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Short or Medium Scale Fretless Basses?


PatrickJ
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I've been toying with giving fretless a go for a while now   I also fancy trying a 32" scale bass so I figured why not try and combine those into a single bass for 2021. 

I'm really struggling to find anything other than a Warwick.  Are shorter scale fretless basses just not a thing? 

Edited by PatrickJ
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31 minutes ago, DiMarco said:

Yep, you don't see them a lot. May I ask why your mind is set on a 32" rather then 34"?

 

Not hard set, shorter scale and fretless were both on my mind to try so if it was possible to get them both in a single package then it seemed like a cute idea. 

I'm now looking at 34" scale fretless basses, still not as much of a range as I thought .  They must be out of fashion.

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@TheGreek has kindly lent me a long scale fretless to try.

After having a bit of play last night I think jumping into a shorter scale would be a mistake - since I'm comfortable with 34" scale already I have a bit of a feel for where the notes should be.  Changing scale I suspect will present more challenges.

Edited by PatrickJ
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1 hour ago, PatrickJ said:

@TheGreek has kindly lent me a long scale fretless to try.

After having a bit of play last night I think jumping into a shorter scale would be a mistake - since I'm comfortable with 34" scale already I have a bit of a feel for where the notes should be.  Changing scale I suspect will present more challenges.

Very kind of @TheGreek 👍.

Another thing to consider when going shorter scale fretless, is that the shorter the scale, the less margin for error there is.

Obviously spot on intonation is the aim but a fraction out on a 34", give it some vibrato and it's acceptable, to a degree. That same amount out on a 28" is just plain old out of tune. 

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