The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[Obrienp]

6 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

Re the comments about the Acinonyx pre-sets, I get arguably more versatility from my Andy Rogers custom-builds without the use of push-push buttons that are prone to mechanical failure in my experience.  Mine have 3 pick-ups and 8-way switching that allows instant pick-up selection - singly or in any combination of two or all 3. 

I am not really bothered how the presets are delivered. It’s the concept of having them for both pickup selection and tone. I would be equally happy with a strat style switch to get the 5 pickup selections on the Acinonyx and I guess the tone presets could be on a rotary, variotone style switch. Time will tell if the buttons last the course. They seem pretty robust to me. 
 

I would expect you to get something better out of a custom built bass, compared to a mass produced Far Eastern  product. I think the Acinonyx delivers a lot in terms of playability, build quality, quality of components and versatility for the money. I can’t think of another short scale bass at the same price point I would prefer but that is obviously IMHO. The only thing I wanted to change about it was the volume knob and that is unusual for this price point.

[Baloney Balderdash]

Back on my Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass, which I named "Dud Bottomfeeder", and which I just added a Jack Skellington (from Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas") skull sticker to, and swapped the regular D'Addario XL nickle plated roundwound steel core strings, which was gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034, to accommodate the G standard tuning I use for this bass, that is 3 half steps above regular 4 string E standard tuning, for a set of Elixir Nanoweb nickle plated roundwound steel core guitar strings, gauge .080 - .062 - .046 - .036 (using cut off ball ends from old bass strings to thread the strings through in order for them to be able to mount in the bridge holes and not slip through) :

Oh, and by the way, as you can see the J pickup has been uninstalled, and instead replaced for a folded piece of matte black cardboard, the P pickup replaced for an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, which has been moved and replaced from a side mounted barrel type one to a front mounted regular jack socket, installed in one of the redundant pot holes, the remaining 2 knobs being there exclusively for visual decoration, further decorated with green electrical tape (also known as insulating tape), the P pickup also having been decorated with red electrical tape.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[BabyBlueSound]

12 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Oh, and by the way, as you can see the J pickup has been uninstalled, and instead replaced for a folded piece of matte black cardboard, the P pickup replaced for an EMG Geezer Butler P pickup, wired directly to the output jack socket, which has been moved and replaced from a side mounted barrel type one to a front mounted regular jack socket, installed in one of the redundant pot holes, the remaining 2 knobs being there exclusively for visual decoration, further decorated with green electrical tape (also known as insulating tape), the P pickup also having been decorated with red electrical tape.

 

This is legendary 😁 you really maxxed out the pimp factor on this Mikro  As a fellow Geezer Butler (inside an Ibanez) owner, I am sure it sounds fantastic too!

[Badscrew]

Générations of future fans will be debating forever on the kind of cardboard the legendary Baloney Balderdash used and how it contributed to that famous tone!

[Merton]

I got a new short scale yesterday, in the ACG flavour.

It seems my son has decided to steal it from me already 😫

[Baloney Balderdash]

16 hours ago, Badscrew said:

Générations of future fans will be debating forever on the kind of cardboard the legendary Baloney Balderdash used and how it contributed to that famous tone!

Maybe I really ought to let it stay a secret, but I feel obliged to inform my huge fan base, for the sake of the global awareness in general, that it in fact is cut out from the very unique cardboard (it is actually a quite unique kind of cardboard with kind of a somewhat slightly velvet, actually very suede like, feel that seems to fit the open pore matte black finish of this bass particularly well) that makes up the flat box in which D'Addario NYXL strings come, then cut out to fit the cavity so that it is being folded on each side the width of the cavity once the depth of the cavity. 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[meterman]

Just wondering if anyone here has got one of the recent Squier Mustang basses, and what the quality is like? I think they’re the CV range? Olympic White with tort, or Seafoam Green.

 

Would appreciate any info about quality, etc. 🙏 

 

 

[Woodinblack]

28 minutes ago, meterman said:

Just wondering if anyone here has got one of the recent Squier Mustang basses, and what the quality is like? I think they’re the CV range? Olympic White with tort, or Seafoam Green.

 

I have a squier CV Mustang bass sitting behind me now. Surf green, rather than seafoam green. It has flats on, it is pretty good.

Quality is fine, the only problem with mine was that the pickguard opening for the pickup was so tight around the pickup that the whole thing was pretty microphonic so I took it off and filed round the gap a bit. Now it is great.

 

Very nice bass for the price (although mine was S/H, so the price was quite a bit less).

[meterman]

5 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

 

I have a squier CV Mustang bass sitting behind me now. Surf green, rather than seafoam green. It has flats on, it is pretty good.

Quality is fine, the only problem with mine was that the pickguard opening for the pickup was so tight around the pickup that the whole thing was pretty microphonic so I took it off and filed round the gap a bit. Now it is great.

 

Very nice bass for the price (although mine was S/H, so the price was quite a bit less).

Thanks for the heads up 🙏 I’m looking online, mail order is the only way where we live. Might have to do it...

[meterman]

This just arrived...

 

 

...and some of these to go on it:

 

 

The shipping box was pretty warm to the touch (it’s 37c here, it must have been scorchio in the back of the UPS truck) and the bass was noticeably warm once unpacked.

 

First impressions? It’s light, well finished and it seems to be set up pretty well, the intonation is almost spot on. I’ll let it settle tonight and put the La Bellas on tomorrow before mucking around with string heights or anything. This will be maybe the sixth Mustang bass I’ve had, I just keep coming back to them. It’s unlikely I’ll gig with it (rarely play live nowadays) but I’m totally looking forward to recording with it, and noodling away to old ska records at home and all that.

