5-String Bass playing..

[Ken Smith]

I had a thread on 5ers and Ext's before but this is one about the playability of the 5er in Orchestra. I have this newly acquired 5er but it is huge, I mean HUGE! It's a 4/4 or 5/4 sized Bass depending on who you ask but the string length is only 41"..

I had a rehearsal last night and thought I would take my fancy Pollmann out for a spin and use it for the two Christmas concerts this week and leave the Martini (my main Bass currently) in the rack because a C-Extension is rarely needed for this type of venue. However, I have used both 5ers and Ext's in the past for X-Mas concerts. I just thought if I had a note or two down below, I would just play it up an octave and enjoy the lighter weight sloped shouldered Pollmann as it needs to get out more.

We started rehearsing lasted night and the second piece looked like it was written for tuba. Just says 'Bass' at the top, not 'Contrabass' like it would usually say. The piece is 'Choral Prelude' by J.S. Bach (tempo marked Andantino) with the German title under the English one. Well, I had to transpose quite a bit as this IS a Bass part I found out and looks like an Organ Bass line to me as well. (Edit;Transcribed for Orchestra by Eugene Ormandy)

I came back to the office after rehearsal, pulled out the 5er and started tweaking it so I could use it tomorrow on the first concert. It needs a lot of set-up work to be optimum and maybe even the Neck moved out even more and/or re-pitched. The center bout is 17 1/8th wide at the narrowest point so you know the Bow is hitting it when I play on the G-String. I shimmed up the Bridge a bit and re-cut the String slots some and then started to practice.

I can see now that this piece is for a 5-string. I made a copy for the future as an exercise for the C-ext. if it can be played. Besides a few octave jumps like you see in a Brandenburg it has quite a few moving lines down below. The piece is in Eb so you can imagine. It had plenty of Ds and Cs to play as well.

Advice? Discussion? 5-str. practice? I think that an optimum set-up is essential because without it, playing a 5er is an up hill struggle. The Neck on this Bass is a bit too thick for me and the Nut needs a little lowering on most strings. The Camber is just about flat as well so it needs higher action to Pizz cleanly.

I know in Europe the 5er is standard for this type of music. What say ye all?