The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[scrumpymike]

On 15/09/2022 at 22:42, scrumpymike said:

 

I've just finished setting mine up for Schaller strap-locks - the cherry on the icing on the cake! PIc's to follow.

 

Not many Vox Starstream owners on here (Obrienp and RichT are the ones I know) so this won't be of interest to many. Anyway, it works a treat and, while not cosmetically perfect, it's more than good enough for me. All easily reversible to leave the bass exactly as manufactured.

 

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by scrumpymike

[tayste_2000]

Gruvgear Edge should fit, I have my 4 inline mustang in that, which I then slide into an SKB Bass Safe

[ezbass]

30 minutes ago, tayste_2000 said:

Gruvgear Edge should fit, I have my 4 inline mustang in that, which I then slide into an SKB Bass Safe

I have a Mustang and a shorty ‘Ray, the ‘Ray is 30mm shorter than the Mustang. Therefore, it should easily fit in the Edge. I have a Maruszczyk, short gigbag and it’s an easy fit into that. FYI, @Eric.C.Lapton, the ‘Ray is roughly 25mm wider at the headstock than the Mustang, due to the 3 over 1 setup, but this width is lower down, where a bag normally flares out and I haven’t found it to be an issue.

[Eric.C.Lapton]

Thanks for the recommendations I’ll take a look at them 

[BCH]

17 hours ago, wrinkleygit said:

Have a look at the TGi extreme range, in particular the classical and small acoustic guitar bags, they will need some extra padding to the sides, but length wise they are close to most shortscale basses.

 

The TGI range is excellent, Alan (ACG) uses them...I have the guitar case for a 26" scale bass & & the SS case for a 30.5' bass

[BCH]

17 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

 

Not many Vox Starstream owners on here (Obrienp and RichT are the ones I know) so this won't be of interest to many. Anyway, it works a treat and, while not cosmetically perfect, it's more than good enough for me. All easily reversible to leave the bass exactly as manufactured.

 

 

I've got the jacket to go with the trousers....ha

 

[Manwithvan]

18 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

Not many Vox Starstream owners on here (Obrienp and RichT are the ones I know) so this won't be of interest to many. Anyway, it works a treat and, while not cosmetically perfect, it's more than good enough for me. All easily reversible to leave the bass exactly as manufactured.

I have the cheap version with single coils. Amazing ergonomics with a distinctive sound and in red it looks like a child’s toy.

I find better strap balance using the lower button.

[bassist_lewis]

On 21/09/2022 at 08:33, BCH said:

Pics please!

See it here!

 

[scrumpymike]

13 hours ago, Manwithvan said:

I find better strap balance using the lower button.

 

Interesting! I use the higher button because it gives me a better tilt angle but I've noticed that the short stainless-steel straight bracket I've added to the top horn reduces the slight neck dive somewhat by shifting the top button towards the twelfth-fret 'sweet spot'. I'm sure a slightly longer bracket would completely get rid of it, so I might give that a try.

[Obrienp]

15 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

 

Interesting! I use the higher button because it gives me a better tilt angle but I've noticed that the short stainless-steel straight bracket I've added to the top horn reduces the slight neck dive somewhat by shifting the top button towards the twelfth-fret 'sweet spot'. I'm sure a slightly longer bracket would completely get rid of it, so I might give that a try.

Interesting. I haven’t noticed any neck dive on my passive H1 but I do use a wide grippy strap.

[Eric.C.Lapton]

Thanks for all the suggestions for gig bags.

I ended up with a Gator Pro go guitar bag, Stingray fits a treat.

plenty of storage pockets and waterproof too.

[oluolugbenga]

On 29/06/2020 at 11:25, soldersqueeze said:

My two Red Dwarfs

Modified Bronco and Jaguar, my two fave basses from which I shall never be separated!

 

Absolute beauties. That Jag particularly - wow.

 

What are those pickups?

[Stub Mandrel]

What happens to mustang stripes 'round the back'?

