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Medium (32") scale electric basses


kristo
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Fender pawn shop reverse jaguar bass is medium scale. I like it, but some people think it's fugly

[url="http://www.fender.com/series/pawn-shop/pawn-shop-reverse-jaguar-bass-maple-fingerboard-2-color-sunburst/"]http://www.fender.com/series/pawn-shop/pawn-shop-reverse-jaguar-bass-maple-fingerboard-2-color-sunburst/[/url]

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  • 5 months later...

Hello to all!

New to the forum here. Kind of a medium scale bass advocate/activist. I own PRS bass #11, a bass that Paul Reed Smith handcrafted for me in 1978 after having a problem with #7, which was the original instrument Paul built for me. It appears in Vintage Guitar magazine as well.

Was interested to see in the forum what other medium scale basses might be available in the U.K. and Europe, or in the rest of the world for that matter - and to see if there were any other medium scalers who have seen the light!

Here is my family



and you can visit the site and see the details of all the builds here:

[url="http://www.innertainment.net/"]http://www.innertainment.net/[/url]

Hope this is a lively thread, I love discussing the merits of a nice medium scale.

Best,

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net

Edited by BassHappy
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I have a lovely Burns Marquee, purchased last year through a well known auction site for £200. It has a 32" medium scale, is very playable and is excellent for those 1960's thumpy bass lines. With three pick ups its is also suprisingly versatile and can make a decent job of all sorts of things.

I may have to move it on though as visually [attachment=158770:P1050017.JPG]it doesn't work with the U2 tribute band i've just joined and I may have to buy something different!

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My Roscoe LG Signature is a 32". Obviously that means the custom build route, but since buying it I've sold every other bass that I owned. I am a one bass man these days and can't imagine playing much else!

[IMG]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h44/pantherairsoft/Roscoe%20LG%20Signature%20V/IMG_1282_zps4ec69a66.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h44/pantherairsoft/Me/IMG_5826e_c_zps8bc6cdfd.jpg[/IMG]

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The Dean Stylist is a medium scale bass (arch top hollow body). Dean are re-issuing the cabbie style one, see [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/233236-dean-stylist-cabbie-bass-is-being-re-issued/"]http://basschat.co.uk/topic/233236-dean-stylist-cabbie-bass-is-being-re-issued/[/url]

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[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1395930495' post='2408095']
My Roscoe LG Signature is a 32". Obviously that means the custom build route, but since buying it I've sold every other bass that I owned. I am a one bass man these days and can't imagine playing much else!



[/quote]

Wow, thanks for the info everyone, some nice medium scalers here I can see!

Very nice. I love my Roscoes. Mine are sans mags with Richard McLish RMC Midi systems. Wondering when Keith made yours? As far as I know, I was the first medium scaler in 1999, with my second one a year or two later. The first one he made me was Birdseye Maple:



And the other one is Buckey Burl:



Yeah, the Roscoe's are more than amazing. Keith is certainly one of my heros in the bass world. He also finished my Viola bass for me - which I designed and had built:



Note: i edited the photos as the bigger ones were quite small.


Cheers,

BassHappy

Edited by BassHappy
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[quote name='BassHappy' timestamp='1395960481' post='2408534']


Wow, thanks for the info everyone, some nice medium scalers here I can see!

Very nice. I love my Roscoes. Mine are sans mags with Richard McLish RMC Midi systems. Wondering when Keith made yours? As far as I know, I was the first medium scaler in 1999, with my second one a year or two later.

[url="http://www.innertainment.net/Roscoe-1.png"]Roscoe-1.png[/url]

And my buckeye burl:

[url="http://www.innertainment.net/Roscoe-2.png"]Roscoe-2.png[/url]

Yeah, the Roscoe's are more than amazing. Keith is certainly one of my heros in the bass world. He also finished my Viola bass for me - which I designed and had built:

[url="http://www.innertainment.net/V-Bass.png"]V-Bass.png[/url]

I am not sure how to post photos yet to this forum. I did a search on the help files to no avail. On most forums in the US you simply copy in the photo web address and paste it here with some code in front of it and after it - and the photo magically appears. No such luck here though apparently.

Any advice for the newbie on the photo front is much appreciated!

Cheers,

BassHappy
[/quote]

Hey dude! I am well aware of your MIDI enabled 32" Roscoes. In fact they were referenced when I bought up a 32" scale with Gard. Mine is a recent one, born in 2012! Though I understand there have been very few 32" made between mine and yours.

As for photos, most people upload to an external site such as Photobucket (what I use) or Flickr, and just copy the 'IMG' code that site gives you into your post on any other site to show the pic. It works on basically every forum out there so I never need to upload images directly to forums. Hope that helps.

Edited by pantherairsoft
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[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1395965028' post='2408578']
Hey dude! I am well aware of your MIDI enabled 32" Roscoes. In fact they were referenced when I bought up a 32" scale with Gard. Mine is a recent one, born in 2012! Though I understand there have been very few 32" made between mine and yours.

As for photos, most people upload to an external site such as Photobucket (what I use) or Flickr, and just copy the 'IMG' code that site gives you into your post on any other site to show the pic. It works on basically every forum out there so I never need to upload images directly to forums. Hope that helps.
[/quote]

Wow, very cool....

