Converting a 4 string bass to accomodate 120. B string/tuning

[enemyofthesun]

I want to know what experience you all might have changing a 4 string to accomodate a big 120.-125. B string/tuning

I currently own spector and ibanez high end 5 string basses but really want to play a fender J bass, for the speed and ease of a 4 string and most importantly to get the fender sound. I DO need a low B for my band.

My guesses are that I need the nut changed and the tension rod adjusted. Will this work??

 

[S8-N]

I tune my bass to A and I didnt need any major adjustments. I use the heaviest GHS bass boomers. The only thing you are likely to need is an intonation adjustment. I cant remember if I had mine done or not. I did the same with my guitar and it took some serious planning and adjustment to get it to work. but it does.

 

[C Williams]

In '93, our new band kept tuning lower and lower at every practice until we arrived at C. My strings were flapping in the breeze! I took my bass to the shop and after explaining what I wanted to the bemused luthier, I left it in his hands. (By the way, I had decided to go down to B by then.)

When I got the bass back it was tuned gnarly low but had the correct intonation and action. Eventually we did like a lot of metal bands do with their instruments - tune down a step from E to D - but with our modified guitars we ended up at A. Since the bass had been set up well, I didn't have any problems dropping the extra step.

When we did sound checks at gigs then, the soundmen didn't know what to make of it. "You're getting a low A out of a four string bass?" My strings looked like suspension bridge cables. In that era of grunge and (around here) bad metal, we were the only ones rumbling around below D but still playing melodically.

I sure was bitter when Korn popularized that low sound years after we did it, but that's what we get for being an extremely talented but lazy, stoner-staffed band - complete obscurity.