short scale basses

[fumblingfingers]

Hi Guys,

I do a bit of bass playing but I have pretty small hands, the span being 21 cm (8 inches in the colonies :-)).
I currently play a fender Jazz bass which has a scale length of 86.5 cm (34 inches). I have found playing in F on the lower frets somewhat difficult especially the 1st to 4th fret stretch so I am contemplating changing to a short scale bass, something like a Gibson SG, or Les Paul Jr bass. I was wondering if you guys have any experience of these.

I am also contemplating the purchase of a short scale 6 string guitar and have posted a similar message on the guitar forum....

Keep grooving,

Steve

[GaryCorby]

I looked into this for my daughter a few years ago, but am definitely not a bass player myself. So for what it's worth, what I discovered was...

The Gibson SG model seemed fine, but weirdly the Epiphone EB-3 played better. Maybe that was just me?

Being a Beatles fan, I must point out the Hofner 500/1.

The Chinese SX basses have a surprisingly happy fan base, but personally I thought the build quality was variable.

Since this is a jazz forum, I'll mention there's an Ibanez short-scale Artcore Bass.

But for really small hands, the 28.6" Ibanez GSRM20 (Mikro) seemed very decent indeed.

Caveat: You're on your own judging the quality of these things.

I'd be interested to know what you pick.

[robertm2000]

I'd take a look at building your own bass, with a short scale neck and matched body from Warmoth. They have a line of both 30" and 32" necks, and bodies to fit these. If you put together a bass this way you could get your choice of pickups and finishes.

[docbop]

Mainly use them for recording they get the big round Pop sound. If I remember my first good bass was a Guild and I think it was short scale and make of the old semi hollows like the Harmony, Framus, Hofner and others were short scale.

On bass a lot of it depends on your fingering you use. a lot of guitar player doubling on bass are trying to use guitar scale patterns and that get you into some stretching. If you try string bass fingerings they require less stretch, more moving around.

[cosmic gumbo]

My good friend is 5'4", is getting into his mid 60s and is a very active bass player, and has been thinking about switching from his Fender J bass and getting a 30" scale Mustang bass to cut back on weight and give his smaller hands a break.

[fumblingfingers]

Guys,

Thanks for your advice and considerable wisdom. I will report back once I have tried a few out....

Cheers,

Steve

[Greentone]

For the last 40 years, I have switched back and forth between a Fender bass and a short-scale Gibson Les Paul Bass like this one. The Gibson gets a terrific range of sounds, plays like proverbial butter, and has a 30.5" scale. Look around for one--they are really nice and graceful instruments.

[ronjazz]

Gretch has a nice little one for cheap, and the Hofner copies by Epi are short-scale as well. Wanna go really short? The new fretless Uke bass is only about 15" in scale, but sounds like a big upright p[lugged in, really excellent.

[Danny W.]

For the last 40 years, I have switched back and forth between a Fender bass and a short-scale Gibson Les Paul Bass like this one. The Gibson gets a terrific range of sounds, plays like proverbial butter, and has a 30.5" scale. Look around for one--they are really nice and graceful instruments.

I owned a Les Paul Triumph bass similar to that and agree with your assessment. Has an amazing range of useable sounds and a great neck for a guitar player.

Danny W.

[Whirly]

Anyone try the Kala U-Bass?

[Playerizor]

I played a Gibson EB-3 for years. It was what they now call the SG-Bass. I loved the short scale. It's a particularly good base for someone that switches back and forth from guitar to bass often.

[Greentone]

+1 on the EB-3. It was available in a long-scale model (Jack Bruce played one in Cream--I saw him, and it sounded great...even through Marshall amps), but I too thought the EB-3 in short scale was a great axe for a guitar player. I intended to get one back in the mid-70s when the Les Paul Triumph Bass came my way at an attractive price.

[mangotango]

My first guitar was a short scale EKO violin-style bass. I graduated from that to a Fender Musicmaster. Nowadays, I seem to have inherited my son's Squier Bronco bass (which is the Musicmaster in a different guise).