[neil___lien]

Am starting to regret letting mine go...

[meterman]

20 minutes ago, outtaseezun said:

Am starting to regret letting mine go...

One good thing about Mustangs is there’s always plenty of different types  around, and often at whatever price point works for you. 
 

I almost bought a super cheap s/h Bronco bass just to have another 30” short scale bass again. But then I remembered how much I liked the Mustangs I’d had before, so that sealed it for me.

[Pea Turgh]

I sold my Squier CV Mustang to buy a bass I’d been after for a while.  Asked the chap I sold it to if I could buy it back, then got kicked in the financial gonads with a car-related bill.  No Mustang reunion for me!

[King Tut]

4 hours ago, Pea Turgh said:

I sold my Squier CV Mustang to buy a bass I’d been after for a while.  Asked the chap I sold it to if I could buy it back, then got kicked in the financial gonads with a car-related bill.  No Mustang reunion for me!

It’s still here waiting for you!

[Pea Turgh]

12 hours ago, King Tut said:

It’s still here waiting for you!

Don’t hold on to it just for me, mate!  I’d buy it back immediately but things keep popping up 🤪

[grenadillabama]

I have Mustang PJ basses I like .I was pleased with the Squier Mustang bass I tried. Not only did it play well (at the store) but it sounded GOOD ! I am saving for a special run with a racing stripe at Chicago Music Exchange. It is a good store .

[King Tut]

I must admit to not getting on with the skinny neck on my Squier CV Mustang. The PJ and my old Musicmaster are just a tad wider which feels more comftabubble for me! I’ll be sticking the CV up for sale shortly.

[TheLowDown]

Was looking for a 30inch SS with 38mm neck, and found the SIre U5 that I'm really pleased with. plays like a champ.

 

 

On 15/06/2022 at 09:05, fretmeister said:

Who makes good gig bags for shorties?

 

Any ideas?

Guitar bags will do fine and they're a lot more common and cheaper.

[Baloney Balderdash]

I'm still impressed with the quality of the Harley Benton GuitarBass I bought a few months ago, love this instrument.

But in an attempt to upgrade the middle pickup, which is what I use exclusively, for a quieter stacked hum free pickup I bought an EMG S3, passive pickup with Alnico 5 pole pieces, like the stock one (I am fully aware that there are much much more factors in play when it comes to the tone a pickup produce), but only had it installed for a couple of days before switching back to the stock pickup, which I by the way loved the tone of all along, was just hoping I could get that or even better, but hum free.

The EMG just wasn't as articulate and as sensitive and responding to picking dynamics as the stock one, and overall just not sounding as great as the cheap stock pickup, though I realize that might just be how it is with stacked coils hum free "single coil" pickups in general, but point being the stock pickups do actually sound really great, and I've kind of given up on attempting to upgrade it, as said I do love the tone of it, and I honestly have a hard time imagining how it could possibly sound any better, apart from maybe being quieter, though again that might just be the deal with single coil pickups.

I did swap out the stock pickup wires with a shielded wire while I had the chance anyway, but there isn't really a noticeable change in the noise levels, so guess I will have to shield the cavities if I want it any quieter, though I do also realize that even then a single coil pickup in it's nature will never become completely noiseless.


Most recent, completely fresh, shot of my Harley Benton GuitarBass (with a bit of creative artistic PhotoShop shenanigans going on in the background) :

Edited July 25, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Obrienp]

I think copper tape shielding and grounding wire is the way to go but then I am obsessed with shielding every bass I get my hands on, so maybe not completely objective on this subject!

[dmc79]

So I haven’t actually plugged in my Squier VM Jaguar shorty much at all since testing it alongside my other PJ and finding both the Jag’s pickups to not sound as good. But I’ve picked it up lots and played acoustically as it just feels so nice, light, comfy and easy to play on my lap. And such a nice neck too. 
 

I don’t feel I can properly judge it and decide how I feel about short scale until I’ve given this a fair go and had some better pickups installed. So I ordered the EMG Geezer PJ set that was for sale on here. Can’t wait to try it. I see that it comes with with all the pots, jack, etc. I’ll probably just install the pickups themselves into the KiOgon loom I put in it. I guess I won’t run into issues doing it like this? I’m sure I’ve read comments (either here or elsewhere, can’t find them right now) that said to ditch the packaged EMG pots anyway if you already have good electronics as what you have is likely better than the included stuff. Any thoughts? Thanks 
 

 

 

[BCH]

A pair of Short Scale MM

[ezbass]

Unfortunately, the anticipated delivery date for the LPB, P/J, Player series, Mustangs at Guitar Guitar of the 23rd of this month, seems to be optimistic and is now just 'available to order', with no projected date . To be fair, I'm not surprised, disappointed yes, but not surprised. However, I see that they have a Gibson SG bass with a few quid knocked off for a scratch on the neck. I've just listened to good few demos on YT and those, plus the great tone Andy Fraser achieved with one (Jack Bruce and Felix Pappalardi too, of course), has me wondering if this tardiness from Fender isn't a sign to cast my net further afield. They appear to be quite light by all accounts, so all good there, although there is the neck dive issue of course. Hmm...

Edited July 24, 2022 by ezbass

[BassApprentice]

Have you ordered the Mustang? Could be that they have sold all the ones they are expecting in this shipment and aren't sure when the next shipment will be?

 

 

[ezbass]

26 minutes ago, BassApprentice said:

Have you ordered the Mustang? Could be that they have sold all the ones they are expecting in this shipment and aren't sure when the next shipment will be?

 

 

No, but I signed up for notifications - nowt  .