[vsmith1]

On 21/09/2022 at 16:03, scrumpymike said:

 

Not many Vox Starstream owners on here (Obrienp and RichT are the ones I know) so this won't be of interest to many. Anyway, it works a treat and, while not cosmetically perfect, it's more than good enough for me. All easily reversible to leave the bass exactly as manufactured.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have just joined this list of Starstream owners. I bought direct from Vox a Starstream Artist 1H, and think I might have got the last. Mine is black. I just arrived today - pretty quickly since I stopped dithering and order it over the weekend. Just had a quick play, once inserted the 2x 9V batteries, and feels good, sounds great. Very first impressions. 
 

I am going to see if I can swap out the strap buttons for Loxx buttons. But that will be later.

[scrumpymike]

2 hours ago, vsmith1 said:

I have just joined this list of Starstream owners. I bought direct from Vox a Starstream Artist 1H, and think I might have got the last. Mine is black. I just arrived today - pretty quickly since I stopped dithering and order it over the weekend. Just had a quick play, once inserted the 2x 9V batteries, and feels good, sounds great. Very first impressions. 
 

I am going to see if I can swap out the strap buttons for Loxx buttons. But that will be later.

 

Welcome to a very select owners' club! Last one? Dammit!! I was toying with the idea of adding the humbie version to my collection ☹️

[Obrienp]

7 hours ago, vsmith1 said:

I have just joined this list of Starstream owners. I bought direct from Vox a Starstream Artist 1H, and think I might have got the last. Mine is black. I just arrived today - pretty quickly since I stopped dithering and order it over the weekend. Just had a quick play, once inserted the 2x 9V batteries, and feels good, sounds great. Very first impressions. 
 

I am going to see if I can swap out the strap buttons for Loxx buttons. But that will be later.

Excellent. Enjoy!

 

Do tell us if you work out a way to add Loxx.

[vsmith1]

16 hours ago, Obrienp said:

Excellent. Enjoy!

 

Do tell us if you work out a way to add Loxx.

Well not a good start on that. On the Starstream, the fixings for the strap buttons are bolts, not screws. As the Loxx buttons are a single piece, I looked on the Loxx website. They do not make any buttons with a bolt. Loxx do make an adapter for acoustic guitars with a Fishman style jack socket:
https://www.loxx-produkte.de/images/schaeffertec/UbersichtOverviewLOXXMusikBoxAdapter.pdf

 

This is effectively what @scrumpymike made and showed in this thread. Needs some thought. In the mean time I have some D'Addario strap locks to use with a dedicated strap (ie without the Loxx strap lock fitted).

[Obrienp]

1 minute ago, vsmith1 said:

Well not a good start on that. On the Starstream, the fixings for the strap buttons are bolts, not screws. As the Loxx buttons are a single piece, I looked on the Loxx website. They do not make any buttons with a bolt. Loxx do make an adapter for acoustic guitars with a Fishman style jack socket:
https://www.loxx-produkte.de/images/schaeffertec/UbersichtOverviewLOXXMusikBoxAdapter.pdf

 

This is effectively what @scrumpymike made and showed in this thread. Needs some thought. In the mean time I have some D'Addario strap locks to use with a dedicated strap (ie without the Loxx strap lock fitted).

Yep, that’s what I found. I just use those rubber washer/doughnut things you stretch over the button once the strap is in place. A bit of a struggle to get on and off the large buttons on the Starstream but effective (and cheap).

[vsmith1]

21 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

 

Welcome to a very select owners' club! Last one? Dammit!! I was toying with the idea of adding the humbie version to my collection ☹️

I wonder if Vox are going to issue a new version? From Vox direct, I got my Artist 1H at £799 delivered. I see at the usual websites (eg PMTOnline) that the Artist 1H is listed at £1594.52 - strange price! But "Available to Order". They do have the non-Artist Starstreams from £425 to £500. Bass Direct have a Artist 2S and 1H at £1199.

 

So I feel I have a bargain.