Short scale basses give big fat tones. Put on a set of black nylon tapewound strings and you get a perfectly acceptable double-bass imitation.

[AlohaJoe]

Anyone try the Kala U-Bass?

My wife has one. They're lightweight, easy to play and sound quite good with a decent bass amp. Acoustically they're worthless, but the new type strings are miles better (easy to slide on too) than the stretched-out silicone gummy bears on the Asbory bass from a few decades ago.

Short scale basses give big fat tones. Put on a set of black nylon tapewound strings and you get a perfectly acceptable double-bass imitation.

I love those strings. I have them on an ancient short-scale Fender Coronado and they do sound surprisingly acoustic.

[jazzbow]

Fender mustang bass is good for small hands and has a good tone. The pawn shop series one has a humbucker which would be better for 'Thump'. The original split single coil is more 'Dunn-der-dunn'.

[medblues]

I looked into this for my daughter a few years ago, but am definitely not a bass player myself. So for what it's worth, what I discovered was...

The Gibson SG model seemed fine, but weirdly the Epiphone EB-3 played better. Maybe that was just me?

Being a Beatles fan, I must point out the Hofner 500/1.

The Chinese SX basses have a surprisingly happy fan base, but personally I thought the build quality was variable.

Since this is a jazz forum, I'll mention there's an Ibanez short-scale Artcore Bass.

But for really small hands, the 28.6" Ibanez GSRM20 (Mikro) seemed very decent indeed.

Caveat: You're on your own judging the quality of these things.

I'd be interested to know what you pick.

I just bought the 5-string version of the Ibanez Mikro, I have decent hands (wear large size of most gloves) but I am attracted to the idea of keeping my fingerpicking guitar technique on the looser strings (at the expense of clarity and tone I guess)

[richb2]

Anyone try the Kala U-Bass?

My bass player uses one. We play bossa nova and it sounds fantastic!

[entresz]

I've got a Squier Bass VI that is set up with Labella flatwounds. It feels more like a big guitar than a bass. It sounds really good, I filled in for a bass player in a big band and used the Bass VI. The short scale, plus flatwounds give it less sustain and works great in a jazz context. The neck pickup sounds especially fat. The bridge pickup with the tone rolled off does a decent Fender Jazz 'burp' kind of sound (it's the only way I can describe it!). Only thing I don't like about it is that the bridge rattles. I'm considering ordering a Staytrem bridge for it that would fix that problem.

[jazzbow]

I've got a Squier Bass VI that is set up with Labella flatwounds. It feels more like a big guitar than a bass.

I tried one in a music shop and it rattled and buzzed. I can see that the flatwounds would help the buzz, the rattle is probably due to a very slight break angle over the bridge itself, a problem inherent in the Jazzmaster which Fender fixed by changing the cut in the neck pocket on their modern take of this body shape/configuration. I'm not sure on the Squier Bass VI. You could increase the angle by shiming the neck and so increasing the bridge height and therefore string break angle.

There's always this....

[acoustictones]

Do a search or Google Fender's JB62SS. It's a short scale Jazz Bass. Looks fantastic.

[Hammertone]

I say it's spinach and I say to hell with it.
Just go here:


OK, so that one is kind of hard to find. Brian Wheat has two of them. I have the third one. Just go here:

[medblues]

The Ibanez Mikro 5-string body felt ridiculous and intonation was difficult to impossible (both because of bridge and tuning machines) so I bought a bunch of upgrade hardware from Stewmac and I wrote to Steve Benford and who rebuilt my short scale bass with a single piece walnut body:

[P.J.]

Anyone try the Kala U-Bass?

I have had mine for about a month now and really love it. It's fun to play and sounds awesome. I have a full-scale bass with flats that is also fun to play but I definitely am loving the Kala these days. Great upright sound and you can take it anywhere. A worthwhile investment for sure.

[edh]

Being as the strings are of a "rubber" material, how well do they stay in tune?

[P.J.]

The strings need frequent tweaking. Luckily, the bass has a built-in tuner, so it isn't a problem. The strings are very susceptible to changes in temperature.