The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[Rageofklugman]

I've tuned my Squier Bronco down to BEAD. Got a set of Labella roundwound strings for a short-scale five-string bass and just used the heavier four strings. The gauges are something like 65 to 125 and it works pretty well with reasonable string tension.

[scrumpymike]

Question for you Mustang lovers out there.  I've never owned one but played in a band a few years back where the lead singer/guitarist insisted I tried an old Mustang that he'd rescued from a skip and brought back to life.  It was such a nice bass and fitted in the mix so well that I carried on gigging it.  The only thing I could fault for what I need now is that tonally it was a bit of a one-trick pony.  What sort of tonal range do you get from the latest PJ Mustangs?  I wouldn't want to lose that wonderful smooth, warm roundness, just looking for more versatllity.

[Frank Blank]

2 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

Question for you Mustang lovers out there.  I've never owned one but played in a band a few years back where the lead singer/guitarist insisted I tried an old Mustang that he'd rescued from a skip and brought back to life.  It was such a nice bass and fitted in the mix so well that I carried on gigging it.  The only thing I could fault for what I need now is that tonally it was a bit of a one-trick pony.  What sort of tonal range do you get from the latest PJ Mustangs?  I wouldn't want to lose that wonderful smooth, warm roundness, just looking for more versatllity.

Paging @Osiris, if he's finished on Barry that is...

[MoonBassAlpha]

Re: Mustang PJ,  for one thing,  I  find the tone control great,  really usable sounds throughout the whole range. It was wired wrongly at first though,  easily sorted!. I'm using the Status half rounds  (nearer to flat than round) and really liking the sounds.  Plenty of boing with the rounds that were on it when it arrived, too, if that's your thing. I'd say it's really versatile and doesn't have really bad sounds at any point. I'd prefer a blend to a switch but that just my preference on basses.

[mr4stringz]

I own two MIM PJ Mustangs and agree that there are a decent range of sounds there. I don’t use a range of tones myself (volume and tone on full and the P pickup soloed as that’s what I go for), but there’s a lot more they’re capable of for sure. 

I’ve seen quite a number of people say they had wiring issues as mentioned above, and I did on both of mine too. Quick fix in both cases, but annoying for something that’s not exactly a budget bass. Don’t get me wrong though, I love them to bits...

[Woodinblack]

4 hours ago, joseb84 said:

Hi all. Has anyone successfully set up a 4-string short scale bass with BEAD tuning? Given the lower end is usually the challenge for producing a great sound on an SS I'm reluctant to try this without advice, but there are a number of songs I play requiring the low notes and I'd rather stick to an SS and not go through an octaver.

No, but I had a 5 string short scale with BEADG tuning and that was fine.

[Osiris]

1 hour ago, scrumpymike said:

Question for you Mustang lovers out there.  I've never owned one but played in a band a few years back where the lead singer/guitarist insisted I tried an old Mustang that he'd rescued from a skip and brought back to life.  It was such a nice bass and fitted in the mix so well that I carried on gigging it.  The only thing I could fault for what I need now is that tonally it was a bit of a one-trick pony.  What sort of tonal range do you get from the latest PJ Mustangs?  I wouldn't want to lose that wonderful smooth, warm roundness, just looking for more versatllity.

 

1 hour ago, Frank Blank said:

Paging @Osiris, if he's finished on Barry that is...

I've got 2 Mustangs, a PJ and a JMJ and they are very different basses.

I've had my PJ wired with a blend pot as I found the stock 3 way pickup selector switch was too limiting, the blend makes the bass much more versatile as you'd expect. The pickups are clear sounding and work really well together and give a range of familiar Fender tones from the trademark P grunt to that wiry bridge pickup sound. My favourite setting with the blend is just off centre with a bias towards the P pickup which gives a full but clear tone that sits nicely in the mix. The neck is a slim, jazz like profile. 

The JMJ is different in almost every way. The custom Seymore Duncan pickup has a big, full tone with less top end than the PJ, it's very much a fat, rounded vintage tone. It's not as versatile as the PJ but it's got that tone that both works with the band and puts a grin on my face at the same time. The neck has a chunkier profile, feeling more like a Precision profile. 

The lovely @Adee had an American Performer Mustang that I was fortunate to have a ply with before lockdown. It's more like the PJ than the JMJ but with higher grade hardware and a more pleasing neck finish than the PJ. But that's not to say the PJ has crap hardware or a poor neck finish, as it doesn't.  But the pickups on the American model sounded a bit bland to my ears, they lacked the character of the PJ and the JMJ. 

Out of the bunch I felt the American was the weakest model simply because the tone was the least exciting to my ears, not a bad sound as such, just nothing that grabbed me. And it's also around a grand or so. As the PJ and JMJ are very different basses they both have their appeal and I'll pick up one over the other depending on my mood. But the following day I'll happily play the other. I like them both a lot. There's also the Vintera and new Squier models but I've played neither one so can't comment as to how they compare.