[barrycreed]

Hi folks. I picked up the same Squier Bronco bass I sold a year or so ago by chance. I had planned to upgrade the pickup and maybe the bridge, so asking again! I already have replacement tuners, and may stain the neck with linseed oil or similar.

Would a 34" scale single coil pickup fit, or would there be a spacing issue so better to replace with a drop in pickup?

Any cheap bridge that would be an upgrade on the stock one? Same with the nut. Anything here? Thanks!

[Obrienp]

2 hours ago, barrycreed said:

Hi folks. I picked up the same Squier Bronco bass I sold a year or so ago by chance. I had planned to upgrade the pickup and maybe the bridge, so asking again! I already have replacement tuners, and may stain the neck with linseed oil or similar.

Would a 34" scale single coil pickup fit, or would there be a spacing issue so better to replace with a drop in pickup?

Any cheap bridge that would be an upgrade on the stock one? Same with the nut. Anything here? Thanks!

If you get a split Precision set, you can compensate the narrower string spacing by having the two parts overlapping. I did this on a Bronco but I had to do a bit of routing and I also had to make the original routing a little shallower in some places by adding some wooden strips. I also had to have a new pick-guard made up. A ‘51 P pickup is going to be too wide unless you set it at an angle. Of course, if you can find pickups with bar magnets, string spacing is less of a problem. There are some replacement pickups made for Broncos but they are expensive. Lots of people just fit bar magnet Stratocaster rails (humbuckers).
 

Good luck with finding a cheap bridge with the same string spacing. I got one on eBay but it came all the way from China and had some design flaws that took a bit of metal work to sort out and it didn’t fit the original screw holes exactly. It might be easier and cheaper to to fit a more standard Fender type bridge with wider string spacing (and it might make it easier to fit a 34” scale pickup) but you won’t be able to use the original screw holes. If you are prepared to spend serious money there are various options with the narrower string spacing. 

[scrumpymike]

10 hours ago, vsmith1 said:

On the Starstream, the fixings for the strap buttons are bolts, not screws.

There's only one bolt (technically it's a machine screw) and that's the one fixing the OE button on the upper horn. The two OE buttons on the bottom of the body are fixed with wood screws, looks like one long and one very long! I had to unscrew the shorter (top) one to clamp a large stainless-steel washer between the OE button and the ABS moulding to stop the strap from pulling the brass extension bracket too close to the body.

 

The other problem I had was that the head of the M4 machine screw I used was too big to fit into the Schaller strap-lock pin, so I had to grind the diameter down.

[dmckee]

Just in case anyone’s as obsessed as me (😬), GuitarGuitar have a G&L Fallout Fullerton Deluxe in shell pink (as featured in a Bass Whisperer review) coming in next week hopefully. 

 

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/210309367407025--gl-usa-fullerton-deluxe-fallout-bass-shell-pink-rosewood-finger

 

They also have a grey pearl one coming in, but my name’s against that. 😃

[barrycreed]

@Obrienp I think I will just look at a pickup and wiring upgrade then and won't fiddle around with the bridge. Not really worth pumping a lot of money into it. I do have a short bridge for a bass lying around, which I swear I bought for the Bronco way back, but not sure of the spacing.

[Obrienp]

13 minutes ago, barrycreed said:

@Obrienp I think I will just look at a pickup and wiring upgrade then and won't fiddle around with the bridge. Not really worth pumping a lot of money into it. I do have a short bridge for a bass lying around, which I swear I bought for the Bronco way back, but not sure of the spacing.

You never know, somebody else may know of a cheap bridge solution available in the UK. It seems there are quite a lot of aftermarket replacement parts for Broncos in the USA but most of them aren’t cheap. Personally, I couldn’t put up with the compromised intonation adjustment of the OEM bridge but I agree it is not worth throwing a lot of money at it. You will never recover it if you decide to sell.
 

There is a thread somewhere on BassChat about modding Broncos. I went into more detail about my mods on that but more importantly, there are alternative solutions on there. It might be worth searching it out.