Short scale bass..

[ding_man]

So I accquired a rickety yet very interesting bass to learn to fix, modify, and repair the things. Since I'd rather not risk my Fender..

Its SG looking.. its had stuff done to it before.. the bridge isnt original and the pickguard has holes in it where stuff apparently used to be. The music store guy thinks they took a guitar body and put bass stuff on it. I got it rewired and had some random guitar pickup put on it so I would have somewhere to start..

But its short scale.. is this going to hinder my learning experiences? Am I not going to be able to buy things for it? Thanks for all input.

[GlennW]

The biggest problem will likely be getting strings, but with the www it's better than ever - you can actually choose what you get instead of having to settle for what some store has. One more thing - a lot of www string places don't like returns, so you'll need to know if the strings you order will be long enough concerning the distance from the ball end to the nut. IOW, not all short scale string sets fit all short scale basses, you might need medium scale, it varies with manufacturers.

[202dy]

Originally Posted by ding_man

But its short scale.. is this going to hinder my learning experiences? Am I not going to be able to buy things for it? Thanks for all input.

Scale length doesn't mean a whole lot excepting when repositioning a bridge. That brings up a lot of questions. What is the scale length? If you don't know, measure the distance from the nut to the twelfth fret and double the number. It would also help if you have a brand name and a model. As far as your learning experiences, if you're talking about playing and learning then the answer is no. Playing will be more or less the same with the difference being left hand stretches. If you're talking about learning repair, then the answer is no again. Repair basics and techniques are the same for basses short and long. Which brings up the point of whether or not this instrument was born a bass or a guitar. That can be clarified with your scale measurement.

[ding_man]

Originally Posted by 202dy

Scale length doesn't mean a whole lot excepting when repositioning a bridge. That brings up a lot of questions. What is the scale length? If you don't know, measure the distance from the nut to the twelfth fret and double the number. It would also help if you have a brand name and a model. As far as your learning experiences, if you're talking about playing and learning then the answer is no. Playing will be more or less the same with the difference being left hand stretches. If you're talking about learning repair, then the answer is no again. Repair basics and techniques are the same for basses short and long. Which brings up the point of whether or not this instrument was born a bass or a guitar. That can be clarified with your scale measurement.

I'm talking strictly learning repair. Thanks you cleared up a lot.