Didn't realize Keith had made any more mediums after my two. Congrats on that - sure is a honey - beautiful bass!

Do you mind if I ask you what the width is of yours at the nut? Keith made one of mine approximately 42mm and the other wider at 46mm. Love em both to be honest....

I think one feels more like a precision and other more like a jazz.

I realize you are head over heels and that your Roscoe is now the only bass you have - but have your run across any other medium scalers in your travels that are worth checking out?

Best,

BassHappy

Edited by BassHappy
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I'll have to measure the nut width this evening and let you know! I'm not sure off of the top of my head. It's quite slim. I went with 18mm string spacing, but the neck is very slim. I will check and let you know.

A friend has a pair of Wood & Tronics 33". They play very nice and were what turned my eye to shorter scales. I made a point of trying out as many as I could and when I was on holiday in Germany I visited Musicstore.de in Cologne, which is huge. They had some stuff from local luthiers in and they had 2 basses that were 32" from LeFay - http://www.lefay.de/english/bass_singer6_32inch.html . The neck scale just felt so right for me. I'm a short guy with limited reach and playing a 35" scale involves my arm being fully extended to reach the 1st fret. I had developed some shoulder and hip issues from playing basses for a long time that were just too large for me and had a year of chiropractic work to get myself tip top again (and it helped). Picking up the 32" was instantly noticeable compared to the 33"s and I placed the order with Roscoe the week after (I already had 3 Roscoe's and am listed as a local endorsee on the website, so I went straight to them for it).

Edited by pantherairsoft
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So glad to hear that your chiropractor got you straightened around!

Would be great to hear about the nut width. I am really curious. When Keith made my first medium scaler I took him my PRS #11 to him and had him copy the neck dimensions exactly. Of course, this was way before Gard, who I have never met. The PRS was my only bass from 1977-1999 and I was so used to it. I had a 1972 Fender Jazz I bought when I was in the army in Germany, and it had dead spots on both the D and G string from frets 4-7. It was horrible. I thought at the time that Fender was sending all the "seconds" to the military guys - got it nearly at cost through the PX so maybe they were. Kind of like your story - I could get around so much better and passages that I struggled with on the Jazz became a cinch on the PRS.

I was in Germany in October and visited with Bert @ Hot Wire basses. He had a number of very nice mediums, but most of what he had was close to a duplication of basses I already own.

I wish I would have known about Wood & Tronics and LeFay, as I would have checked them out. Been emailing on and off with Jens Ritter about a bass, but I am not sure that is going to happen. His body shapes are amazing, but not for me, although I do love the shape of some of his guitar bodies. Hit many music stores throughout Germany, but saw very few mediums - lots of vintage and not so vintage Fenders though.

Edited by BassHappy
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Hey, sorry for the late reply! Mad weekend.
Width at the nut is 47-48mm (I don't have a caliper for precision measurements), so roughly the same as your wider one! I find it very comfortable for a 5 string. Actually fairly narrow compared to other 5's I've owened and used!

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[quote name='pantherairsoft' timestamp='1396213513' post='2411102']
Hey, sorry for the late reply! Mad weekend.
Width at the nut is 47-48mm (I don't have a caliper for precision measurements), so roughly the same as your wider one! I find it very comfortable for a 5 string. Actually fairly narrow compared to other 5's I've owened and used!
[/quote]

Thanks for the info! I was wondering if my buckeye Roscoe was wide enough at the nut to be a five string. Mine also have LED's on the fretboard and drop D tuners.

Thanks to all for the postings, the two basses just above are CRAZY nice! Would love to know who crafted those?

Thanks for posting!

Best to all,

BassHappy

Edited by BassHappy
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[quote name='molan' timestamp='1381438539' post='2239249']
I'm hooked on 33.3" scale now - big money option though as I only know of Jens Ritter that makes them!
[/quote]
33⅓? Presumably it's an LP bass then (Long Playing, not Les Paul)..? :D

[size=1]oh don't worry, I'm already wearing my coat[/size]

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[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1396300849' post='2412163']
I have a Warwick Alien, my only non-34" bass. Am growing into liking it a lot.
[/quote]

Yeah, I have one too, and love it. You using the original bronzers on it? I am hearing that the Alien with tapes sounds very much like an upright if you are looking for that sound.



Best,

BassHappy

Edited by BassHappy
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  • 3 weeks later...

I have 3 Aria Pro II CSB basses and they are excellent. They have a bit more growl than a precision and quite responsive controls.
I have had 2 TSB basses too but foolishly sold them on a Fender Crusade... (on look out for another TSB350 - if anyone happens to have one for sale...).
The medium scale suits me well and also, as a pick player, the fact that the string spacing doesn't increase much at the bridge really helps.

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[quote name='kristo' timestamp='1398700840' post='2436731']
I managed to pick up a 32" scale Japanese Squier Precision bass from the classifieds last month. It has confirmed that 32" is the scale for me. Very pleased indeed with it!
[/quote]

1980's E serial? They're awesome!

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