yah......im pretty sure that i know how to tune a guitar.......i have just never used or even thought about using a 5 string and had no idea what to do with it......i was saying that i was playting for 4 years and endorsed by spector because that othe dick said i was 13 and not able to play any insturment.....yah, im definately not 13 either.......

i just bought a new set of strings which has a high C instead of a low B so should i make some the trus rod adjustments?

my bass is currently tuned D G C F Bb

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i wouldnt recommend messing with your truss rod unless youre 100% certain what youre doing. if you plan on keeping the high C (as opposed to the low B) you may need to adjust the nut though.

thanx dude..but ive changed back to the low B

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no problem...rock on brother.

Is using a four string bass with heavy strings a good idea to tune to B instead of getting a five string bass, or until I get a five string bass?

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Since no one gave your post a careful read to see that it is actually a legit (well semi-legit, it is a tuning question after all) question, I tell you what I would do.
Right now your 4 string drop B is tuned as follows, (low strings to high): B, F#, B, E.
If you had a five string, it would be a funny situation. If you wanted to use the lowest string as your B string (ie, tune the B string how it is supposed to be tuned), you would have to tune every other string one step up to preserve to same fretting patterns for your songs, like you said. This would mean tons of breaking strings. Or, you could do the other thing you said, tuning everything down by three semi-tones, and further down tuning the two lower strongs by one tone: F#, B, F#, B, E
The problem with this is that that low F# string is designed to be tuned as B and will be sloppy as hell (as was said elsewhere in this thread).
So as a variation of this you could do something that sound really weird but which must be good since Subsonic6string does it: tune every string down 3 semi-tones and tune only the E string (string #4) down an extra tone to get: G#, B, F#, B, E.

I think that's alot of trouble though. If I were you and I was getting a 5 string, I would tune it as follows: B E A D G. Standard. All you would have to do is re-learn your songs with everything that is played on the four high strings moved up by 2 frets. Shouldn't be too hard, especially given that most bands that drop B substitute low loud notes for technical and difficult riffs. Actually I doubt you would benefit much from a 5 string, since you won't extend your range much from how you are currently tuned. The only difference would be that you wouldn't get the sloppy sounds of a bass tuned way too low for its own good.

Sorry for rambling, I didn't mean to go on that long.

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If you tuned yourself to standard with your regular 5 string set you would already be only three semi-tones away from your "tenor bass setup". It seems funny to me that you want higher range but you tune down your bass.

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Thanks, Rattlehead!!!

To get around the sloppiness issue, I took some time to learn about proper setups. It took a bit of time, but by increasing the tension in my trussrods and retuning my intonation, the tension on my strings is pretty well the same as a normal tuned bass would be.

As previously stated, though, it's not something you should try unless you are confident in your abilities...either that, or have a lot of extra money to pay someone professional to fix it...lol

Cheers.

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youll need a serious tuss rod adjustment to convert to BEAD tuning, if you want the low B but dont want a 5 string i would just get one of the esp 4 strings that are built for BEAD

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I think those are called "baritone" basses. Not too sure though.

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They are

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How about this:
The next time a guitar player tells you to drop tune to a C tell him to go fuck himself. Then tune up to a E (maybe Eb) and tell him to write heavier music...

Whoever writes the majority of the riffs should determine the tuning, unless your singer actually sings. If your singer sings, his range determines the tuning of the band.

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You and I are so similar.

Hmmm this is very true though. Although it doesn't work that way for my band. We are always in standard tuning but we only have one song in the key of E! Our singer always sings clean but doesn't use the high octave unless he both can and wants to.

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