5-String Bass playing..

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Arnold Schnitzer

I've just built my first fiver, and I have to say, set-up is a B---h! The other day I regraduated and dressed the fingerboard for the third time. I wanted more arch and now I finally feel that the bow crossings are comfortable. Of course I added some arch to the bridge as well. I have the bridge spaced at 26mm, which is a meager 1mm narrower than my usual set-up. The few fivers I've seen from Europe were mostly 25mm or so. Anyway, I had to add a little extra arch to the set-up so the player could still dig in and avoid playing double-stops. The hardest string to make playable is the E. Now I feel it's all working nicely.

Playing a 5er seems to always be a challenge. I loaned out my converted Hungarian 5er once and asked the European played for an evaluation on the set-up and told me the spacing was tight (at about 26mm then I think). In Europe, 5s are standard issue in a Pro Orchestra. They consider C-Extensions to be a 'cheap fix'. I can play most things that come up on the Ext. but once in a while, I need that 5er. Gotta have one to play all the notes evenly as written.

I think my current full sized 5er is at 27mm or so at the Bridge. The FB was quite wide so I moved them as far apart as possible. Spacing is not a problem now on that Bass. The 17-18" C-bouts are..