The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[Waddycall]

Can you not use the short scales and string through the bridge rather than body? I found medium scale pro steels to be spot on for through body on mine.

sorry - forget that thought they’d accept both

Edited August 30, 2022 by Waddycall

[ezbass]

1 hour ago, whave said:

 

While I prefer to use shortscale strings when available, they simply do not exist for a lot of brands. Elixir comes to mind, and my latest favs, the Ernie Ball cobalt flats. I only had issues when I tried to follow that weird Ernie Ball wrapping guide instead of just putting them on like I always do. They ended up looking really weird but they actually keep the tuning well, so lucky me, they're expensive. For my other bass I just used the regular method, no doublewrapping, and no issues there.

 

I used that stringing method with my first set of Cobalts, but haven’t bothered since. I can’t say I have noticed any difference when in use, just less of a faff to fit.

[ped]

3 minutes ago, ezbass said:

I used that stringing method with my first set of Cobalts, but haven’t bothered since. I can’t say I have noticed any difference when in use, just less of a faff to fit.

I do on the G string of my stingray. For some reason the string slips otherwise - it’s fine on all the others. 

[msb]

A Dano Longhorn is what I normally gig with , but these shortscales are what I tend to spend my time goofing around on these days. Also a Gretsch baritone guitar that didn’t make it to the photo.

[lee650]

My first ever bass was a short scale Arbiter SG type, I didn't keep it long 🤣 recent problems with Carpal Tunnel, has forced me to look into one, to continue playing. I tried a couple in my local music shop (Fender Player Mustang and Sterling stingray) and was very impressed by the sound quality (although I had issues with the Sterlings build quality for a bass costing in the region of £800)

 

After lots of research online,I decided to take a gamble on the sire U5! What a great sounding and well built little bass!  I restrung it through the body with normal scale Dunlop superbrights and it sounds huge. It has the deep bass that  shortscales are known for, but the maple board and 70s position back pickup give it a lot of bite. Its definitely redefined my thoughts in short scales, however I personally struggle playing past the 12th fret with an octave pedal, the frets are so dinky🤣 so long term, when I eventually get my operation and hopefully recover, I'm not sure I'll continue using it. Mind you both my daughters have fallen in love with it and now want to play, so they'll have a much better first bass, then I did 😁

[Osiris]

52 minutes ago, lee650 said:

My first ever bass was a short scale Arbiter SG type, I didn't keep it long 🤣 recent problems with Carpal Tunnel, has forced me to look into one, to continue playing. I tried a couple in my local music shop (Fender Player Mustang and Sterling stingray) and was very impressed by the sound quality (although I had issues with the Sterlings build quality for a bass costing in the region of £800)

 

After lots of research online,I decided to take a gamble on the sire U5! What a great sounding and well built little bass!  I restrung it through the body with normal scale Dunlop superbrights and it sounds huge. It has the deep bass that  shortscales are known for, but the maple board and 70s position back pickup give it a lot of bite. Its definitely redefined my thoughts in short scales, however I personally struggle playing past the 12th fret with an octave pedal, the frets are so dinky🤣 so long term, when I eventually get my operation and hopefully recover, I'm not sure I'll continue using it. Mind you both my daughters have fallen in love with it and now want to play, so they'll have a much better first bass, then I did 😁

 

Ooh, I keep looking at those Sire shorties and this is the only colour I like them in, bagsie first dibs if you (and if the girls let you of course!) ever decide to move it on 😁😎

[BabyBlueSound]

I love the looks and colours of the Sires too, they're amazing to look at, but the slab body is a huge turnoff for me  

[msb]

You don’t need no girlie contours.

[LeftyJ]

On 31/08/2022 at 00:34, msb said:

A Dano Longhorn is what I normally gig with , but these shortscales are what I tend to spend my time goofing around on these days. Also a Gretsch baritone guitar that didn’t make it to the photo.

I love the look of that chrome pickup cover and window on the LP Jr. Classic T-bird style! Much nicer than the stock black pickup cover. 

[msb]

The Jr is probably my favourite bass to pick up and play. It’s a gorgeous little thing.

