5-string basses with tiny/vintage-height frets?

i spoke to gary mader who plays bass in eyehategod and asked what gauge he used because they tune to c and it was 55 to 110 so ive just rolled with it

I love sludge rock, but I'd never heard of these guys. Listening now... wow, Louisiana? Can definitely hear why EADG isn't gonna cut it for 'em... and I'm also not hearing a need for a lot of ringing highs and bass solos with Jaco-style upper harmonics... so yeah, a 4 tuned down seems the perfect solution.

Thanks for the real-world-professional datapoint re: 55-110 working for C tuning :)

Per my sidebar with Jim. I had a play date at GC in Hollywood, and the new, used & vintage inventory was pretty good that day.

Takeaways: I love really meticulously-crafted necks with tiny frets, and everything else is secondary.

So given I'm not yet experienced enough to shell out $$$$ for a totally-custom special order bass, I'm down to 2 choices:

1. A Fender Japan Precision bass tuned down to C. Pretty much any P Bass neck they've made with a 1.625" nut width and tiny frets would be great for this left hand of mine. Regardless of which production era or which factory in Japan, I've never held a Fender Japan instrument that was anything less than excellent (but I do hate how soft basswood is, no basswood models for me). The difference between the Japan factory and everything else was still very clear at the GC test. Whether I tuned down the new bass or my current MIM P Bass is TBD -- whichever one sounds better in C, after the right truss & intonation adjustments, would be the winner... or maybe I say #$%&-it and just keep both basses in both locations tuned to E and worry about those lower-tuned songs some other year.

2. A Lakland 5 string. They're the only folks making trad-style 5 string basses with tiny frets that I'm aware of. I'm still curious about Dingwall, very curious, but I don't think the distraction of the fanned frets and the extra bells and whistles is what I need right this moment -- but I hope they don't fade away like Parker Guitars did in the 2000s. Somebody needs to be making great basses that aren't for the historically-obsessed Civil War re-creationist types. I'm Spector/Warwick-curious as well, but let's say that anything that doesn't have tiny frets off-the-shelf right now is out of the running.

oh yeah no highs... he has one of those darkglass heads that has eq sliders not knobs and the sliders can light up so if you look closely you can see his settings... highs on 0. oh and both him and the guitarist (guitarists in the earlier days) tone knob rolled all the way back too

i remember quite liking dingwall but i only tried one for 5 minutes or so in a music shop, laklands have always looken really nice...

with the strings though im not sure if tuning down lighter gauge strings or tuning up a lighter gauge 5 string set is more common, i do know a couple people whove used something like 120 for their thickest. when i first started having to tune down i think i put a 125 to 60 from a 5 string set and it was a little too much tension for me. its definetely worth trying a few different sets and finding what works for you. if youre into the technical thing of ammount of tension i think theres a calcultor on the string joy website where you can put in what note youre tuning too and whatever gauge and itll tell you the tension of that gauge tuned to that note and you can compare to what you normally like in standard and get something similar tension, all thats a bit too technical for me tho

if youre into the technical thing of ammount of tension i think theres a calcultor on the string joy website where you can put in what note youre tuning too and whatever gauge and itll tell you the tension of that gauge tuned to that note and you can compare to what you normally like in standard and get something similar tension, all thats a bit too technical for me tho

THAT is awesome. Yeah, getting string tension balanced and right is a make-or-break thing for me on bass, so I will def. use that calculator. Thank you!

Re: gauge. If 110 works for that professional Sludge player you mentioned, I think I can run with that. At the very least, it's a great starting point. I realize I'll burn through a good $150 worth of strings before finding the right ones.

The lakland might be easier to find for a hands on audition than the right cij fender P. I think you may have your answer.

The lakland might be easier to find for a hands on audition than the right cij fender P. I think you may have your answer.

Laklands are harder to come by here in LA than you would think, (I'm gonna have to drive half way to San Diego, I suspect) and old MIJ/CIJ stuff is a bit easier than you would expect, though by no means super-common. My only penalty for taking it slow is not having a bass to practice when I'm over at my GFs... so I'm gonna let the game to come to me.

I'm gonna have to drive half way to San Diego, I suspect)

Or all the way... I can think of places in California I like less.

Maybe your proximity to Japan will be helpful... japanese fender is thin on the ground here though

Maybe your proximity to Japan will be helpful... japanese fender is thin on the ground here though

I'm not gonna argue with that. I'm like 3 metro stops from Little Tokyo.