Cheap banger bass for parents - pref. shortscale - HB Shorty a good option?

[Roseweave]

After transporting my J&D Jazz Bass to my parents I'm definitely feeling the need to have a bass down there. I carry too much home as-is with a laptop and pet gecko. Unfortunately it got damaged at some point, either transporting or at the house. It is clumsy finding space to comfortably play a full scale bass there.

Originally I was going to get a regular cheap banger P-Bass(I figure that makes more sense for a cheap bass, since one pickup, hum cancelling so shielding matters less, and probably easiest platform to upgrade) but with the amount of times I've banged the headstock on my gecko's enclosure amongst other thing I thought a physically smaller instrument might be nice.

I do have quite large hands though - shorter figures, but large hands overall as I'm just an oddly shaped person in general. One of my guitars is a Jaguar - and mostly I get on with it fine, as the shorter scale helps me do awkward shoegaze chords. I have noticed on Bass, my little finger strength isn't great and stretching can be difficult, so having a shortscale to practise on could be nice.

The problem is you're really limited when it comes to banger shortscales these days.

The options are:

PB Shorty from Thomann
Various 3/4 models from Gear4music
Mini Precision Bass
Maybe an Ibanez Talman or Mikro if I luck out price wise?

I don't want to get a Bronco unless it's cheap enough I can swap the pickup - I honestly considered the Glarry one for a bit.

Would I be best off abandoning the short scale idea? As a beginner will it mess with things too much to have different scale lengths? My 3 guitars are all different scales but obviously I've been playing for years(and I'm poopie anyway)

I have seen that Stingray style basses - at least HB's seem to be slightly shorter overall despite the same scale length - would that help? HB does have a nice cheap one.

I'm leaning strongly towards the PB Shorty atm out of convenience, since Thomann has an amp I wanted to order, but it is a very "plain" bass, even at this price point there's more interesting options at least visually, but more importantly I have heard some people say it's cramped even for a shortscale.

What should I do?

[kodiakblair]

I picked up a J&D short scale P-bass for £50, course that was 2nd hand ; twice that from DV 24/7.

 

DV have more shorty options than G4M or Thomann so maybe have a look there.

 

Nice enough wee bass, pity I'm not a fan of short scale basses .

[Franticsmurf]

How about a headless bass? Not everyone's cup of tea but full scale and easy to transport if necessary?

[Pea Turgh]

I’ve seen some great HB shorty mods.  Also, they do this:

 

https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_mv_4msb_gotoh_sfg.htm?glp=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzb_jv_KA_gIV_UiRBR0EKAxVEAQYASABEgIMlPD_BwE

 

[Roseweave]

Yeah, unfortunately the gotoh one has the weird wiring and it's a bit more pricey. 

 

My main bass is from Musicstore.de actually. Maybe I'll have to look there again.

[fretmeister]

I bought a used John Deacon shortie P bass on here for a little over £100.

It's a great little bass - they come up between £80 and £120 ish from time to time.

 

Worth having a look for one.

[Paul S]

I have an HB PB Shorty and like it a lot.  Straight out of the box it was fine, if you use an eq and a little drive the stock pickup sounds very vintage P bass to my ears.  I gigged with it a couple of times and often take it as back up.  More P bass than Mustang.  I recently swapped the pup for a Tonerider, which has given it more bite than the stock.   Lightweight.   

[Roseweave]

That sounds promising, Paul. I'll be mainly playing Oldies with my Dad with this bass so a vintage vibe is what I'm going for.

[smithy]

Having two Harley Bentons with no complaints, I think you can´t go wrong with them. And in the case of cases they have a real good return policy. I myself am in the market for an Ibanez TMB 30 . Great sound and a nice neck on the thicker side.

 

[Norris]

I'm going to suggest a Hofner violin bass. Cheap, light, short scale and fun to play. You don't even need an amp to have a noodle

[tauzero]

On 31/03/2023 at 21:51, Norris said:

I'm going to suggest a Hofner violin bass. Cheap, light, short scale and fun to play. You don't even need an amp to have a noodle

 

They're absolutely horrible to play.

[tauzero]

On 29/03/2023 at 04:32, Roseweave said:

What should I do?

 

Go headless. Hohner B2, very compact, or if you'd rather have a bit of body, Hohner Jack. Keeps you at 34" scale length, no stupid headstock to hit things with (unless you really want to) or wreck the balance.