The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[maidens97]

Have got one of these on the way now, hoping this sorts out my back issues when gigging! 

[Pea Turgh]

Oooh - I didn’t know they did them in oly white!  Imagining how that might look with a mint white scratchplate (something of an obsession of late).

[maidens97]

30 minutes ago, Pea Turgh said:

Oooh - I didn’t know they did them in oly white!  Imagining how that might look with a mint white scratchplate (something of an obsession of late).

They seem to have re released them with some new colours and slight changes! Toggle switch is gone and the fret inlays are different also 

[msb]

I wish they’d put on a master volume like their more expensive models. You use that a lot , if it’s there.

[Pea Turgh]

Mint guard, VBT loom, black & silver knobs, Hipshot Vintage bridge, maybe some Tbird pickups.  That would be a looker.

 

Oh god, why am I so shallow.

[AlexDelores]

2 hours ago, maidens97 said:

Have got one of these on the way now, hoping this sorts out my back issues when gigging! 

Very nice! 
 

I’m considering whether to sell my Vintera Mustang to fund one of these in sunburst as I really like the inlays on the neck. 
 

My Junior Jet has quickly become my number 1 bass as it’s so comfortable to play! 

[AlexDelores]

1 hour ago, msb said:

I wish they’d put on a master volume like their more expensive models. You use that a lot , if it’s there.

They do. On the G2220 at least, its Volume, Tone and pickup selector switch.

 

I’m guessing the switch replacement will allow a blend of the pickups which is nice 👌 

[BabyBlueSound]

The Sterling is fixed. Literally everything was wrong with the wiring, dry cracking stuff, questionable soldering, bad earth. Interesting it all broke so suddenly, must have been the sudden change in temperature (we had some open windows on some of the coldest days due to contractors working on the house).

[Obrienp]

7 hours ago, maidens97 said:

They seem to have re released them with some new colours and slight changes! Toggle switch is gone and the fret inlays are different also 

Are they genuine humbuckers now, or still the single coils pretending to be? Not really a problem: the singles sounded good but a lot of people got upset at them being passed off as humbuckers in the specs. The main problem with these for me was the slab body; the edges really dug into my forearm to the point that I started to get tendinitis. Other people’s mileage may be different and I guess it’s not much different to a Mustang in that respect.

 

If they haven’t changed the rest of the hardware fixings, it’s an easy bass to upgrade. Tuners, bridge, etc are fairly easily replaced without modification and there are umpteen choices depending on your budget.

 

Postscript: I just enlarged the picture and the BBOT bridge is different: a screw on each corner, rather than the previous 5 screw Fender fitting. That might reduce the range of drop in replacements available.

Edited December 10 by Obrienp

[Pea Turgh]

3 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

Are they genuine humbuckers now, or still the single coils pretending to be? Not really a problem: the singles sounded good but a lot of people got upset at them being passed off as humbuckers in the specs.

Specs say single coils

[Stub Mandrel]

On 10/12/2024 at 19:49, Obrienp said:

the edges really dug into my forearm to the point that I started to get tendinitis.

 

I wear a wristband to combat carpal tunnel. You can get double legnth ones. That might help.

[Obrienp]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I wear a wristband to combat carpal tunnel. You can get double legnth ones. That might help.

Thanks for the tip. My fix at the time was to move it on but I’ve had the same problem with my Guild Starfire 1 and the cure for that has been stick on foam edge protector: the kind that you can get to stop toddlers from braining themselves on tables, etc. I have seen adverts for full length forearm sleeves for classical/flamenco guitarists, which might also be worth a try.

[JohnDaBass]

 

 

Mark Bass Little Bass with a Retrovibe over wound Rickenbacker Pup upgrade.

Lovley little bass, 38mm nut with a super slim neck.

Sounds brilliant, very surprised with the bite and fatness.

Probably do a few more mods in the new year.

Pickguard, bridge, knobs, V & T pot values and try a few capacitor values.

Just a bit different to the Bronco . 

Edited December 12 by JohnDaBass
Spelling

[dmckee]

I’ve not tried a Lionel or a short scale Stingray, but with short scale versions of originally long scale basses like those, is the body actually smaller than original? Like, is it actually just scaled down, and if so, by how much? 

[ezbass]

15 minutes ago, dmckee said:

I’ve not tried a Lionel or a short scale Stingray, but with short scale versions of originally long scale basses like those, is the body actually smaller than original? Like, is it actually just scaled down, and if so, by how much? 

The ‘Ray is scaled down certainly. I’ve not seen or used a Lionel but, if the pictures are anything to go by, they are smaller than the full sized versions too.

[ped]

I must say, I prefer short scale basses that have their own shape, as opposed to a scaled down body from another bass. That way they feel like an instrument in their own right instead of a mini version of something else.

