Scale Length Preference (<30" - ~30" - 32" - 34" - 35" - >35")

[Stub Mandrel]

Unpacking more detail...

 

30" feels very compact and easy/relaxing to play. 34" narrow (jazz) comfortable, 34" broad (p) encourages more aggressive approach. 34" very narrow (performer) absurdly easy to play. 35" 5 demands more attention, scale length not significant as mostly play around 5th fret & up. Extra shorties... just fun.

[three]

6 hours ago, hiram.k.hackenbacker said:

Scale is not that important to me, however, I did try a short scale Stingray (one of the Joe Dart ones IIRC - not sure what the scale would have been) in a shop near Shuker HQ once and I really didn’t like it at all. The over-riding factor for me is neck width/depth. My one concession to less than 34” is a 33” scale Status Series 2 five string which I absolutely love.

Intriguing! I didn’t know Status had produced a 33” scale SeriesII. Does the bass have a bendwell (probably not, I think the latter takes the scale down to 32” - it did on my Streamlines… I think)?

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

2 hours ago, three said:

Intriguing! I didn’t know Status had produced a 33” scale SeriesII. Does the bass have a bendwell (probably not, I think the latter takes the scale down to 32” - it did on my Streamlines… I think)?

Apologies, typo. I've amended the post to what it should be - 32" scale.

It does have a bend-well.

Edited February 10 by hiram.k.hackenbacker

[TheLowDown]

I voted 34.

I find 35 a bit long to be comfy and don't find many real world improvement. While 30inch offers lots of advantages for ergonomics, I find that they're outweighed by the restricted availability of affordable strings, and they seem to tend to go out of tune much more quickly than 34 inch. Multiscale I don't seem to have got on with.

Edited February 10 by TheLowDown

[Merton]

30” or 32” for me. Anything bigger feels… bigger 😆

[Baloney Balderdash]

3 minutes ago, Merton said:

30” or 32” for me. Anything bigger feels… bigger 😆

But surely bigger is better, and makes you more of a real man! 

[miles'tone]

Loving my 30 3/4" Guild Starfire 1. Sounds great, lightweight and so easy to play. Fits me like a glove.

34" scale feels (to me) excessive and unnecessary now.

[Cato]

All my four stringers are 34s but since getting the Bass VI I've learned that shortscale can be a lot of fun.

 

I keep half thinking about getting a Squier Mustang to see how it goes but so far I've not taken the plunge.

[Lozz196]

20 minutes ago, Cato said:

All my four stringers are 34s but since getting the Bass VI I've learned that shortscale can be a lot of fun.

 

I keep half thinking about getting a Squier Mustang to see how it goes but so far I've not taken the plunge.

Do it, they’re great basses, I’ve got the CV60s one and have been quite knocked out by how good it is to play.

[eude]

You've missed out 31.5", which is my preference these days.

[eude]

3 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

But surely bigger is better, and makes you more of a real man! 

Bigger is bigger. That's the only certainty with this stuff...

[peteb]

I voted 34", which gets a decent string tension and just sounds better (I once had a 34.5" that was great as well). I also voted for a 35" scale for a five string or where you are tuning down more than a half step. 

 

[NancyJohnson]

I have little preference for scale length.  They're all as simple as each other to be honest. I've switched between 30/34/35 without issue.

 

Sure if I was five feet tall, a 35" scale bass would be problematic, but at 6'4" it's not a problem.

[Gasman]

I voted 30 and 34 as I take one of each to every gig. First set on the 30” HB to get the fingers and brain working properly and then hand it over to our guitarist for the last three numbers that I do on sax; he loves the shorty as it is ‘sweet on his left wrist ‘... hmm! I like it too, so easy to play but it’s passive so needs that boost pedal. Second set on the Bongo, it’s like changing from a Triumph Spitfire 1500 to a 7 litre AC Cobra, brutal, and I love it!

[Supernaut]

34" because short scales lose fundamental to my ears. 

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, Supernaut said:

34" because short scales lose fundamental to my ears. 

 

I'm surprised! It's generally accepted that short scale have less harmonic content and more thump.

[EliasMooseblaster]

Another one enforcing the 34" hegemony, I'm afraid - the majority of my bass guitars are all that scale length, but I've had a few exceptions over the years, and enjoyed all of them. Didn't realise my 8-string was a 30" scale until I got it home, but it's been a blessing in disguise: the "official" Hagstrom strings are nigh-on-impossible to come by, but because the design only allows through-body stringing, I can get them up to appropriate tension with a 34"-scale D'Addario set!

 

(The biggest shock was moving to a 35" fretless and realising my intonation was all over the shop...)

[Baloney Balderdash]

2 hours ago, Supernaut said:

34" because short scales lose fundamental to my ears. 

18 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I'm surprised! It's generally accepted that short scale have less harmonic content and more thump.

 

This would be correct, the short scale in general means less harmonic content and more emphasis on the fundamentals, not less.

 

Edited February 20 by Baloney Balderdash

[merello]

34.

when I go longer or shorter, the muscle memory is confused.

[dclaassen]

1 hour ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Another one enforcing the 34" hegemony, I'm afraid - the majority of my bass guitars are all that scale length, but I've had a few exceptions over the years, and enjoyed all of them. Didn't realise my 8-string was a 30" scale until I got it home, but it's been a blessing in disguise: the "official" Hagstrom strings are nigh-on-impossible to come by, but because the design only allows through-body stringing, I can get them up to appropriate tension with a 34"-scale D'Addario set!

 

(The biggest shock was moving to a 35" fretless and realising my intonation was all over the shop...)

It takes a while to get used to the longer scale fretless. After quite a bit of work, my intonation is kinda tolerable.

[Supernaut]

Didn't realise my opinion was taken has gospel. 😂

[jazzyvee]

I have 30.75", 34" and 35" and no difficulties switching between any. I do prefer a short scale 4 string bass.

[Stub Mandrel]

20 hours ago, jazzyvee said:

I have 30.75", 34" and 35" and no difficulties switching between any. I do prefer a short scale 4 string bass.

 

I wonder if those of us who play guitar, banjo, uke or upright are those who have fewer issues changing scsle length?

[Baloney Balderdash]

22 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I wonder if those of us who play guitar, banjo, uke or upright are those who have fewer issues changing scale length?

Well, I play 24.75" scale electric guitar, classical acoustic nylon string guitar, 30" scale Bass VI, 28.6" scale 4 and 5 string and 34" scale 4 string bass, and the only thing that really takes some time to adjust to when swapping instrument for me is the really tight/narrow string spacing of the Bass VI and my electric guitar.

 

But as said I do prefer 28.6" and 30" scale instruments, depending.

 

Edited February 21 by Baloney Balderdash

[MichaelDean]

5 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I wonder if those of us who play guitar, banjo, uke or upright are those who have fewer issues changing scsle length?

I think a lot of it is just how regularly you use those instruments and how much time you've dedicated to them. After starting at 34", I played my Mustang exclusively for years. I got to the point where I didn't think that I'd be able to manage a 34" scale bass again and convinced myself I had small hands (which I later realised is a lie as I take an L in gloves!). Now I'm using a 34"-37" Dingwall most often after an intermediate step of a 34" SBMM Sub Ray 5. I've also started playing 25.5" and 24.75" scale electric guitars more as a writing tool. If you keep them in rotation, it's all fine.