I mainly gig as a drummer but I also play guitar, bass, sing and like to write songs. I was recently hired to play bass at a show with a girl singer and noticed most of her songs were written with a synth bass and many of the parts utilized the notes within a low B string. I was originally going to borrow a 5 string but then as an experiment decided to tune my 1980s MIJ Fender Precision to BEAD to see if it would even work. Success! I really like it! Silly me I thought I came up with the idea but then realized there must be others who have done this so I posted about it.
@Rocket Queen set me straight right away and shared a link to this thread.
There is a definite learning curve as I've only played 4 string basses before. "Wait, the 3rd fret on the lowest string is D, not G!" It also forced me to intentionally have a lighter touch with my right hand. I believe I'm all in on BEAD. I thought I may have to buy thicker strings but all I really had to do was raise the bridge saddles a bit to compensate. The action is great and the intonation was still spot on. For my particular MIJ Fender Precision I believe this reduced tension will also help keep the neck straight. I usually have to adjust the truss rod about once a year with standard tuning. I don't know what kind of maple they were using for their bass necks in Japan back in the 1980s but this maple neck doesn't like standard tuning much anyway. It's almost as if this bass was specifically designed for BEAD. I was also surprised the regular strings weren't floppy. Just this week I ordered some Fender Flatwounds. I hated Flatwounds for guitar when I tried them but I think they will be perfect for the thick and warm bass tones I chase.
I've read every post in this thread and I have already learned a lot. Thanks!