[ezbass]

I'm officially a member. NSSBD thread here 

 

[BassApprentice]

Welcome! Super fun and just convenient aren't they? 

 

I have two questions for the masses - can you buy that Mustang Bridge or just any bridge from Fender? I've got a Bronco and it's so close to being good, but the intonation is a nightmare with only 2 saddle adjustments. 

Second - I put a wanted ad up but just in case anyone here has a set of short flats they don't like/need I would be interested. Especially Chromes or Cobalts! Ta

[Rageofklugman]

I didn't have much luck finding a Mustang bridge, so I replaced the stock bridge on my Bronco with a Hipshot Kickass.

 

[meterman]

Just idly interested, you understand. Definitely not buying, etc. Just looking. Finger isn’t hovering over the ‘add to basket’ button or anything like that, no.

But, has anyone got one of the J&D mini jazz basses? They do look a bit tasty. Hmmm 🤔 

[ezbass]

18 minutes ago, meterman said:

Just idly interested, you understand. Definitely not buying, etc. Just looking. Finger isn’t hovering over the ‘add to basket’ button or anything like that, no.
 

Keeps eyes peeled for an NBD tread in the next few days.  

[meterman]

14 minutes ago, ezbass said:

Keeps eyes peeled for an NBD tread in the next few days.  

I’m skint so maybe not! But, my bands new record just came out and the label sent me some promos... 🤔 Hmmm, maybe I should stick a few copies on Discogs and see what happens.... You never know, a bit of spare cash, an itchy trigger finger, phwoar, they’re only based in the EU so delivery to France should be easy enough etc... nooooooo! It’s happening again 😂

[flutophilus]

Hi, glad to have found this thread.

Does anyone have a short-scale bass that balances nicely on the knee?

My Am Performer Mustang neck dives when played sat down, so that means that my right arm needs to be pressing on the body to balance it out, otherwise there's weight on my left hand, which isn't good. There's no contouring like you would find on a Precision or Jazz so the top of the body is pushing into my forearm and causing me grief. I've tried playing sat down with the strap on but that's a work-round not a solution - and the head still - slowly - heads for the ground. So basically the head is too heavy or the lower bout is too close to the bridge.

When we're allowed out I'm going out to try a few but if there's any suggestions from you people I'd appreciate it.

Cheers

 

[Adee]

I know what you mean, of the three short scales I own the Mustang is the worst for 'neck dive on the knee' 

Warwick Corvette is a little better and the Music Man Stingray balancing the best for me ... but not prefect

Guess it all down to how you sit too ... arm contour does help a lot for comfort 

[martthebass]

1 hour ago, flutophilus said:

Hi, glad to have found this thread.

Does anyone have a short-scale bass that balances nicely on the knee?

My Am Performer Mustang neck dives when played sat down, so that means that my right arm needs to be pressing on the body to balance it out, otherwise there's weight on my left hand, which isn't good. There's no contouring like you would find on a Precision or Jazz so the top of the body is pushing into my forearm and causing me grief. I've tried playing sat down with the strap on but that's a work-round not a solution - and the head still - slowly - heads for the ground. So basically the head is too heavy or the lower bout is too close to the bridge.

When we're allowed out I'm going out to try a few but if there's any suggestions from you people I'd appreciate it.

Cheers

 

I've got a JMJ Mustang which also has a tendency to head south, not the worst neck dive I've experienced but I know what you mean, fortunately I don't mind too much about resting my arm on the top edge when playing sat down.  My Mikey Way sig Mustang despite being distinctly less posh has no neck dive whatsoever (the neck is thinner and jazz profile nut) but these don't come up for sale that often.

The best short scale I've played (and still have) for 'zero neck dive' and comfort is the Dano Longhorn but these aren't to everyone's taste.

[flutophilus]

18 hours ago, martthebass said:

I've got a JMJ Mustang which also has a tendency to head south, not the worst neck dive I've experienced but I know what you mean, fortunately I don't mind too much about resting my arm on the top edge when playing sat down.  My Mikey Way sig Mustang despite being distinctly less posh has no neck dive whatsoever (the neck is thinner and jazz profile nut) but these don't come up for sale that often.

The best short scale I've played (and still have) for 'zero neck dive' and comfort is the Dano Longhorn but these aren't to everyone's taste.

I've never even seen one for real ! They look like fun though - I'd love to try one.

 

20 hours ago, Adee said:

I know what you mean, of the three short scales I own the Mustang is the worst for 'neck dive on the knee' 

Warwick Corvette is a little better and the Music Man Stingray balancing the best for me ... but not prefect

Guess it all down to how you sit too ... arm contour does help a lot for comfort 

Thanks, I'll add the Stingray to my list.