[lee650]

6 hours ago, Osiris said:

 

Ooh, I keep looking at those Sire shorties and this is the only colour I like them in, bagsie first dibs if you (and if the girls let you of course!) ever decide to move it on 😁😎

Will do! 😁

[dmc79]

After playing my Squier VM Mustang properly stood up, I’m a little on the fence I have to say. The satin maple neck is so nice and easy to play, I love it. Wasn’t sure how I’d take to the jazz width nut as I’ve played mainly P basses for years, but this combined with the fairly slim neck was a delight. It didn’t feel scrawny like I thought it might. The lighter weight and lesser stretches of short scale really appeal to me, especially having had back issues recently. I can’t say I was a huge fan of how the stock pickup sounded when playing solo through my practice amp, but it sounded good in the ‘in ears’ band mix. 
 

The only sticking point which is a fairly sizeable one, as a bass must feel comfy, is the lack of a body contour. I’ve never had a slab bodied bass before, so I half expected this to be the case, but felt I had to at least try a Mustang. The slab didn’t bother me greatly when playing it acoustically in my lap (a lot of fun I must say), but I felt I spent most of band practice wriggling the bass body about to try and find a comfy playing position that didn’t involve the upper horn jamming itself into my gut. I feel this could be a deal breaker. 
 

But the revelation of the ease of play and lighter weight of short scale, makes me think that if I find a shorty I really love, I’d consider going all out with SS. I’m already thinking I’ll make the move to jazz necks regardless after how easy to play this Mustang neck is. 
 

Now I’m looking at shorties with body contours, and am starting to get major GAS for a short Stingray. I’ve never played a Ray despite always liking the sound on albums they feature on, so I feel it’s an itch I have to scratch at some point anyway. Can anyone with a short Ray give their general thoughts and answer these questions please? :

 

How comfy it is to play standing?
 

How thick is the neck, front to back (measurement with calipers just before 1st fret would be a bonus) - is it somewhere inbetween a jazz & precision in terms of thickness? 
 

This may seem like an odd question, and once I play it I may find it doesn’t bother me anyway, but visually the massive silver banana control plate just looks silly to me, annoyingly especially on the colours I prefer (Black & Dropped Copper). A quick search and I see that there are blacked out plates on some Rays, most likely long scale ones though. Anyway, the question! Do you think a blacked out plate is out there that would be a drop in replacement for the SS one, or has anyone had their silver one spray painted? Thanks, Ray fans 
 

 

 

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by dmc79

[ezbass]

7 minutes ago, dmc79 said:

After playing my Squier VM Mustang properly stood up, I’m a little on the fence I have to say. The satin maple neck is so nice and easy to play, I love it. Wasn’t sure how I’d take to the jazz width nut as I’ve played mainly P basses for years, but this combined with the fairly slim neck was a delight. The lighter weight and lesser stretches of short scale really appeal to me, especially having had back issues recently. I can’t say I was a huge fan of how the stock pickup sounded when playing solo through my practice amp, but it sounded good in the ‘in ears’ band mix. 
 

The only sticking point which is a fairly sizeable one, as a bass must feel comfy, is the lack of a body contour. I’ve never had a slab bodied bass before, so I half expected this to be the case, but felt I had to at least try a Mustang. The slab didn’t bother me greatly when playing it acoustically in my lap (a lot of fun I must say), but I felt I spent most of band practice wriggling the bass body about to try and find a comfy playing position that didn’t involve the upper horn jamming itself into my gut. I feel this could be a deal breaker. 
 

But the revelation of the ease of play and lighter weight of short scale, makes me think that if I find a shorty I really love, I’d consider going all out with SS. I’m already thinking I’ll make the move to jazz necks regardless after how easy to play this Mustang neck is. 
 

Now I’m looking at shorties with body contours, and am starting to get major GAS for a short Stingray. I’ve never played a Ray despite always liking the sound on albums they feature on, so I feel it’s an itch I have to scratch at some point anyway. Can anyone with a short Ray give their general thoughts and answer these questions please? :

 

How comfy it is to play standing?
 

How thick is the neck, front to back (measurement with calipers just before 1st fret would be a bonus) - is it somewhere inbetween a jazz & precision in terms of thickness? 
 

This may seem like an odd question, and once I play it I may find it doesn’t bother me anyway, but visually the massive silver banana control plate just looks silly to me, annoyingly especially on the colours I prefer (Black & Dropped Copper). A quick search and I see that there are blacked out plates on some Rays, most likely long scale ones though. Anyway, the question! Do you think a blacked out plate is out there that would be a drop in replacement for the SS one, or has anyone had their silver one spray painted? Thanks, Ray fans 
 

 

 

 

The body on the ‘Ray SS is very contoured, as with a normal ‘Ray, but seems a bit thinner, front to back, couple with overall smaller dimensions. It is very comfy, although I’d like to see a bit more bulk around the forearm contour as I like my arm feeling more solid on the bass. This is where I prefer the Mustang’s slab body, as my arm rests nicely on top of that area.

