keyboard player would. Also, ask them why they don't just play the mandolin if all they want is limited range.

I actually have a mandolin, they're really hard to play. Normally tuned GDAE but I tune mine EBEA like my guitars and basses. It's funny because people don't ask me why I don't just play a guitar when I tune THAT down.

 

[Nag]

I don't run... ever. I haven't won a gold medal at the International Speed-Walking Masters Olympics just yet, so I can't really begin my running training until I've done so.

^ That's how stupid the whole "master X-strings first" argument is. Really.

you lazy bastard. now go buy a djentstick.

once you've mastered the djentstick, you can get a double djentstick. then a triple djentstick. then a 4-string bass. then a 5-string bass. only then should you start trying to learn guitar. And you'll be legitimately playing an 8-string only by the time you're 60 years old. UNDERSTOOD ?