High C or Low B?

DDR4LYF

So I have been playing a 5 string for a while now and I love that little extra range in a shorter space that the 5 string gives you. Also I just dig the 5 string. too cool!

I have, however, grown tired of the low B because I just don't like those super lows and don't really use anything below the low D (even that is only really used as a passing note).

So I was considering going for the Evan Brewer tuning and go Low E at the bottom (like a 4-string) and buying an extra C string for the higher registers. I love me some higher register licks and some chords. So just get a new nut cut? Not so easy.

I am using a Chinese made Warwick Rockbass Fortress (still great quality, even though that is rare in the Chinese ones). This bass has a nut with allen screws in it for easy adjustment. So the string slots will be all wrong if I do go this route.

Now comes the questions. Is it possible to get a nut that will suit my needs? Is it worth it? Does a luthier need to get involved? Do I even need a new nut? Could I shim the strings (That sounds like a bad idea already...)?

AlanRatcliffe

High C is too weedly-wee for me, but the world would be a boring place if we all had the same tastes in music.

No premade nut aside from some of the adjustable ones is fit and forget - they all need cutting to height. And yeah - it's a pro job. Especially for a 5 with a high C.

I'm not sure what the nut on your bass is like, but some of the adjustable Warwick brass nuts (with triangular grooves) take just about any string gauge.

Big-G

Before going down the 'new nut' route, I'd try string it up with the high C and see how it does? I've generally found that the nuts grooves are not as critical on bass as they are on guitar, as long as the string seats well in the groove, and doesn't slide up or down when playing. Its also dependent on your style of playing. If you slap and pop a lot, then you will need a specifically cut nut to avoid the string popping out the grooves, but if you are more of a subtle finger style player (like I am) then the nut grooves tend to be more forgiving.

The critical point once strung up with the high C, is to make sure that you don't get any strange vibrations or 'shadow notes', or even partial muting when playing the open strings. Once fully tuned up, just bend the string up and down a little around the first fret, and see if you can detect any string movement within the nut groove itself? If you are getting string movement, then its not going to work, and you will need to have a new nut cut.

Just a caveat here. I wouldn't normally recommend the above, and would usually always suggest having a nut professionally cut, but I have found over the 22 years of playing bass that there are some things you can sometimes get away with as bass can be much more forgiving than its counterpart.

Hope that made sense. Only had the one coffee so far! ?
Regards
G!

Big-G

Just to pick up on your question about shimming the strings, this is definitely a bad idea. It will basically just result in string muting, whether complete or partial. Not something you want to do.

Regards
G!

DDR4LYF

Thanks for the advice guys. I will definitely try it without a new nut first and then see if the tuning is good to use and the nut is needed.

As for the shimming. Thanks for the heads up on that.

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: I'm not sure what the nut on your bass is like, but some of the adjustable Warwick brass nuts (with triangular grooves) take just about any string gauge.

It's not that kind of nut. It is black and has round grooves. so yeah, might work, might not....

I will report back when I have some news to report.

Thanks again Alan and Big G