 

I don’t have callipers, but with a steel rule on a flat surface, it measures 2.25mm front to just back behind the 1st fret.

 

I think both the control plate and bridge are ‘parts bin’. If you compare photos of the 34” & 30” the control plate on the SS looks much bigger, which leads me to that conclusion. It seems that it’s just the body, neck and pickguard that are downsized.

[BabyBlueSound]

Tacky or not, I could not help it.

 

[dmc79]

38 minutes ago, ezbass said:

The body on the ‘Ray SS is very contoured, as with a normal ‘Ray, but seems a bit thinner, front to back, couple with overall smaller dimensions. It is very comfy, although I’d like to see a bit more bulk around the forearm contour as I like my arm feeling more solid on the bass. This is where I prefer the Mustang’s slab body, as my arm rests nicely on top of that area.

 

I don’t have callipers, but with a steel rule on a flat surface, it measures 2.25mm front to just back behind the 1st fret.

 

I think both the control plate and bridge are ‘parts bin’. If you compare photos of the 34” & 30” the control plate on the SS looks much bigger, which leads me to that conclusion. It seems that it’s just the body, neck and pickguard that are downsized.

 

Thanks for the info. The neck thickness (presumably you meant 22.5mm), would equal around 0.885". That's chunkier than the chunkiest P neck I've played. Does it feel that thick? Also I'm guessing (hoping) that's a satin finish front and back? 

 

Weird that they downsized most things from a long scale Ray but not the control plate. 

 

I know I haven't even got the bass yet, but I'm not sure how long I can hold off, and as I like to overthink these things, what gig bag / semi-rigid / hard case do owners of these recommend? All I have is a very cheap gig bag with the most basic padding, so if/when I get one of these Rays, I'd want something better for sure. Actually one thing I love about SS is that I can fit one in the boot of the cars. Not that I usually leave a bass in the car anyway, but it's nice to know it's not on show if I pop somewhere before or after playing. 

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by dmc79

[BabyBlueSound]

54 minutes ago, dmc79 said:

How thick is the neck, front to back (measurement with calipers just before 1st fret would be a bonus) - is it somewhere inbetween a jazz & precision in terms of thickness? 
 

This may seem like an odd question, and once I play it I may find it doesn’t bother me anyway, but visually the massive silver banana control plate just looks silly to me, annoyingly especially on the colours I prefer (Black & Dropped Copper). A quick search and I see that there are blacked out plates on some Rays, most likely long scale ones though. Anyway, the question! Do you think a blacked out plate is out there that would be a drop in replacement for the SS one, or has anyone had their silver one spray painted? Thanks, Ray fans 

 

 

I don't think it would be between jazz & prec, it's full-on jazz, 38mm wide. My Ibanez is 41mm, that is more prec-like.

 

Thickness wise, I got my calipers and Sterling SS is 21.7mm thick, Ibanez SS is 21.8mm thick, basically both feel absolutely thin and fast. But I had some trouble fully pressing in the arm of the caliper under the strings so I might be a few 0.1mms off.

 

I don't know how easy it is to spray paint, unless you go to like a car custom shop who know how to do this properly. I tried spray painting chromelike surfaces before and it just comes off easily, even when using the right primers etc.

 

[dmc79]

8 minutes ago, whave said:

 

I don't think it would be between jazz & prec, it's full-on jazz, 38mm wide. My Ibanez is 41mm, that is more prec-like.

 

Thickness wise, I got my calipers and Sterling SS is 21.7mm thick, Ibanez SS is 21.8mm thick, basically both feel absolutely thin and fast. But I had some trouble fully pressing in the arm of the caliper under the strings so I might be a few 0.1mms off.

 

I don't know how easy it is to spray paint, unless you go to like a car custom shop who know how to do this properly. I tried spray painting chromelike surfaces before and it just comes off easily, even when using the right primers etc.

 

 

Thanks. So 21.7mm = 0.854". Still sounds a little chunky, but with the jazz width nut, must still be nice to play - good to hear that it feels thin and fast. 

