I have a really nice Fender J bass that I love, but I’m coming over from guitar and have small hands. Looking at short scale and they seem to be all over the place, 28.5", 30", 32", is there a standard size short scale or is it just all over the place like I’ve seen? Don’t know if my hand and fingers will ever get used to a full scale neck, but curious if getting a short scale is worth it and what scale I should look for? Don’t really have the money to buy a nice one, but don’t want to buy junk either. Any recommendations? I hope to get down to a GC soon to try some, and my LMS shows they only have one SS bass in stock, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not there when I show up but will probably give them a try.
Is the sound basically the same on a short scale, meaning even though its shorter, all the fretted notes sound the same and all the lessons I’ve learned on playing will apply?
Thanks in advance.
… and 32" will usually be classed as medium scale (source: first bass was medium scale, caused me confusion for my first ever string change ). That was a nice middle ground though I felt.
hey hip. as the guy that started that short love thread (and as a guy who’s main bass is a shorty) i can tell you that there are many reasons to want to play a short scale (and you can skim through the top of the thread to find them). small hands is not really one of them. almost everyone’s hands seem small when they first start to play, it’s lots of awkward stretchy movements. and i’m sure you’re aware of all the cute 8 year old bass players on youtube who are just killing it on full scale basses, and your hands are definitely bigger than that (i hope). here’s ellen playing a bunch of different basses.
but yeah, they are fun to play. i have basses in almost every scale available, from full scale, med scale, short scale and ukelele at all price points. i love them all, there isn’t “one standard size” short scale (I mean, sure, most people call 30" short scale but there’s a bunch of different scales obviously). for sure try one if you can and see if you like it, some people feel cramped on the smaller fretboard.
I’m like itsratso, my main bass is a short scale (and a low priced one at that - Ibanez Talman TMB30.). I love it to pieces for many reasons other than the short scale (30"). It’s fun to play, it sounds just right to me, it weighs less, it’s passive, I could go on…
The short scale will sound fatter in the lows and be softer with a more mellow attack.
The scale of the frets really makes no difference to me now, I’ve played so many full scale basses in the past and I have absolutely no problem switching between short, medium, or normal scale bases. Switching from 5 string back to 4 (then reverse that!) is a much harder switch in my world. I got used to playing lines using that 5 string because it was handy, so I had to relearn hand positions of songs I already knew!
@HIPCHIP sorry for double post but I forgot to mention that there really is no way to get the sense of scaling of a guitar on a bass without losing something. To get closest to the scaling of a guitar you’d need to get a micro scale bass. 28.5" They sound even bassier than short scales and have less high end “pop.” Even at that scale they are still around 3 inches longer than a Fender Stratocaster. So there is no direct similarity in scales between bass and guitar.
That said you could do what Noel Redding did in Jimi Hendrix’s Born Under a Bad Sign. He played a guitar tuned down when they were jamming with it in the studio. Billy Cox then played the bass on the recordings. So, you “could” use a guitar tuned down as a “bass” and/or throw in an octaver to get that bass-ish sound. Then you would literally be in guitar scaling.
There’s also something to be said for how even a longer scale bass will hang on your body. A long scale SG type bass feels 9 miles long if you hold it like a fender, a whole other conversation, and a jazz bass will feel different than, say a stingray. Even with the same scale they feel like there’s a 2 foot difference in length.
My son’s Ibanez Mikro is sitting here next to my telecaster guitar and tip to tail the two are the same physical length albeit the string scales are different. Gotta pick it up and feel it. Or buy one of each. I’m fond of that process but it’s a selfish fondness.
). That was a nice middle ground though I felt.
