5-String Bass playing..

[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.