Are short scale basses really as bad as they say?

[JoeEvans]

My short scale ACG is an absolute beast and amazing to play,so I can confirm that there's at least one good short scale bass in the world. 

[meterman]

I love short scale basses. But I also love my Jazz bass. Different basses for different jobs, at least for me.

 

Also, to the OP - that looks like a brilliant Mustang you’ve got there and I hope it serves you well. And if anyone ever tells you they’re no good, just remind them of the multi-million selling artists that made big hit records or hugely influential ones with them, like the usual suspects: The Beatles (and Paul McCartney solo) Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Talking Heads, The Kinks, XTC, Average White Band, CAN, Sly Stone, Wilco, The Damned, Traffic, Serge Gainsbourg, Black Keys, Medeski Martin & Wood, Sonic Youth, Adam Yauch (Beastie Boys), Pearl Jam, etc... loads of bands use them, otherwise Fender and all the other companies wouldn’t have them in their current ranges. 

[medpb]

Just got one, a mij one & it’s one of the greatest basses I’ve ever owned.

So creative, the bass ideas are flying out of it. You end up doing stuff on them that you wouldn’t necessarily do on a full size bass. Why I never had one years ago I don’t know. Total convert !

[bassbiscuits]

Opinions are like a..holes. Everyone’s got one.

 
No doubt some people don’t like short scale basses, but plenty of people (including me) can get perfectly good sounds out of them and enjoy the variety of having something different. 

[Cheeto726]

16 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Here you go:

 

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/435365-the-short-scale-bass-appreciation-society/#comments

 

Lots of us like them. I have a couple, and I think they are great.

Thanks! I was looking for this thread! 

[Cheeto726]

17 hours ago, Happy Jack said:

 

There are a lot of brain-dead clowns on the internet ... sounds like you've stumbled across a few. As to the hopeless failed musicians who can't find a better job than working in music stores, don't get me started.

 

Start by Googling famous bass players who used short-scale basses, then try to convince yourself that Paul McCartney would voluntarily play a POS instrument. Good luck with that. 

 

In anything to do with music you should always ignore the opinions of others (including mine, of course) and try using your ears. Even when they're the opinions of experienced musicians who you respect, ignore them - they aren't you and they don't hear what you hear.

 

If you like the sound of a bass and the way it plays, then how much you paid for it, what it says on the headstock, what the scale length is, whether it's active or passive, uses flats or rounds, all that stuff is largely irrelevant. What matters is that you're playing it and you like it.

 

If you play with others (in a band, jamming, whatever) then do remember that nobody else in the room gives a damn what you're playing. "It's just a bass, right?"

 

I just had a small jam session with some coworkers and they didn't notice any difference as far as sound. If anything, it sounded better and "bigger" lol

[Cheeto726]

10 hours ago, Velarian said:

This is worth a watch (some of the criticisms are deliberately tongue in cheek). 
 

 

This was one of the first videos I saw when I typed in short scale basses. I love watching these two and you can tell one of them does not like short scales lol

[Roger Phillips]

What! No mention of Gibson's famous short-scale basses. I've three EB-3s, a couple of which are now for sale, not because I don't like them, I love them, but in my later years I wish downsize- don't want them ending up in my estate.

I'm a Gibson person (got some Thunderbird "76"s too), but like all Fender aficionados- they'll have Gibsons, I've got a 1967 Fender Jazz in my arsenal.

Roger

[ped]

They often get pigeon holed as 'dead' and 'muddy' or lacking sustain, clarity - not always detrimentally. However I have found that my Mustang with rounds sounds super 'alive', piano-like, with tremendous clarity and punch. I sold a Celinder J-Update because of how much I like mine. They're cool. I think the neck on mine is fantastic, and although the lighter weight is welcome on my (perfectly fine) left shoulder, my right shoulder does have some nerve damage and I think the smaller body and hand position is more comfortable.

[police squad]

14 minutes ago, Roger Phillips said:

What! No mention of Gibson's famous short-scale basses. I've three EB-3s, a couple of which are now for sale, not because I don't like them, I love them, but in my later years I wish downsize- don't want them ending up in my estate.

I'm a Gibson person (got some Thunderbird "76"s too), but like all Fender aficionados- they'll have Gibsons, I've got a 1967 Fender Jazz in my arsenal.

Roger

I once had an EB0. I'd forgotten about that one

 Did a few gigs with it but I still didn't quite understand about basses. I'd love to try it now with my current set up. I bet it would sound marvellous

[miles'tone]

I'm really loving my recently acquired Hofner Ignition violin bass. It's funny, all the short comings I kind of expected to encounter with it have actually turned out to be what I like about it most.

The thick, slim and hardly tapered neck is a dream and the body shape proved not to be uncomfortable at all, in fact it's the most ergonomically correct bass, for me, that I've played. Light as a feather but sounds so heavy.

I've got the intonation spot on too btw. 

I always have a big grin when I play it, great fun.

 

Edited May 1 by miles'tone

[Belka]

19 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Who says that?

 

I mean anyone who would would kind of not be up to date with the development for the last 10 years or so.

 

Also I don't think Stanley Clarke would play one as his main if they were (though of course that is an Alembic, still however a short scale bass).

 

I agree, to me it seems like in the last 15 or so years short and medium scales have never been more popular. I've not heard any bassist/musician of note say anything disparaging about them at all. Perhaps you do get some negativity from some clueless music shop workers, and there are still a load of stupid myths about instruments that have been doing the rounds for years, but short scales seem to be an essential for a lot of today's top session players  to have in their arsenal. 

