I have a ibanez sr406? that I have tuned with a low F# [this set
https://kaliummusic.com/product/string- ... h2y353d3l/ ] and I used to have a 4 string tuned C#F#BE... it's fun for noise and making weird sounds but I've never gotten much usefulness out of subcontractors strings... maybe if I had octaveplus make me a flat or half round string.. things sound too much like bridge cables and move too much.. and I would want a longer scale... blah blah..
My reasoning for building this bass was... I needed something that I could play like a normal bass but also play things that sounded guitar. This does a good job, way more so "for me" than a bassvi because for me a bassvi with guitar string spacing doesn't cut it.. it feels too guitary and cramped... for half a minute I thought about making a 5 string tenor bass but then I would have to switch to something else if I wanted lower notes so no.. and I had the neck... the original idea was an 8 with different spacing for the high and low strings but finding a bridge or someone that would make one was.... not happening.. even finding a pickup and bridge for this was not easy... I lucked out finding the pickup used.. when I talked to bestbassgear they said because of the shutdown both bartolini and hipshot were massively backordered and no one knew when you could get anything...