The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[ezbass]

27 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

My custom shortscale arrived yesterday! Thank you Tony Edwards Guitars! https://tonyedwardsguitars.co.uk.
 

Apology for the quality of the pic. It doesn’t do justice to the burl on the fretboard and the tone of the sunburst. It’s 30” scale, 40mm nut, Babicz bridge and Tony’s own hand wound pickups. All for less than a Fender Mustang (USA).
 

 

That’s a cracker and I thoroughly approve of the reverse P.

[Merton]

54 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

My custom shortscale arrived yesterday! Thank you Tony Edwards Guitars! https://tonyedwardsguitars.co.uk.
 

Apology for the quality of the pic. It doesn’t do justice to the burl on the fretboard and the tone of the sunburst. It’s 30” scale, 40mm nut, Babicz bridge and Tony’s own hand wound pickups. All for less than a Fender Mustang (USA).
 

 

I like that a lot

[scrumpymike]

5 hours ago, Obrienp said:

My custom shortscale arrived yesterday! Thank you Tony Edwards Guitars! https://tonyedwardsguitars.co.uk.
 

Apology for the quality of the pic. It doesn’t do justice to the burl on the fretboard and the tone of the sunburst. It’s 30” scale, 40mm nut, Babicz bridge and Tony’s own hand wound pickups. All for less than a Fender Mustang (USA).
 

 

Nice bass and interesting TEG website.  I'm a great fan of having stuff custom-built - especially by a smallish builder you can visit.  You can generally get just what you're looking for without spending an arm and a leg and you'll certainly avoid wasting time and money on trial and error.  Here are my two beauties (in my eyes!) built by Andy Rogers, who is well known to followers of his Basschat Build Diaries.  At the time I commissioned them, you couldn't really get anything like them off the shelf (s-s with 3 x p'ups 7-way switchable in any permutation)- and you still can't.

 

 

[Obrienp]

20 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

Nice bass and interesting TEG website.  I'm a great fan of having stuff custom-built - especially by a smallish builder you can visit.  You can generally get just what you're looking for without spending an arm and a leg and you'll certainly avoid wasting time and money on trial and error.  Here are my two beauties (in my eyes!) built by Andy Rogers, who is well known to followers of his Basschat Build Diaries.  At the time I commissioned them, you couldn't really get anything like them off the shelf (s-s with 3 x p'ups 7-way switchable in any permutation)- and you still can't.

 

 

Wow! Those are different and beautiful!

[Baloney Balderdash]

58 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

Nice bass and interesting TEG website.  I'm a great fan of having stuff custom-built - especially by a smallish builder you can visit.  You can generally get just what you're looking for without spending an arm and a leg and you'll certainly avoid wasting time and money on trial and error.  Here are my two beauties (in my eyes!) built by Andy Rogers, who is well known to followers of his Basschat Build Diaries.  At the time I commissioned them, you couldn't really get anything like them off the shelf (s-s with 3 x p'ups 7-way switchable in any permutation)- and you still can't.

 

 

 

Both very cool looking basses, especially love the black one, and I bet they sound great as well.

 

I personally would have chosen a 24 fret neck, and a bass with less than 22 is a no go for me, but I am not you, and if you never ever need more than 21 frets then sticking to just that, but having them made really easy accessible, as they, by the look of those pictures, are, would definitely be the way to go.

 

Is the string spacing the standard 19mm or narrower? 

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by Baloney Balderdash

[scrumpymike]

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

 

Both very cool looking basses, especially love the black one, and I bet they sound great as well.

 

I personally would have chosen a 24 fret neck, and a bass with less than 22 is a no go for me, but I am not you, and if you never ever need more than 21 frets then sticking to just that, but having them made really easy accessible, as they, by the look of those pictures, are, would definitely be the way to go.

 

Is the string spacing the standard 19mm or narrower? 

 

 

Yes, 21 frets are fine for me.  String spacing is standard.  Apart from the look, the only real difference is that the walnut-capped bass has a neck-width of 40mm at the nut, the black bass a slimmer 38mm.  What I love about both is just being able to switch instantly between 7 different voices - all of them usable.

[barrycreed]

Might have been asked before, but are the pickups on the Talman interchangeable with e.g. EMG Geezer Butlers.

Tempted to get a PJ config, but not sure yet whether to go Affinity 34inch or Talman short scale....

Edit: Yes they are

Edited September 6, 2021 by barrycreed

[scrumpymike]

Sorry guys, this one's a bit nerdy but, as a life-long s-s fan of a certain age, I've always had a keen interest in the basses Bill Wyman played as well as the way he played them.  I've just watched a compilation of Stones' BBC appearances which includes them performing The Last Time in 1965.  From the pic's below, can anybody confirm the identity of the compact solid-bodied bass he was using?  It looks so much like the BW Signature released by The Bass Centre in 2013 that I'm guessing it's his early, home-made fretless, which - according to their promo blurb at the time - was the basis of the Signature design (the 2013 bass had a black body and distinctive red scratch-plate, which kind of matches the grey-scale rendition on the Beeb's black-and-white archive footage.)  So, can anyone either confirm my ID or tell me it's something different?