[jazzburger]

On 14/01/2021 at 18:08, scrumpymike said:

Only thing I would say is that the position and balance on the strap were compromised (for me anyway) by the fact that the compact body shape doesn't allow for the top strap button to be located at the F12 sweet spot.

I was eyeing an SWB-1 that sold last night and was advertised on this forum and eBay.  I hadn't spotted the thing about the strap button not being level with the 12th fret (I just looked at my old Aria and it is level - never thought about that).  I was more bothered (bothered??) about the strap button being below the top horn.  Does that make the strap uncomfortable?  And what's it like playing fingerstyle with those slanted pickups?  The technical rationale for that seems to be accepted, but ergonomically I can't see it...

If anyone from Chowny, or Scott Whitley, read this, let me say that I love the sound these basses make and if I could walk into a music store right now, it would be the first thing I'd pick up and play (then wipe clean of course).

[naxos10]

Does anyone have a short-scale bass that balances nicely on the knee?

flutiphilus,

I have a Harley Benton PB Shorty which I find balances on the knee well with no neck dive.

[scrumpymike]

2 hours ago, jazzburger said:

I was eyeing an SWB-1 that sold last night and was advertised on this forum and eBay.  I hadn't spotted the thing about the strap button not being level with the 12th fret (I just looked at my old Aria and it is level - never thought about that).  I was more bothered (bothered??) about the strap button being below the top horn.  Does that make the strap uncomfortable?  And what's it like playing fingerstyle with those slanted pickups?  The technical rationale for that seems to be accepted, but ergonomically I can't see it...

If anyone from Chowny, or Scott Whitley, read this, let me say that I love the sound these basses make and if I could walk into a music store right now, it would be the first thing I'd pick up and play (then wipe clean of course).

This balance thing only became an issue for me in recent times.  For years my go-to bass was a Gibson SG with worse neck dive than the SWB-1 and I loved it!  When physical wear and tear became an issue I decided that every aspect of my basses had to be optimised to extend my gigging life.  Thing with me is that when I decide to do something I tend to get a bit obsessive!  Don't let me put you off the SWB-1!  Scott and then Chowny have sold a fair number of these - presumably to players who get on fine with them, as they don't often come up FS.  It's also worth mentioning that Chowny moved production from China to India, where the bodies are made from slightly denser and therefore heavier wood, which helps redress the balance.  Then, if needed, there's always the lightweight tuner swap that makes a big difference in my experience.

[jazzburger]

2 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

It's also worth mentioning that Chowny moved production from China to India, where the bodies are made from slightly denser and therefore heavier wood, which helps redress the balance.  Then, if needed, there's always the lightweight tuner swap that makes a big difference in my experience.

Thanks scrumpymike, I wasn't seriously considering the SWB-1 despite its sonic capabilities until I saw one on eBay last night, which I missed out on (the seller is a member of this forum).  The only short-scale bass I played previously was a friend's very battered Fender Mustang which was utterly addictive but with suicidal neck dive - I only ever used it sitting down.  I've got an Ibanez GSRM20 on order and I realise I will probably feel compelled to change the pickups even if it's just to have silent electronics.  But £160 for the bass and probably £140 for some EMG pickups is more than I would have paid for the SWB-1 on eBay - and that's when I started to do some maths...

[scrumpymike]

4 minutes ago, jazzburger said:

Thanks scrumpymike, I wasn't seriously considering the SWB-1 despite its sonic capabilities until I saw one on eBay last night, which I missed out on (the seller is a member of this forum).  The only short-scale bass I played previously was a friend's very battered Fender Mustang which was utterly addictive but with suicidal neck dive - I only ever used it sitting down.  I've got an Ibanez GSRM20 on order and I realise I will probably feel compelled to change the pickups even if it's just to have silent electronics.  But £160 for the bass and probably £140 for some EMG pickups is more than I would have paid for the SWB-1 on eBay - and that's when I started to do some maths...

I had a GSRM20 for a while.  Nice little bass but I realised that for me anything with a sub-30" scale was just too short.

[jazzburger]

15 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

I had a GSRM20 for a while.  Nice little bass but I realised that for me anything with a sub-30" scale was just too short.

I'm preparing myself for that. The number of used ones for sale has made me think it's either a) too dinky or b) too compromised in the J pickup department.

[Baloney Balderdash]

3 hours ago, scrumpymike said:

I had a GSRM20 for a while.  Nice little bass but I realised that for me anything with a sub-30" scale was just too short.

