New Rondo Agile Bass Six

[dadagoboi]

30" scale, 24-84 string set $449.

[ack1961]

Can you educate me?  Why is this considered a bass?

[the mojo hobo]

It has thick strings. 

[dadagoboi]

Can you educate me?  Why is this considered a bass?

Rondo doesn't call it that.  They call it an "extended range guitar".  Many call it a baritone guitar, I've never considered them basses.  But they seem to have a lot of fans around here.

[leftybass]

Can you educate me?  Why is this considered a bass?

I'll play. Having owned several 6-string basses since 1990(and with another on the way) I should be able to answer your question. It is a short-scale(30") bass with 2 extra strings above the normal 4. String manufacturer's set guages vary but they are usually lighter guage than standard short-scale strings. I usually use a .95 low E string on my 6s. Due to the close string spacing they are usually, but certainly not always, played with a pick.
The 6-string bass was introduced  in the 50s by Danelectro. Leo Fender saw the Dano and came up with the Fender VI. Several other companies produced 6-string basses including Hagstrom, Rickenbacker, Epiphone, and Gibson.
They were popular in the Country music at the time, used to double the stand-up bass part on recordings, to accentuate the bass part on car radios.
Just off the top of my head here's a few folks known to have used a 6-string bass:
The Hollies
The Who
The Byrds
Soft Machine
The Beatles
Cream
The Band(still known as The Hawks at that time)


Plenty more but that's all I can think of right now.

[leftybass]

...and if that pretty green Agile bass were available lefty, I'd have one of those too.

[Dave W]

To me, it's still a bass. No less a bass than those multi-string long scales that extend into the guitar range.

IIRC, I Feel Free and others from Fresh Cream were recorded on Jack Bruce's Bass VI.

[gweimer]

It has thick strings. 

 

[ack1961]

It has thick strings. 

Aha! I had a feeling that the answer would be scientific in nature.

[Pekka]

I'll play. Having owned several 6-string basses since 1990(and with another on the way) I should be able to answer your question. It is a short-scale(30") bass with 2 extra strings above the normal 4. String manufacturer's set guages vary but they are usually lighter guage than standard short-scale strings. I usually use a .95 low E string on my 6s. Due to the close string spacing they are usually, but certainly not always, played with a pick.
The 6-string bass was introduced  in the 50s by Danelectro. Leo Fender saw the Dano and came up with the Fender VI. Several other companies produced 6-string basses including Hagstrom, Rickenbacker, Epiphone, and Gibson.
They were popular in the Country music at the time, used to double the stand-up bass part on recordings, to accentuate the bass part on car radios.
Just off the top of my head here's a few folks known to have used a 6-string bass:
The Hollies
The Who
The Byrds
Soft Machine
The Beatles
Cream
The Band(still known as The Hawks at that time)


Plenty more but that's all I can think of right now.

Mike Rutherford played a Micro-Frets 6-string bass on "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" and later owned a Shergold Marathon 6-string. Other Shergold 6-string players were Clive Mitten of Twelfth Night and of course Peter Hook of New Order.

Was Rickenbacker 4005/6 a short scale or the standard Rickenbacker 33"-and-something?

Here's my Aria SB700 6-string, tuned E-E with 90-70-50-30-25-20 strings. It has two guitar pickups and a bass pickup (from a Waterstone TP-2) with it's own output. Plays and sounds great and is of course with a 34" scale wich allows to use thin strings without being too floppy.


It used to be a 9-string (eeE-aaA-ddD), that's why there's too many tuners.