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Anybody here have any good tips on 5 string bass? I have this neck that I made and it's very stable and the fretwork is close. They are level but I still think there's something missing on the low side. The lowest string on a 5 always tends to be floppy and usually buzzes. I have noticed that some 5's are better than others. I was thinking I might need to put some relief into the bass side of the neck. Or possibly make the frets slope downward toward the heel slightly. Does any of this sound like a bad idea? Any tips?

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

What kind of bass? How many frets? The only thing that will get rid of the flab is a longer scale length. That doesn't fix your fret buzz though. Greater tension usually requires higher action, sounds like you wouldn't be into that. If you know that your frets aren't right then you should fix them. That and setup are likely the source of your buzz. I had a friend that tried putting piano bass wire for the low B, super duper thick, and it was just as flabby as a regular B. I don't mind the flab on my 34" scale Curbow bass. I also use flatwounds though, which may or may not affect flabbiness. I also play fingerstyle, which I think deals with it better than a pick.

So there's a lot of factors here that you can think about. Maybe send some pictures?

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

P.S. the most basic fix to this problem is clearly to raise the action of the B string. I've always noticed the low B needs to be a bit taller than the rest. If your neck relief is right on, that's the only thing you need to do. If you're not sure about the quality of the setup, work on that.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

This will seem basic, but having a larger diameter string will reduce the floppiness, and it also helps to buy good quality strings.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

It's a J bass I built. It plays pretty well actually. Just has a tiny bit of rattle on the low B acoustically. It's less audible plugged in.

I thought about lightly running a beam (up the bass side) to the 2nd, then again to the 3rd, then to the 4th, and so on in an effort to give the low B some clearance. Has anyone ever heard of this being done?

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

That might help, but if you mostly hear it acoustically rather than plugged in, I'm not sure I would worry about it. Plugged in is what matters, it's an electric. You could do that and it might help, just don't go overboard on it.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Thanks. I'm still deciding if it's necessary or not. I'll probably play it some more and see if it still bugs me in a couple months.

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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

I had a similar problem on the 5 I built , and fixed with adjusting the relief and height ..

The B string cuts a wide arc, so will need to be slightly higher than the rest. Using heavier strings helps reduce floppiness.

Circle K has probably the best selection of different string gauges for bass.

http://circlekstrings.com/store/

They sound sweet too.