 

PS You'll have to watch this on ketchup if you want to see George Best in the TOTP audience as well.  Ahhh, halcyon days! 😊

[Frank Blank]

Got myself a @Jabba_the_gut bass and oh man it’s a doozy! I’m a very happy camper indeed…

 

 

[scrumpymike]

3 minutes ago, Frank Blank said:

Got myself a @Jabba_the_gut bass and oh man it’s a doozy! I’m a very happy camper indeed…

 

 

Looking forward to seeing this at the S-W Bash on the 19th!

[MacDaddy]

Rob Allen Mouse.

 

It's all @Frank Blank's fault. After playing his at a SE Bass Bash, and finding one at a great price, and receiving much appreciated advice from the aforementioned Mr Black, I have one of my very own.

I did sell it to @Clarky at one point, and regretted it, but fortunately he was gracious enough to sell it back 😁

[Frank Blank]

1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

Rob Allen Mouse.

 

It's all @Frank Blank's fault.

Dragged the cash out of your wallet did I? 🙄

 

1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

After playing his at a SE Bass Bash, and finding one at a great price, and receiving much appreciated advice from the aforementioned Mr Black…

 

When I was appearing in Captain Scarlet, obviously… 🙄

 

1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

I did sell it to @Clarky at one point, and regretted it, but fortunately he was gracious enough to sell it back 😁

I had a twang on your Mouse at Clarky’s…

 

Not a sentence you ever envisage constructing really.

Edited September 8, 2021 by Frank Blank

[martthebass]

42 minutes ago, MacDaddy said:

Rob Allen Mouse.

 

It's all @Frank Blank's fault. After playing his at a SE Bass Bash, and finding one at a great price, and receiving much appreciated advice from the aforementioned Mr Black, I have one of my very own.

I did sell it to @Clarky at one point, and regretted it, but fortunately he was gracious enough to sell it back 😁

Very festive!

[Mikey D]

https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/ibanez-short-scale-bass-guitar-/1414133374

 

Funky 70s ibanez short scale for sale here thought this group might likee. A few OG bits missing but likely lots of mojo.

[Obra]

Hi
In a past week I got these two beautiful short scale basses in my hands, and immediately made a sound comparison video.

I hope it will be as interesting to someone as it was to me while I was recording and playing them.

 

 

 

[ezbass]

44 minutes ago, Obra said:

Hi
In a past week I got these two beautiful short scale basses in my hands, and immediately made a sound comparison video.

I hope it will be as interesting to someone as it was to me while I was recording and playing them.

 

 

 

What a superb, comparison demo. That’s how it should be done. Kudos, Good Sir. 👏👏👏

 

I really like that Eko.

[eude]

14 hours ago, Obra said:

Hi
In a past week I got these two beautiful short scale basses in my hands, and immediately made a sound comparison video.

I hope it will be as interesting to someone as it was to me while I was recording and playing them.

 

 

 

Thank you for that!

The EKO on the whole sounds the best to my ears, but I think the SG has the edge when the neck pickup is soloed and the tone rolled off.

Wonderful basses dude, enjoy!

 

Eude

[Baloney Balderdash]

Brand new shot of my Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass :

 

 

And I plan to add this OM decal soon (PhotoShopped) :

[soldersqueeze]

There are some beautiful basses in this thread, thanks everyone for sharing.

I've lightly modded my Harley Benton PB-Shorty. Electronics not finished but it'll have a built in Big Muff because why not. 

 

[mr4stringz]

31 minutes ago, soldersqueeze said:

There are some beautiful basses in this thread, thanks everyone for sharing.

I've lightly modded my Harley Benton PB-Shorty. Electronics not finished but it'll have a built in Big Muff because why not. 

 

That looks GREAT!

[Stub Mandrel]

38 minutes ago, soldersqueeze said:

lightly modded

 

🤣

[tegs07]

I think I am rapidly becoming a short scale devotee. My son has started to learn bass and was given an old Futurama/Hagstom short scale.

 

I find that I am constantly borrowing his bass as it’s so much fun to play. I struggle to play P bass due to the neck width and my initial plan was to go the J bass route but am starting to get GAS for a Fender JMJ which is just odd after decades of hating Mustangs!

[PaulFenderJazz]

Went down to Camden at the weekend and collected my Wilcock Mullarkey. Viv’s been building it since May and it’s been worth the wait. A beautiful looking and sounding guitar. Instantly my favourite!  

Edited September 14, 2021 by PaulFenderJazz

[three]

47 minutes ago, PaulFenderJazz said:

Went down to Camden at the weekend and collected my Wilcock Mullarkey. Viv’s been building it since May and it’s been worth the wait. A beautiful looking and sounding guitar. Instantly my favourite!  

Absolutely beautiful - what a lovely, understated but very classy colour.  I think the finish will have been from Bow - utterly superb work.  I picked-up a Mullarkey a few months ago and it's been a revelation.  I've spent years with active only basses but Viv's approach to passives works incredibly well.  Playability is superb on these and they're just such good fun - a joy to pick-up and play for hours.  This looks like a new(?) approach to the control layout - is it VVT?  Most I've seen are VT with a three-way pick-up selector.  A very lovely bass indeed

[Rumple]

2 hours ago, PaulFenderJazz said:

Went down to Camden at the weekend and collected my Wilcock Mullarkey. Viv’s been building it since May and it’s been worth the wait. A beautiful looking and sounding guitar. Instantly my favourite!  

That body shape is very reminiscent of a Shergold Marathon, which is a good thing 🙂