 

[BabyBlueSound]

I can't get enough of the blue. I just really need to get a black bridge for the Ibanez.

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by whave

[Baloney Balderdash]

53 minutes ago, whave said:

Tacky or not, I could not help it.

 

Looks great, especially great for that finish in particular, not tacky at all! 

[ezbass]

2 hours ago, dmc79 said:

 

Thanks for the info. The neck thickness (presumably you meant 22.5mm), would equal around 0.885". That's chunkier than the chunkiest P neck I've played. Does it feel that thick? Also I'm guessing (hoping) that's a satin finish front and back? 

 

Weird that they downsized most things from a long scale Ray but not the control plate. 

 

I know I haven't even got the bass yet, but I'm not sure how long I can hold off, and as I like to overthink these things, what gig bag / semi-rigid / hard case do owners of these recommend? All I have is a very cheap gig bag with the most basic padding, so if/when I get one of these Rays, I'd want something better for sure. Actually one thing I love about SS is that I can fit one in the boot of the cars. Not that I usually leave a bass in the car anyway, but it's nice to know it's not on show if I pop somewhere before or after playing. 

 

Doh !

 

I meant 2.25cm, so 22.5mm, as you say. I’m not normally a fan of jazz width necks and have avoided them for years, but this one feels absolutely fine, it must be the extra bulk you mention. Yes, it’s a smooth, satin finish. I changed the tuners on mine to Hipshot lightweights as the originals worked ok, but had some slop in them that was irritating. With the new tuners it feels so much lighter (it wasn’t heavy to start with) even though it only saved a handful of grams.

 

Any short scale gig bag would work and it would fit easily into one of those Gator hard cases that folk use for Mustangs.

 

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by ezbass

[Obrienp]

3 hours ago, whave said:

Tacky or not, I could not help it.

 

I used to think that a mirrored scratchplate could only look cool if Phil Lynott was holding the bass but that really works with the blue.

[martthebass]

4 hours ago, ezbass said:

 

 

I think both the control plate and bridge are ‘parts bin’. If you compare photos of the 34” & 30” the control plate on the SS looks much bigger, which leads me to that conclusion. It seems that it’s just the body, neck and pickguard that are downsized.

 

I've got to be honest, it's the one thing on the SS that I think they screwed up on, it being so oversized spoils the look.  It wouldn't have been that much effort to have downsized as I'm assuming the passive pre could have been downsized in sympathy (so the knobs would fit).

[ezbass]

12 minutes ago, martthebass said:

 

I've got to be honest, it's the one thing on the SS that I think they screwed up on, it being so oversized spoils the look.  It wouldn't have been that much effort to have downsized as I'm assuming the passive pre could have been downsized in sympathy (so the knobs would fit).

You’re not wrong, even standard sized knobs would’ve been ok, there’s plenty of real estate on the plate. A tooling cost too far for them, I guess.

[BabyBlueSound]

24 minutes ago, ezbass said:

You’re not wrong, even standard sized knobs would’ve been ok, there’s plenty of real estate on the plate. A tooling cost too far for them, I guess.

 

I like it, it's silly and emphasises the small body. Then again, I just put a mirror on my bass, so maybe the issue is with my taste  

[meterman]

7 hours ago, dmc79 said:

After playing my Squier VM Mustang properly stood up, I’m a little on the fence I have to say. The satin maple neck is so nice and easy to play, I love it. Wasn’t sure how I’d take to the jazz width nut as I’ve played mainly P basses for years, but this combined with the fairly slim neck was a delight. It didn’t feel scrawny like I thought it might. The lighter weight and lesser stretches of short scale really appeal to me, especially having had back issues recently. I can’t say I was a huge fan of how the stock pickup sounded when playing solo through my practice amp, but it sounded good in the ‘in ears’ band mix. 
 

The only sticking point which is a fairly sizeable one, as a bass must feel comfy, is the lack of a body contour. I’ve never had a slab bodied bass before, so I half expected this to be the case, but felt I had to at least try a Mustang. The slab didn’t bother me greatly when playing it acoustically in my lap (a lot of fun I must say), but I felt I spent most of band practice wriggling the bass body about to try and find a comfy playing position that didn’t involve the upper horn jamming itself into my gut. I feel this could be a deal breaker. 
 

 

Sorry to hear it might not work out for you with the VM Mustang, I really liked mine. Hope you find the perfect S S bass for you 👍