In praise of shortscale

[neepheid]

I'm sure this has been said before, but I'm loving the shortscale action right now. I picked up a Squier Bronco for £50 for a laugh (could sell it locally for same) and found it surprisingly playable, even in the state I got it in. I changed the bridge for a 4 saddle job (had to get the drill out to "convert" it into top stringing, drill 2 pilot holes for the mounting and replace one of the saddle screws with a longer one because it wasn't long enough for the intonation I needed!) and I'm hoping to get a lipstick pickup in it soon. All in all I've spent approx £30 on it and although the tuners are a bit crap, they work so I'll leave them for now.

I could see myself getting along with this bass for some time. It's great for picking up and noodling away. Might pimp it up with better tuners and a swish new pickguard, but all in all it's been something of a revelation for me.

I'm getting ready for my first gig (gulp) in a few weeks and this is the one I've been learning the songs on, so I might even end up playing it on stage. Who would have thought it?

Might be tempted to get an Epi EB-0 or equivalent for some shortscale variety

[Prosebass]

[quote name='neepheid' post='286194' date='Sep 17 2008, 08:01 PM']I'm sure this has been said before, but I'm loving the shortscale action right now. I picked up a Squier Bronco for £50 for a laugh (could sell it locally for same) and found it surprisingly playable, even in the state I got it in. I changed the bridge for a 4 saddle job (had to get the drill out to "convert" it into top stringing, drill 2 pilot holes for the mounting and replace one of the saddle screws with a longer one because it wasn't long enough for the intonation I needed!) and I'm hoping to get a lipstick pickup in it soon. All in all I've spent approx £30 on it and although the tuners are a bit crap, they work so I'll leave them for now.

I could see myself getting along with this bass for some time. It's great for picking up and noodling away. Might pimp it up with better tuners and a swish new pickguard, but all in all it's been something of a revelation for me.

I'm getting ready for my first gig (gulp) in a few weeks and this is the one I've been learning the songs on, so I might even end up playing it on stage. Who would have thought it?

Might be tempted to get an Epi EB-0 or equivalent for some shortscale variety [/quote]

At last a short scale thread........and there's only me reading it. Although I don't own one at the moment I am thinking of making one.
Just goes to show if you actually just want to play a bass rather than polish it you can have a lot of enjoyment from a cheap short scale jobbie.

[7string]

I had a Fender Urge Mk1 and really loved it's 32" scale as well as it's awesome electronics.

[WarPig]

My first bass:



Squier Bronco Did me well for years, still play it ocasionally now, fitted a SD SCPB-1 pup to it, might fit a Gotoh 201 in the near future aswell. If i ever get back into gigging id have this as my back up bass.

Edited September 18, 2008 by WarPig

[lozbass]

I have endless fun on a Danelectro Longhorn (re-issue) - fast, easy, low action and ultra-low string tension. I even string it with D'Addario baritone strings (e, a, g and c from the set)

[steve]

I've had an old Fender musicmaster for a while now, needs a refret tho',

I've just bought a starfire on the forum and it's getting all my attention at the moment - and i've not darkstarred it yet......

[Longmayyourun]

Made myself a short scale bass (31 1/2 ''), put EMG active Jazz pups in it, now my fellow band mates won't let me play anything else. No, they're not just being nice to me - one in particular is very fussy about how things sound - but apparently they all love the noise it makes!

Happy bunny

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='7string' post='286366' date='Sep 18 2008, 12:36 AM']I had a Fender Urge Mk1 and really loved it's 32" scale as well as it's awesome electronics.[/quote]
Me too!

[BigRedX]

Here are my short scale basses:

Burns Sonic 29.5" scale, my first ever bass. Heavily modified to keep it playable



Kramer KXB-10 30.5" scale. Currently in bits for a refinish. Expect to see it looking quite different before the end of the year



The Fake Duke 30.5" scale, probably from the same factory as the Hondo Alien



I don't know if this counts? Manne piccolo bass 26"scale strung E-G one octave up so it's basically a 4-string guitar

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='7string' post='286366' date='Sep 18 2008, 12:36 AM']I had a Fender Urge Mk1 and really loved it's 32" scale as well as it's awesome electronics.[/quote]

A friend of mine had one of those and I couldn't get over the scale length, it felt like a toy bass.

That's the only short scale bass I've played, apart from a weird perspex-bodied, Ampeg-necked fretless thing I was given by a friend, which I spent time lovingly restoring before discovering who the actual owner was on the first time I took it out to a gig.

[Hit&Run]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='286998' date='Sep 19 2008, 02:11 AM'].....which I spent time lovingly restoring before discovering who the actual owner was on the first time I took it out to a gig.[/quote]
And the owner was?

[Owen]

Mmmmmm........... short scale goodness

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6oApthi3VQ

30"

Edited September 19, 2008 by owen

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='Hit&Run' post='287643' date='Sep 19 2008, 08:34 PM']And the owner was?[/quote]

Oh nobody, just some drunk bloke who came to my gig. I called the guy who'd given me the bass and he explained it'd been owned by pretty much everybody in town at some point, and he was happy for me to hand it off to this guy. It must've been his though - he was really ****ing annoyed to find some child gigging it in his local! He wasn't at all contented by the fact that I'd made it playable in the meantime.