talk to me about short scale basses please.

[Phil Adams]

Old git, stiff hands, very little practice outside band rehearsals, too much else to do! Would love to be Jack Bruce but it ain't gonna happen. Very happy with what I'm doing though, having dabbled most of my life, finally got further than ever before and enjoying it.
However, because my hands are a bit stiff, I think there's a touch of arthritis there, and my hands are big, but the fingers not particularly long and the co-ordination isn't wonderful, I have settled into a style where I move position instead of reaching for the note with hand span. Lots of sliding, often on a fretless, and I quite like it. Also, I suffer badly from having a bass on my shoulder for any length of time, a lighter bass would be good.
I have no major problems with this style of playing, it is, after all, just me being myself..... BUT, I can't help wondering if a short scale would help me move around a little more easily.
I'm sure there are powerful arguments for and against, and I'm aware that my beloved fleet of 34 inchers would become redundant should I jump ship.
TBH I fancy buying a cheapo EB0 just to try short scale for a while.

Thoughts please Ladies and Gentlemen

Thanks

PS, the adverts for shortscale basses often suggest their suitabilities for youngsters, a bit offputting :-( Scaleist???

[cheddatom]

more strings would mean you don't have to slide about as much. I'd love a short scale 6 string but whenever I search for one all I find are baritone guitars

EDIT: That wasn't very helpful. I'm not sure what the negatives would be against short scale basses. I love them!

Edited January 27, 2016 by cheddatom

[Paul S]

There's lots of choice for inexpensive short scales now. EB0 have other inherent issues such as neck dive and 'muddy' sound that may put you off. Squier Bronco or, especially, SS Jaguar are good ones to dip your toe in the water. Danelectro Longhorn is quirky and individual. And an array of others - stick Shortscale bass filter on Thomann's listings and there are a couple of pages of basses at all price points. Harley Benton do some, for example.

[CHW]

I had a EB0 that we picked up for little over a ton when my daughter was showing an interest. I played it a fair bit as her interest waned. It does Neck Dive, but it's a light bass overall so I never found it an issue. I never found it particularly muddy in sound, I thought it had a pretty good Gibson style growl.

It's definitely easier to play, and I ended up able to play faster and more complex runs. I sold it on to a guy who wanted to dabble- and I got £90.00 for it, So it basically cost me £25 for 3 years of bass.

[Happy Jack]

Shortscale basses are undeniably fun. I can't imagine why a 3.5" difference in scale length would have that effect, but it does.

The sound tends to be a bit more thuddy, which can then be further emphasised by using flats, but for many types of music that works wonderfully well.

How different the bass feels when you play it is really very subjective. My first choice gigging basses are 35" scale, but I can pick up my Hofners or my Mosrite without any need to think or play differently - I find that I adjust almost instantly.

More significant for me is the string spacing. As long as a bass has 19mm spacing at the bridge then I'm happy. That's not the case with the Hofners of course, but they're what I started with so I'm prepared to make allowances.

If you're anywhere near West London, feel free to come and spend an hour or two playing half a dozen shortscales in my studio.

[ead]

I suggest getting in touch with Scott (All Thumbs on here), here's his website:

http://www.shortscalebass.co.uk/why-short-scale/

[scrumpymike]

"Old git, stiff hands, very little practice outside band rehearsals, too much else to do! Would love to be Jack Bruce but it ain't gonna happen."

"I have settled into a style where I move position instead of reaching for the note with hand span. Lots of sliding, often on a fretless, and I quite like it. Also, I suffer badly from having a bass on my shoulder for any length of time, a lighter bass would be good."

You've just described me to a T! I've tried a fair bit of short-stuff - that's all I play now - and would suggest you go for something with good balance (i.e. top strap button at or around the 12th fret), good tonal range, slim/solid body, at least 20 frets and (as already suggested) standard string spacing at the bridge. My Fender Rascal ticks all those boxes but is a bit heavy on the shoulder at 9.5 lbs. Soooo, the journey continues, the next stop being one of Scott Whitley's SWB-1s as mentioned above. If, as Scott says, there are no balance issues, then it could turn out to be my ideal bass. If so, the SWB-1 and my Hofner Club will be the two 'keepers'. I ordered Scott's bass cos I like the guy and what he's doing for the UK bass community. If I hadn't, I would have been looking at a s/s Warwick Corvette, though I'm not a big fan of their IMHO clumsy top-bout design.

Sad (retired) bugger that I am, I've put together an Excel spreadsheet with spec's of most of the s/s basses out there (includes weights, fret-board radius, number of frets, top strap-button location etc). If you're interested, PM me with your e-mail address and I'll send it to you. I really need to get out more...

[Phil Adams]

Thanks again chaps.
I've subscribed to Scott's website, and Scrumpy, I'll pm you my email address, the info would be great. Overwhealmed but HJ's offer to waste his time, tea and biscuits on my awful playing, very very kind, I'll let you know.
Thanks again to you (us) all.