Listen to Billy Sheehan 
There is a reason why most basses sold are 4 string. That’s what is required for most music genres. The full range of 6 (or even 7) strings is only used in few musical genres.
For my part, I believe that a 4 string with standard tuning covers most of my needs. I never would have started bass on a 6 string.
If you prefer a 6 string, just go for it and enjoy it 
The way he bends it lower is crazy but Yamaha specifically makes the Attitude resilient for him to do it 
Also his story about doing so many pinch harmonics his fingernail came off, so he super glued it back on between songs… the man is a machine
Yeah, he’s an impressive player. But using a 4-string to coerce 6-string notes out of it Billy-Sheehan-style is still a bit “apples and oranges”. I might coerce some funky notes out of an old car frame, but this doesn’t mean I could play more than “Twinkle, twinkle” on it.
I know what you mean though 
Apparently, Mike Stern super-glued his pick to his fingers for a while, as he was recovering from a nasty accident, where he had broken bones in his upper arms and shoulders…
These people are dedicated to their art!
I see them a bunch in prog metal.
I think five string is the sweet spot though. You get extended bottom range. For a six you’re reaching over the c string all the time whereas on a 5 the b string reach is only longer when you’re using the b string.
ETA: I do see a six string in my future probably, although at some point I wonder if I should just use keys for those use cases
Surprisingly, often as fretless even!
Even more surprisingly you’ll see fretless 6 strings in technical death metal. The former bassist for Archspire played a six string fretless then left the band to go to college and study jazz . First fragment I believe is almost all fretless bass and sounds like this:
Depends what you’re planning to play. I think you just need two strings and two frets for most punk
On a tangent, if on a sub octave bass E0 is around 20.x (?) Hz would you expect a lot of issues with getting good amplification?
And an octobass has only 3 strings. just saying.
If any of you visit Phoenix, AZ, I highly recommend checking out the Musical Instruments Museum in North Phoenix, just south of the 101 on Tatum Blvd. I lived a few miles from there and visited it several times. Here’s their octobass.
For those curious…
You stand on that stool and pull on the side levers, in order for the notes to be fretted on the highest(lowest musically) side of the Octobass.
There’s a nice museum closer this side of the Atlantic
https://www.mim.be/fr
Don’t think they have an octobass on exhibition though 
I’ve been in a museum about musical instruments at Berlin in the mid-90’s.
Not bass related, but Philthy Animal Taylor once suffered a broken hand while on tour so he gaffer tapped the drumstick to his hand until it had healed sufficiently.
Mad lad.
Well, the building in itself is worth a visit should you happen to visit Brussels, Art Nouveau using mostly steel and glass 
That’s a… bold claim. Do you have data to back that up? My gut feeling is that 4s outsell 5s and 6s by an order of magnitude, which seems odd for a “legacy” instrument.
OMF Goat … I’ve forgotten about that …
Oops yeah I forgot Myung.