 

3 hours ago, jazzburger said:

Thanks scrumpymike, I wasn't seriously considering the SWB-1 despite its sonic capabilities until I saw one on eBay last night, which I missed out on (the seller is a member of this forum).  The only short-scale bass I played previously was a friend's very battered Fender Mustang which was utterly addictive but with suicidal neck dive - I only ever used it sitting down.  I've got an Ibanez GSRM20 on order and I realise I will probably feel compelled to change the pickups even if it's just to have silent electronics.  But £160 for the bass and probably £140 for some EMG pickups is more than I would have paid for the SWB-1 on eBay - and that's when I started to do some maths...

I use an Ibanez GSRM20 neck + GSRM20B body Mikro Bass as my main and it's about as perfect as any mass produced bass currently on the market gets, my number 1 or 2 favorite out of all the basses I have owned, which admittedly is not that many considering how long I have been playing bass, but 4 of those being 1000$+ basses from new, the one that about equals my current Mikro main in greatness being the Jerry Jones Longhorn, that I still regret being stupid enough to sell at some point, it being a, 1200$ from new, back when they were still made, high end, sort of "boutique", version of the Danelectro bass of the same name.

And regarding swapping the stock pickups on the Mikro, the stock pickups on the Mikro actually being fairly decent, though I swapped them for first a P/J set of EMG Geezer Butler pickups, then just a Dimarzio Model P, and now back at the Geezer, though just the P pickup this time, and when I first swapped the stock pickups the improvement in tone was huge, so will absolutely recommend that mod, also I can warmly recommend both the Geezer and the Model P.

The Geezer if you want absolutely dead quiet pickups, as they are shielded internally, meaning that no shielding of the bass is required, and if you want a vintage-esque kind of tone, just a bit hotter and slightly more aggressive than you average vintage P, and with a nice upper mids snap and bite.

And the Model P if you want a somewhat more modern, quite hot, aggressive, and overall fuller sounding P pickup, with a nice amount of lower mids punch, though not quite as articulate and dynamically responsive as the the Geezer, and definitely much more noisy (unless you shield your bass properly).. 

The Mikro Basses are generally of high quality compared to their price point, though as with all cheap budget basses every now and then you still get a dud one, which was the case with the stock fretwork on my newer GSRM20B Mikro Bass, absolutely horrible fretwork buzzing all over, even with insanely high string action.

The body of that bass then later had the the neck from my older GSRM20 Mikro transplanted to it, that neck on the other hand being the most stable neck I ever had on any bass or guitar, holding tuning exceptionally well, almost never requiring adjustments, and with fretwork close enough to perfect that I can get the action exactly as low as I prefer it without any fret buzz whatsoever, which is a nice bit under the usual standard, by Fender for instance, recommended specs.

And my, newer as well, 5 string GSRM25 Mikro Bass even had absolutely dead on perfect fretwork from stock, and I could get string action insanely low without any fret buzz whatsoever if I wanted to, though the stock J pickups are pretty crappy and the stock nut was cut too low as well.

One thing to note though, at some point for some strange reason Ibanez decided to change the dimensions of the bridge J pickup cavity on the Mikro Basses, from previously fitting standard J bridge pickup dimensions perfectly (my 2010 production Mikro got this) to an ever so slightly shorter cavity (my 2017 production Mikro got this, and Ibanez still route the cavities slightly too short to this day), though it will only be a matter of filing, sanding or chipping off less than 1mm (<0,039") of each end of the J pickup cover to get it to fit, as the width, depth and placement of the screw ears are where and as they should be for a standard J bridge pickup.

 

 

Edited April 8, 2021 by Baloney Balderdash

[jazzburger]

10 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

The Geezer if you want absolutely dead quiet pickups, as they are shielded internally, meaning that no shielding of the bass is required, and if you want a vintage-esque kind of tone, just a bit hotter and slightly more aggressive than you average vintage P, and with a nice upper mids snap and bite.

And the Model P if you want a somewhat more modern, quite hot, aggressive, and overall fuller sounding P pickup, with a nice amount of lower mids punch, though not quite as articulate and dynamically responsive as the the Geezer, and definitely more noisy. 

BB - that's very reassuring advice - thank you. I'll probably always go for quiet pickups because a lot of my playing and practising is going to be through headphones and a noisy bridge pickup does my head in. I'm a soul and funk player and I enjoy a bright-ish top end. The sound samples on the Thomann website make me think that if I'm happy with the size and balance of the GSRM20, the pickups will be liveable for long enough to put some money in the piggy-bank for some Geezers and maybe some Gotoh tuners, but from what you say, the tuners are up to the job anyway.  Do you have any advice on strings?  I have only ever had flatwounds once since 1985 and they were on a fretless, so I'm a roundwound player.  Rotosound, D'Addario, LaBella, Ernie Ball have all been on the Aria over the years.  LaBella were my favourites but, blimey, they went off quickly and they were pricey.  Thanks again.