32" Medium Scale Bass Thread

[Iheartreverb]

2 hours ago, Badscrew said:

These are great

 

I’m selling mine if anyone is interested 

[GCYPbass]

15 hours ago, Kyndainverse said:

What am I missing?

In production:

Spector Bantam 5

MTD Kingston LK 4 and 5 

MTD USA LK 4 and 5 (532)

All over the price range I guess

 

Not in production: 

Aria Cardinal 

I believe you can find in your price range. 

Edited March 12, 2023 by GCYPbass

[Rumple]

23 hours ago, ikay said:

You can add Fender MIJ JB62M to the 'no longer in production' list. A perfectly scaled down Jazz with all the correct body and neck proportions. Much like the MIJ P (model PB331 btw). Great basses, I have one of each.

 

I once had a Fender MIJ JB62M it looked great because as you say everything is scaled down, I think @therealting had it after me. I also previously owned a rather nice Squier Japan 32" scale P, I do still have a JV Squier medium scale Jazz.

[Rumple]

23 hours ago, ikay said:

You can add Fender MIJ JB62M to the 'no longer in production' list. A perfectly scaled down Jazz with all the correct body and neck proportions. Much like the MIJ P (model PB331 btw). Great basses, I have one of each.

 

I once had a Fender MIJ JB62M it looked great because as you say everything is scaled down, I think @therealting had it after me. I also previously owned a rather nice Squier Japan 32" scale P, I do still have a JV Squier medium scale Jazz.

[Rumple]

23 hours ago, ikay said:

You can add Fender MIJ JB62M to the 'no longer in production' list. A perfectly scaled down Jazz with all the correct body and neck proportions. Much like the MIJ P (model PB331 btw). Great basses, I have one of each.

 

I once had a Fender MIJ JB62M it looked great because as you say everything is scaled down, I think @therealting had it after me. I also previously owned a rather nice Squier Japan 32" scale P, I do still have a JV Squier medium scale Jazz.

[Rumple]

Sorry for the repeated posts my browser had a funny five minutes 🙃

[Maude]

On 11/03/2023 at 10:29, Kyndainverse said:

I’ve decided to try a medium scale bass and I’m looking for something in the £200 to £500 range. Pre-loved preferably. 

 

What am I missing?

 

 

I'd only ever had 34" or 30" before, actually I've got 32" acoustic bass but the body is huge so hard to compare. 

I picked a used Warwick Rockbass Starbass on here within your price range. 32" scale and I really like it. Big enough to feel like a 'proper' bass (I'm six foot) but compact enough to not feel unwieldy if using it sat on someone's sofa. 

Hollow but with a centreblock so no feedback issues, sounds great, feels great, looks great. 

 

[Paul S]

On 11/03/2023 at 10:29, Kyndainverse said:

I’ve decided to try a medium scale bass and I’m looking for something in the £200 to £500 range. Pre-loved preferably. 
 

There isn’t a huge amount around compared to short scale.

I’ve created a list of ones I know about.

What am I missing?

Are there any to avoid?

 

Currently in production 

Squire Jaguar Classic Vibe

Squire jaguar affinity H

Ibanez SRMD200 Mezzo Bass 32”
Aria Pro II JB or JB1

Retrovibe R32 “Telenbacker” 

 

No longer in production 

Fender pawn shop reverse Jaguar

Squire MIJ medium scale P Bass 80s

Squire telecaster bass??

Yamaha Motion B

Ibanez Roadstar RB600

Fender aerodyne jazzz japan

Retrovibe may have done a 32” 51P in the past

 

(I’m also going to post in items wanted).

 

Some models of the Westone Concord were medium scale.  Damned fine instruments, great aggressive tone from the pickups.  

[therealting]

On 12/03/2023 at 13:45, Rumple said:

 

I once had a Fender MIJ JB62M it looked great because as you say everything is scaled down, I think @therealting had it after me. I also previously owned a rather nice Squier Japan 32" scale P, I do still have a JV Squier medium scale Jazz.

Still have it, as well as the 32” scale MIJ P!

[AndyTheBassBison]

On 11/03/2023 at 19:10, Badscrew said:

These are great

Indeed they are - I love mine although it's cosmetically pretty rough and doesn't have the original bridge, knobs or tuners.

 

 

There's a red one on Ebay at the moment, seems like decent value if anyone is looking for one.

Edited March 16, 2023 by AndyTheBassBison
Edit

[tom.android]

On 11/03/2023 at 10:59, Badscrew said:

I had the Affinity H. I suggest trying before you buy, the pickup is very bassy, not much high end in it. Also some neck dive.

I’d agree with this assessment. Very dark sounding and quite the neck dive.

[Obrienp]

50 minutes ago, tom.android said:

I’d agree with this assessment. Very dark sounding and quite the neck dive.

Got to state my vested interest up front, I am selling mine in the Basses for Sale listings. The reason it is dark is that  the pickup is wired in series as standard. I have got more tones out of it by wiring it to have a series/single coil/parallel switch. Single coil and parallel have a brighter top end. The FSR version has a 4 conductor pickup as standard but they just wired it in series for some reason . I had to get a luthier to rewire my pickup to 4 conductor (standard Affinity version). I guess if you give it 500K pots it will make it louder and brighter too.

 

Yes, the Jag body shape does cause it to neck dive but so do quite a few Jazz style basses (in my experience ). At least the Jag H is quite light.

[Badscrew]

On 16/03/2023 at 14:56, AndyTheBassBison said:

Indeed they are - I love mine although it's cosmetically pretty rough and doesn't have the original bridge, knobs or tuners.

 

 

There's a red one on Ebay at the moment, seems like decent value if anyone is looking for one.