 

[Marc S]

I have a Mex P/J Mustang which is a damn good bass. My Danelectro Longhorn though......
I'm playing it all the time. I absolutely love the weight, balance, feel and sound of it. I'm mostly gigging my shortscales now. 
I haven't even picked up my beloved Fiesta Red Fender P for a while.

[Mykesbass]

10 hours ago, Cheeto726 said:

This was one of the first videos I saw when I typed in short scale basses. I love watching these two and you can tell one of them does not like short scales lol

Poor take by Scott. I'm not a Scott hater, and think he does a great job of promoting his brand, and bass in general. But I think it's a shame he uses his platform here with no regard to the damage he could be causing (proven by the need for this thread). 

I'm a 34" scale player with gas for a Nordy Acinonyx.

[tobiewharton]

Check out Scott Whitley's online content - he's a big exponent of short scales. 

[SamIAm]

I play short (well sub short) scale bases and love them. They are

• Kala fretless 5er ubass at 23 in which has a lovely thumpy sound in the upright space
• Ibanez GSRM25 28.6 in 5er which is my fav, the low B needs a delicate touch but sounds good
• Ibanez GSRM20 28.6 in 4er ... not used as much but as the spacing is wider then my 5er I am using it to try to learn slap

 

Soundwise I'm happy with them all.

The big benefits for me are less stress/strain on my fretting hand and lighter weight and a slightly lower chance of putting someone's eye out with my headstock lol.  Only drawback is trying to find suitable strings for the two Ibbys.

 

Sam x

Edited May 1 by SamIAm

[Mykesbass]

36 minutes ago, SamIAm said:

Only drawback is trying to find suitable strings for the two Ibbys.

 

Sam x

Have you tried Newtone Strings? Lots of folk on here rate them highly (I've only used them for guitar), and they will make custom sizes.

[SamIAm]

12 minutes ago, Mykesbass said:

Have you tried Newtone Strings? Lots of folk on here rate them highly (I've only used them for guitar), and they will make custom sizes.

Thank @Mykesbass, I've not tried them yet, but I am likely to.  Ideally I'd like flatwounds which sadly they do not do; I did attempt something to use longer flats with a mechanism a bit like that used for fixing strings in a headless setup, but it only resulted in a decent set of strings being trashed

 

Sam x

[nikon F]

21 hours ago, Roger Phillips said:

What! No mention of Gibson's famous short-scale basses. I've three EB-3s, a couple of which are now for sale, not because I don't like them, I love them, but in my later years I wish downsize- don't want them ending up in my estate.

I'm a Gibson person (got some Thunderbird "76"s too), but like all Fender aficionados- they'll have Gibsons, I've got a 1967 Fender Jazz in my arsenal.

Roger

nope no mention of gibsons,,,apart from when they show a clip of Jack Bruce playing a Gibson eb 3 😁

[chyc]

On 30/04/2024 at 13:05, Ashborygirl said:

The Nordy Acinonyx is the most impressive new bass I've played in 40 years.    It's short scale.

With a name like "Ashborygirl", I think it's a given you like short scale basses

 

[JoeEvans]

In all honesty, I think if you set up a proper blind test, very, very few people - perhaps none - could reliably guess scale length, make, model, body wood and fretboard wood for a set of basses. So much of the tone depends on pickups, electronics, amp type and amp settings.

[martthebass]

24 minutes ago, JoeEvans said:

In all honesty, I think if you set up a proper blind test, very, very few people - perhaps none - could reliably guess scale length, make, model, body wood and fretboard wood for a set of basses. So much of the tone depends on pickups, electronics, amp type and amp settings.

I've found string choice is also a big factor.  I go thicker on shorties over my long scales to get a higher tension and more definition.  On longscale I'm usually 40-100 and on shorty 50 - 105.

[JoeEvans]

Yes, definitely strings too, they make a huge difference.

[Baloney Balderdash]

17 hours ago, SamIAm said:

I play short (well sub short) scale bases and love them. They are

• Kala fretless 5er ubass at 23 in which has a lovely thumpy sound in the upright space
• Ibanez GSRM25 28.6 in 5er which is my fav, the low B needs a delicate touch but sounds good
• Ibanez GSRM20 28.6 in 4er ... not used as much but as the spacing is wider then my 5er I am using it to try to learn slap

 

Soundwise I'm happy with them all.

The big benefits for me are less stress/strain on my fretting hand and lighter weight and a slightly lower chance of putting someone's eye out with my headstock lol.  Only drawback is trying to find suitable strings for the two Ibbys.

 

Sam x

I love my 4 and 5 string Ibanez Mikro Basses as well.

 

The 5 string being my current main instrument of choice, though strung with guitar strings (gauge: .080 - .062 - .046 - .036 - .026) and tuned to G standard tuning, as in 3 half steps above the upper 5 strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning.

 

Really using it more so as a 5 string Bass VI type instrument with wider string spacing, rather than a traditional bass.

 

And the stock bridge J pickup sounds pretty damn amazing, rather growley, really dynamically sensitive, covering a quite broad frequency spectrum, and is surprisingly quiet for a single coil as well, with no hum to speak of.

 

Also perfectly leveled frets from stock.

 

I got just ever so slightly below 2mm string action on the low G string at last fret, with no fret buzz whatsoever anywhere on the fretboard, and seems like I could go even lower if I really wanted to.

 

Also sustain for days.

 

Simply astonishing value for the money.

 

Edited May 2 by Baloney Balderdash

[jazzyvee]

 

I've been using a short scale 30.75" 4 string bass since 2002 and prefer it to a long scale 4 string.

In terms of 4 stringers, I personally don't see or notice any disadvantage sonically or playability of a short scale bass over a long scale one. 

The long and short of it is, that, In the end we all use whatever suits us. 🙂