[dmckee]

1 hour ago, ped said:

I must say, I prefer short scale basses that have their own shape, as opposed to a scaled down body from another bass. That way they feel like an instrument in their own right instead of a mini version of something else.

Yeah, I know what you mean. 

 

I’m thinking of getting a short scale made for me by a local luthier and just reflecting on what body shape I might go for….  Loving the Vintera II Mustang I bought recently, but it’s a little bit neck heavy… also love my Fallout but it too has a bit of that and would like the bridge a little bit further back on the body… and I’m very fond of my L2000…. So I need some kind of hybrid of all of them!  So yeah, what IS the perfect short scale bass body shape? 😃

Edited yesterday at 10:23 by dmckee
Typo!

[fretmeister]

The restoration of this little bass is nearly complete 

 

 

when I got it the action was really high and couldn’t be lowered much. The neck angle was slightly off. Investigation showed that the pocket was pretty much straight ok but the neck and pocket weren’t quite tight even though it felt solid.

 

The body didn’t just have holes for neck screws, the holes had a thread. So unless the neck was clamped tight into the body the neck plate wasn’t really doing its job.

 

The nut was angled in its groove so slightly out of position too.

 

The stock electronics are shite. The pots are on/off and the poles on the underpowered pickup stick out so far that string contact is inevitable.

 

They went in the bin. Now it has an EMG PX. The X series P is way better than the original EMG P.

 

The action is now very low and it sounds ace.

 

There’s a bit of neck dive that will be solved with some Hipshot Ultralite tuners when I can find a shop with some in stock, or someone responds to my Wanted post.

 

I now have a pair of these. The other has an Aguilar 60s pickup and La Bella DT Flats.

 

The new one currently has Elixir nanowebs. I will be swapped them to some DR Hi Beams 50-110 for a bit more tension.

 

It’s great fun to play! 

[Clarky]

Colin Greenwood of Radiohead using a 70s Mustang (from his new book of photographs over the course of his career)

[Obrienp]

2 hours ago, dmckee said:

I’ve not tried a Lionel or a short scale Stingray, but with short scale versions of originally long scale basses like those, is the body actually smaller than original? Like, is it actually just scaled down, and if so, by how much? 

I had a shorty made for me by my local luthier and I seem to recall him saying that the body was scaled down by around 12%, which is roughly the difference in scale length between a full scale and a shorty. However, I don’t know if that is the formula used by Sandberg and Sterling.

[RichT]

3 hours ago, dmckee said:

I’ve not tried a Lionel or a short scale Stingray, but with short scale versions of originally long scale basses like those, is the body actually smaller than original? Like, is it actually just scaled down, and if so, by how much? 

 

Both my short scale EBMM Stingray and Maruszczyk Jake (P style) have scaled down bodies to keep them visually in proportion with the scale length. I don't know exactly how much but I'd have guessed they're about 7/8ths, which would be in keeping with a figure of 12%ish. 

 

I love the fact that they are very obviously Ray and P shaped/sounding because I physically struggle with the full size versions, and this way I don't have to miss out on having those classic looks & tones. I never got on with large bodied basses even before I moved to short scale, so as a result I'd never owned a Fender in the 35 odd years I've been playing. These scaled down shorties are a godsend.

[ezbass]

37 minutes ago, RichT said:

These scaled down shorties are a godsend.

I wish I'd discovered the joys of Shorties earlier, my collection would be shorter across the board.

[msb]

Never had any issues with 34 in basses , but about 25 years ago I picked up a Dano Longhorn. At first I wasn’t keen on the 30 in scale. Sure enough , it was to become a favourite bass , today I have around a dozen short scales. 

[RichT]

I too discovered short scale 'by accident' when I got a Hofner HCT Club a few years ago after seeing Curt Smith playing a Club bass in a Tears For Fears live video and just loving the look of it. It wasn't a conscious decision re scale length at all, it hadn't really registered with me that it was a thing prior to actually getting one! Although looking back I now realise that the first bass I learnt on in early teenage years was a short scale, I just never knew it. 

[ezbass]

37 minutes ago, RichT said:

I too discovered short scale 'by accident' when I got a Hofner HCT Club a few years ago after seeing Curt Smith playing a Club bass in a Tears For Fears live video and just loving the look of it. It wasn't a conscious decision re scale length at all, it hadn't really registered with me that it was a thing prior to actually getting one! Although looking back I now realise that the first bass I learnt on in early teenage years was a short scale, I just never knew it. 

My shorty moment was swing David Byrne and his American Utopia band on Saturday Night Live. The bear player has some sort of Horner for one song, which was nice, but when he played a 5 string Serek for the next song, I was hooked and down the rabbit hole. After trying a number of basses the JMJ was the obvious choice at the time and it’s my number one these days, in no short part to the BL in current band loving it above all the others I’ve played with them.

Edited yesterday at 14:12 by ezbass