Normal vs Multi-scale bass

I have the Ibanez SRMS-805 multiscale.

This means that the B string is a bit longer at 35" scale length. This is supposed to be enough to make that string sound “better.” Plenty of people say they don’t care about the difference if there is any. I’ll leave that up to your ears. Also, some people prefer short scale 30" basses to 34" basses for the same set of notes on each, so there’s a pretty wide range of possibility and preference there.

In actual practice the fanned frets aren’t that much harder to play. The ones in the center are straight. The low strings up by the head you can see. The only change is that you have to cheat the high (pitched) string fretting toward the bridge a bit due to the fanning. If you forget, you end up fretting in the middle of the fret anyway, so it isn’t such a disaster (if you were pressing hard enough for a middle fret position).

The bigger difference for me is the added scale length. The difference between a 34" scale and a 35" scale length for my hand size means I have to microshift a lot more on this bass compared to my other.

I like playing it because I think the concept is cool and I like the look of something unusual. If I didn’t have it, I don’t think I’d really miss the fanned fret part as far as tone goes.

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