Why are hollowbody bass usually short scale?

Gear
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Kind of a rant. I’m looking for a new bass. I’m into bluegrass/jam bands and have no aspiration of playing upright. I’ve been looking at hollowbody/semihollow bases.

Ideally I’d like a full 34" scale with a split coil p-style pickup in the p-position or a single humbucker/mfd pickup in the p-position. Rigged with flats.

The closest i can find is a Guild starfire 1. My hang up is the 30" scale and noisy electonics as per some reviews. I am also looking at ibanez afb 200 and lakland hollowbody 30. All short scales.

I read the epiphone Jack Cassidy is full scale but the build components seem less than ideal. I dont mind swapping strings but i dont want to swap bridges and or electronics on a new bass. I can live with the short scale if i have to.

PRS has a hollowbody shortscale with the pickup in the right spot but it $12k.

Id love something like this fender but most are frettless and this one is in Sweden. https://reverb.com/item/85575698-1990-fender-precision-bass-thinline-hollowbody-pbac-950-natural?bk=

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The Schecter Corsair is a nice 34" hollow body bass, and good quality

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That looks like a contender, thanks.

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it fits in a Jack Casady case btw - Schecter doesn’t make one

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Gretsch makes full-scale versions of theirs.

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Made, not makes.
Sadly they stopped making the best damn hollow body out there and instead opted to make a gaudy white/gold signature bass that’s very $$$.

Luckily for all, they can still be found used.

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7

Oh no!

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How about one of these?

“This model is designed for an acoustic sound. It aims to reproduce the rich resonance and upright bass tones from chambered bodies.”

I think they look fantastic in black,

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I love my Warwick Leland Sklar StarBass. It has Chambered body not semi hollow compared to the regular StarBass model. It’s 34" scale.

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If you are ready for a fretless The Ibanez semi hollow is not bad either.

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I think that bass is cool, i like the piezo idea. Id want to play that bass before i bought it.

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That warwick is really nice, probably too nice for me.

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You can get the RockBass version for about $1200 VS the German made $6000 or $11000 Masterbuilt. The regular StarBass is a bit less.

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Anderton’s in the UK has some in stock (mostly (or all) 5 string), fretted and fretless, natural and black.

Sire GB5 Fretless 5 string, natural finish

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Naturally, you should go and play one!

Ha! And only 10’miles / 16km from home :rofl:

Luckily, my GAS is pointing in another direction :joy:

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SP1 :man_shrugging: :sunglasses:

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Precisely :rofl:

Although, that’s going to take some time….!

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They are worth the wait! My SP1-4 showed up last week and my SP1-5 is due by the end of this month. :+1:

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The challenge I have is that I have (cough) basses, including a Dingwall already.

The CFO is unlikely to authorise the funds…especially as certain household cost have recently gone up as a result of tax changes in the U.K.

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