32" medium scale P bass?

[miles'tone]

Does anyone know of a medium scale Pbass that's available and reasonably priced? 

Maruszczyk and 80's mij Fender Squiers are out of my price range unfortunately. 

I'm building my own full fat P at the mo and I have a Hartley Benton Shorty P that I bought for my sons, but can't seem to see any mediums around. Always fancied one. 

Any ideas? 

Edited June 13, 2019 by miles'tone

[therealting]

I waited a long time to get my medium scale 80s Squier P! It’s just amazing.

@Rumple whom I bought it from had Gypsy Rose ones which he got quite inexpensively, but I never managed to find a decently priced one and then he sold me the Squier so I stopped looking. 

[therealting]

Worth a read, if you haven’t already.

 

[weefunkateer]

From experience it’s a looooot of second hand sleuthing to find the classic P or J looking medium scales and even then they’re u$ually a pr£tty p£nny but if you can handle something a wee bit different then Ibanez are the only company I’ve found that do a production 32” bass - this one’s PJ for £240... though reviews are a mixed bag: https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/ibanez-srmd200-mezzo-bass-guitar-candy-apple-matte

Could be worth a looksee though?

[hooky_lowdown]

Burns Marquee bass is 32 inch, I had one which was the best sounding bass I've ever owned. The three pickups nails P bass, jazz, Ric and even upright sounds. An awesome bass which you can pickup used for around £300 or less, I only sold mine because it's pretty heavy. So if you don't mind the weight, and the styling it's a belter!

[ikay]

8 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

Burns Marquee bass is 32 inch

The Burns website lists the current Marquee reissue model as a 34", was the vintage original a 32"?

http://www.burnsguitars.com/marqueebass.php

Edited June 14, 2019 by ikay

[miles'tone]

Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated, but for my tastes it has to look like a P bass. I'm really surprised nobody is making a budget 32" P.

A gap in the market here for sure! 

[therealting]

Yeah I was pretty surprised too. I guess Jazz basses tend to sell more, but there has been a P resurgence of late. 

[hooky_lowdown]

1 hour ago, ikay said:

The Burns website lists the current Marquee reissue model as a 34", was the vintage original a 32"?

http://www.burnsguitars.com/marqueebass.php

Had mine about 10-15 years ago. Not an original, but was definitely 32 inch. Made in Korea I think.

[hooky_lowdown]

41 minutes ago, miles'tone said:

A gap in the market here for sure! 

May be not. Minority market... business wise wouldn't make sense to make 32 inch budget scale.

[miles'tone]

29 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

May be not. Minority market... business wise wouldn't make sense to make 32 inch budget scale.

But it's possible it's only a minority market because they're not available. There must be quite a few players/beginners who find a full size hard to get around on but don't want a Shorty and are simply unaware that medium scale basses exist. 

Edited June 14, 2019 by miles'tone

[Aidan63]

Whenever Fender Japan do a batch of short or medium scale basses they seem to sell out pretty quickly, yet why do none of the dealers like Andertons, who are closely aligned with Fender and Gibson and who are able to spec models to their customers tastes, ask for a short run of medium scales for their exclusive use, I guess that they don't see enough demand from players asking, yet they see plenty/enough people who want a £4k telecaster relic in the style and with the tone of Pete's purple Tele. Maybe worth asking Lee if that's something they would consider doing, if anyone has his ear, maybe a group purchase ?

[hooky_lowdown]

Should do a poll of BCers to see if there is a preference for 34, 32 or 30 inch scale, then we'll see if there is a market demand for 32 scale.

[crunchman]

I really want a 32" P bass.  I bought one of the new Ibanez basses a few months back.  It's ok for what it is, but it doesn't sound like P bass.  I don't know if removing the active pre-amp would help.

I think there were some 32" P bass copies made by companies like Aria and Greco.   The Westone Concord is 32", and has a P style pickups and passive electronics - although it doesn't look like traditional Fender P Bass.

I would love it if Fender bought out a Mexican made 32" P bass.

Edited June 18, 2019 by crunchman

[fretmeister]

That PJ Ibanez must be worth a look. 

Don't have to use the J pickup!

[crunchman]

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

That PJ Ibanez must be worth a look. 

Don't have to use the J pickup!

I don't, most of the time.  With the active pre-amp though, it doesn't sound like a traditional passive P bass.

[Rumple]

If you can find a Gipsy Rose they are well worth giving a try, they make a good starting point for a 32" scale project bass, they do come up on ebay once in a while, I got both of mine for about £110 each.

Not sure if they will ship to the UK https://www.rondomusic.com/grb1kcpb.html

I might try taking a heat gun to my orange/yellow one to see what the wood is like underneath the finish.

 

[fretmeister]

1 hour ago, crunchman said:

I don't, most of the time.  With the active pre-amp though, it doesn't sound like a traditional passive P bass.

Remove it then! 

I'm a habitual modifier of basses. If I wanted that passive I'd just take it out and save it in case I ever wanted to sell it so I could put it back to stock.

[miles'tone]

Well, nearly bought a Gypsy Rose medium scale P but it was in the states so the shipping and import duty made it too expensive for a 'look see'. 

Instead, I've just bought one of these in burst to see how I get on with medium scale. I don't actually have a bass guitar at present, just my upright, so I'm expecting some fun to be had anyway! 

Impending NBD thread sometime this week...

https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-les-paul-junior-lpj-bass-32-medium-scale/

Edited June 24, 2019 by miles'tone

[Lella Gislén]

I have MIJ Fender jb62m and totally love it. So my next bass would naturally be a P-bass. The MIJ Fender P-bass 32” scale supposedly exists, even though Bass Japan Direct can’t find it in their catalogue. Anyone have one for sale?