Hey Gary,

I wanted to be Chris Squire too!  Good times.  I was lucky to have musician parents who always encouraged me to play and to reach for the best instruments.

Here's the short story of how I landed here...  By the mid-70s I was already doing quite a bit of recording studio work in Minneapolis.  I had passed through a few different basses by then, starting with a Gibson Kalamazoo, a Guild Starfire, possibly an EB3? (can't remember) and then I was playing a Gibson Triumph Les Paul bass which I modified to have a built in DI box and an XLR out.  I'd show up at the studio and plug their mic cable directly into that bass. 

In '75 I asked my favorite music store guy Jim Harms (RIP) at Park Music in St. Louis Park if he knew of anybody who was making basses like the Triumph with "modern" electronics but in a long scale format?  He said "there's a company in California called Alembic that you need to check out".  So I ordered and received a 4-string Series-I that year.  I don't remember much about that bass but I was hooked on the big "piano string" tone.

My dad played bass in the Minnesota Orchestra and at that time most of the bass section had "extensions" which allowed the E-string to be opened up to a low-C - an octave below the cello.  The string literally extended about a foot past the nut and was held down with mechanical keys which could lock to E or step down in 1/2-steps to C.  We started thinking about how that could be done on an electric but quickly realized any mechanical keys would be too noisy for a bass with pickups...  Not to mention electric bass strings were all fixed lengths at that point.  So an "extension" seemed unlikely to work.

My dad had heard about orchestral bassists in the EU transforming their instruments into 5-string monsters.  He liked to refer to these basses as "killer-Bs" because of the open low-B string.  So that inspired us to look into doing THAT on an electric.  GHS was winding individual gauges by that time and the largest E-string they offered was a .120.  That was enough to convince us the concept could work so we reached out to Alembic - the company who can do anything you can dream up - and they built my first 5-er which was #76-418.

We give the nod to Anthony Jackson (RIP) as being the first to "go low" with his Contra-bass guitar which he apparently ordered in '74 and received in '75.  I was and still am a huge fan of AJ's playing but I don't think I had heard his extended range bass before I got my Alembic.  So we went that direction at about the same time.

Fender made 5-string basses in the 60's but hilariously they were tuned E-A-D-G-C and had shortened fingerboards so gained no additional notes.  There were also 6-string basses being made which were essentially guitars tuned an octave down.  But these were very short scale instruments and I considered them to be more like novelties.  I also think Alembic had already built a few multi-string basses by '76 but I don't know how they were set up.

So by the mid-70s, aside from Anthony's guy Carl Thompson, I don't think anybody was building electric basses with low-B strings.  But the idea did seem to catch on fairly quickly!

And that was the SHORT story!! 

Cheers!
Jimmy J

How long did it take to find a B string you loved?

David,

Since 1976 I've been playing a Medium set of ghs Boomers; .045, .065, .085, .105 and for many years that .120 served as my low-B.  At some point they started winding a .125 and I switched because, well, the number sequence made more sense.   Now I use their "standard" 5MDYB set which is .045, .065, .085, .105, .130.  That's getting to be a fairly large "rod" of a low-B string but it works fine for me.  

Jimmy J

I don't feel so self-conscious about the pool noodle of a .136 B I use now. 🤣 Well, to be fair, the rounds are just a wimpy .118. 

Do you have an upright bass Jimmy? Or ever mess with one, for giggles? Just curious. 

Bridge cables.

hehehehe

Bill, the guitar one

Greg,

I owned an upright for a few years with the best of intentions.  But it very quickly became apparent that I was too late in life to get the big bass under control.  I knew what notes to play and figured out where they were on the instrument but realized to get any good at it would take a lifetime - and I was already too old.  My dad was, and my brother is completely fluent on upright.  I just never got the license to drive one.

Jimmy J

Quote from: JimmyJ on June 12, 2026, 04:22:06 PMGreg,

I owned an upright for a few years with the best of intentions.  But it very quickly became apparent that I was too late in life to get the big bass under control.  I knew what notes to play and figured out where they were on the instrument but realized to get any good at it would take a lifetime - and I was already too old.   My dad was, and my brother is completely fluent on upright.  I just never got the license to drive one.

Jimmy J

I kinda' figured you spoke that language at least part-time. Shoot man, you made your mark on the the bass galaxy just fine. 😎

Quote from: JimmyJ on June 12, 2026, 04:22:06 PMGreg,

I owned an upright for a few years with the best of intentions.  But it very quickly became apparent that I was too late in life to get the big bass under control.  I knew what notes to play and figured out where they were on the instrument but realized to get any good at it would take a lifetime - and I was already too old.   My dad was, and my brother is completely fluent on upright.  I just never got the license to drive one.

Jimmy J

I started learning the db late in life to scratch that longtime itch, and still have my provisional licence so not allowed on stage with it, unless supervised. 😂🤔.