There was a bassist who subbed for me in a big band I’ve been playing with sometime back, he had this bass. It sounded fabulous (granted, this guy could play too)

[Badscrew]

23 hours ago, Obrienp said:

Got to state my vested interest up front, I am selling mine in the Basses for Sale listings. The reason it is dark is that  the pickup is wired in series as standard. I have got more tones out of it by wiring it to have a series/single coil/parallel switch. Single coil and parallel have a brighter top end. The FSR version has a 4 conductor pickup as standard but they just wired it in series for some reason . I had to get a luthier to rewire my pickup to 4 conductor (standard Affinity version). I guess if you give it 500K pots it will make it louder and brighter too.

 

Yes, the Jag body shape does cause it to neck dive but so do quite a few Jazz style basses (in my experience ). At least the Jag H is quite light.

 

I would've rewired mine if it wasn't potted in some kind of hard goop (epoxy?)

[Obrienp]

5 minutes ago, Badscrew said:

 

I would've rewired mine if it wasn't potted in some kind of hard goop (epoxy?)

Yeah, I think it was some sort of epoxy and really randomly applied. Not really potted, just haphazardly sploged. That is what caused my luthier friend so much work.

[Badscrew]

26 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

Yeah, I think it was some sort of epoxy and really randomly applied. Not really potted, just haphazardly sploged. That is what caused my luthier friend so much work.

Well, I didn't feel like doing the work, just exchanged this bass for a Squier Precision that I then sold

[Chienmortbb]

Without wading through the whole thread, Is there a decent 32" bass that will not break the bank? Say up to £300?

[BassBunny]

Ibanez Mezzo SRMD200 fits the bill nicely. I've got the 5 string version and it's outstanding for the price. 

[Obrienp]

1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

Without wading through the whole thread, Is there a decent 32" bass that will not break the bank? Say up to £300?

Notwithstanding the fact I am selling one, I think the Squier Jaguar H is a great bass for the money. It’s not the only bass that neck dives by any means but you need to like the single humbucker MM vibe. It’s got plenty of scope for modification for not much money too but you can probably apply that to the Ibby as well. If I was starting again, I would buy one of the FSR versions, as they have a 4 conductor pickup lead (giving plenty of scope for wiring options: serial/single coil/parallel) and graphite paint shielding as standard. They also have fancier colours. All for less than £250.

Edited March 20, 2023 by Obrienp

[Kyndainverse]

On 11/03/2023 at 10:29, Kyndainverse said:

I’ve decided to try a medium scale bass and I’m looking for something in the £200 to £500 range. Pre-loved preferably. 
 

There isn’t a huge amount around compared to short scale.

I’ve created a list of ones I know about.

What am I missing?

Are there any to avoid?

 

Currently in production 

Squire Jaguar Classic Vibe

Squire jaguar affinity H

Ibanez SRMD200 Mezzo Bass 32”
Aria Pro II JB or JB1

Retrovibe R32 “Telenbacker” 

 

No longer in production 

Fender pawn shop reverse Jaguar

Squire MIJ medium scale P Bass 80s

Squire telecaster bass??

Yamaha Motion B

Ibanez Roadstar RB600

Fender aerodyne jazzz japan

Retrovibe may have done a 32” 51P in the past

 

(I’m also going to post in items wanted).

Thanks for all the suggestions and offers.

I've just taken ownership of a 32" Squier Classic Vibe Jaguar, from the BC marketplace.
It was local enough and affordable enough to be a great option to try out medium scale.

Looking forward to plugging it and trying it out.

[Kyndainverse]

Although I am happy with my Jaguar. 
Pretty sure I would have clicked buy on this if it had been available in March. 
https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-gr01-gripper-bass-prototype-32-scale-amber-trans-maple-neck-one-off/

[ezbass]

19 minutes ago, Kyndainverse said:

Although I am happy with my Jaguar. 
Pretty sure I would have clicked buy on this if it had been available in March. 
https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-gr01-gripper-bass-prototype-32-scale-amber-trans-maple-neck-one-off/

Ooh, I like that!

[fretmeister]

I think I've solved my Ibby Mezzo 5 string low B problem.

 

As I've posted about before it comes with D'Addarios but D'Addario don't make a medium scale string for public sale, they only supply them to Ibby for this bass. I've tried a load of different strings. When using flats I use Dunlop medium scale flats. They have recently had price increases of nearly 100% so I started to look for something else and I thought about going back to rounds.

 

My current roundwould string of choice are DR Hi Beams but they don't do a medium scale, and for the B string tuner post placement a long scale B won't work / fit on the mini tuners.

 

So I've now got a hybrid set. E-G are DR Hi Beams 45-105, and the B string is a custom length Newtone 0.136 I tried the Roundcore Platinum option to get as close to the Hi-Beams as possible. The Platinums are advertised as having a smaller wrap wire for lower finger noise and that they have a more broken in feel. I also went with a tapered option.

 

Tonally they are very close - in fact closer than some other single make sets where the B string seems to be just a random addition. The 0.136 also is quite balanced in tension to the E and A of the Hi Beam set too and I didn't have to widen the nut slot at all. I expect they'll sound even more like a single set once they've all been played in and dulled down a bit.

 

I'm very happy with it, and the cost is very reasonable too.

[Rayman]

I’d never seen a 32.5 scale bass (that I was aware of) until this came along.

 

A very nice thing, nice to play, lovely fretboard, I like it a lot. Surprisingly high output, lots of highs and lows being active. It does feel different, the scale length, but comfortable.

[RikiB]

I’ll join the club.

Got a 32” scale Fender Aerodyne MIJ.

Jazz pickups instead of PJ like most other aerodynes 

 

Mex P hanging next to it from same height to show difference