Official Luthiers Forum!

I wanted to see what folks here might recommend if I were to put together a fretless 5 string bass to be tuned down a whole step.

Would it be necessary to increase the scale length?

Would it work fine at 34"? And if so, with what strings?

What adjustments would you make so it feels and sounds right?

Thanks guys.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Buy the biggest gauge of strings you can find.

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

Too vague. Looking for people who have experience with extra low tuned basses. Already have a thread up on Talkbass Luthiers Corner. No answers yet.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

It's a start, bub.
Or are you in such a hurry to get all your info in one post, instead of a complete thread?

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

No need for that, I know the game...

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I approach odd scales via string tension first, then string gauge. The goal is usually to make it feel and play as much like a familiar instrument as is practical so there are few surprises in setup and playability.

In theory you could keep the tension the same as a normal 34" scale bass by simply adding a little more than 4" to the scale length. In practice that might not be feasible so you can beef up the strings a bit while extending the scale a little less. I'd suggest starting with D'Addario's string tension chart (see http://www.daddario.com/DAstringtensionguide.Page for details) to help calculate different tensions for different scales and different gauges to get in the ballpark, then build a mockup of what you come up with (or move the bridge around on a cheapo test mule) to see what feels and sounds right. At some point when strings get too fat they start sounding really wonky so you have to take that into consideration and balance it with how far of a left arm stretch extra scale length brings. You also have to be conscious of the availability of string sets... if your customer discovers that the recommended gauges aren't readily available or making sets out of singles will cost a bajillion bucks he will not be happy.