Question for the ladies only please!

[Solarmist]

Luna makes basses marketed for women, but I purchased one anyway (Andromeda) because I liked the color. It only weighed 7lbs, and the neck was nearly identical to Ibby SR. The mono bridge pieces were real cheap, and the bass had no highs or lows with the J-MM pu's. I would have kept it if it sounded better.

[Solarmist]

EagleMoon - I like your new avatar ... reminds me of the 1st one you had.

[EagleMoon]

Originally Posted by Solarmist

EagleMoon - I like your new avatar ... reminds me of the 1st one you had.

Wow, you can remember that far back? I don't even remember that.

[Lady Kayri]

Well, I have fairly long fingers and am on the tall side for a woman (5' 8") so scale doesn't bother me too much, but I have tendonitus which means I need a fairly light bass. That said, I have seven basses in a variety of makes and styles. Fender, P and a J, both 4-string, three Ibbys (SR 400, 405, 375 - one four string, two five with the 375 being a fretless) and two Dingwalls, a Combustion and an Afterburner II. My favorite is the Afterburner. All of them have fairly thin narrow necks and are light weight. There have been a few basses I like the sound / tone of, like a used Traben I tried out, but they weighed too much to be really comfortable, even with a wide strap.

[BFunk]

(Please excuse this response from a man.) I find that getting the right strap and positioning the bass correctly can make playing much more comfortable. In general wearing the bass high so that it rests more on the chest than the stomach helps. (At least for us guys.) Is that something women do to?

[mellowinman]

[Buslady7803]

I have a Warwick corvette. 4 strings cos that's all I need. I dunno spacing. I like a bass with weight and substance, and growl.

[Mekanamom]

Originally Posted by Evil Undead

I'm wanting to know what kind of bass you feel most comfortable playing.

The info I'm interested in is brand/model, scale length, number of strings, string spacing, etc.

I just want to get a feel for what type of basses women feel suit them best.

Thanks for your time

Yeah, I think responses will be all over the spectrum... Lots of variation!

I'm pretty average... 5'5"

I DO find that how the bass balances on the strap makes more of a difference in playing comfort than scale length. (Lol, how high one can wear a bass is going to vary from person to person. ) That said, I do play short scales... Just like 'em. Birdsong Hy5 is the best bass I've ever owned and I love everything about it. It's the only bass I have not felt the need to modify in any way. It gets plugged straight into the amp, no effects.

So for me... 5 string, short/almost medium scale (31"), excellent balance. I'm not sure exactly how much it weighs, because how heavy it is doesn't matter as much (to me) when it balances well. Um, I think string spacing is 17mm. And it just naturally sounds great on its own.

Right now I'm playing my backup Brice, while waiting for a new varitone to be installed in the Birdsong. It's not quite as comfortable even though it also has 5 strings, great balance, and has an even shorter scale (30") and closer string spacing (16mm). I like it a lot but paying more attention to the mods it needs... I think maybe replacing the electronics is up next once my main bass is back. To compensate for its lack of... Robust electronics, lol... I'm playing through a Zoom B3, which has been pretty entertaining! Dialing in a tone I like on it is both fun and frustrating at the same time.

So all that really says is finding a bass that both sounds and feels good is completely subjective, which is not that much help! (I can say without hesitation that Birdsong is excellent overall, though.)

Oh... Just throwing this out there... I've found that playing my daughter's 34" 5 string MTD, and a friend's 34" 4 string Ibanez both felt fine. Both balance well and the necks felt great. The asymmetrical MTD neck is pretty neat!

[GeoffByrne]

To the OP:

Not quite the reaction you got in our other hangout, is it?

G.

[Evil Undead]

Originally Posted by GeoffByrne

To the OP:

Not quite the reaction you got in our other hangout, is it?

G.

No. I was a little disappointed by that.

[Modern Growl]

Tal plays a light weight J bass made by Sadowsky

[thiocyclist]

Originally Posted by Evil Undead

After playing a million basses (ok, slight exaggeration) I can't seem to find one that I feel best with. So I want to see what other women play, and maybe try those out.

It may be worth remembering this site is full of men arguing about how this bass is great or sucks, that bass is great or sucks, your bass sucks mine is great and so on. There's not a lot of consensus ("YMMV" is peppered throughout these threads). I think you'll be best served by listening to your body and mind, not the peanut gallery (female or not).

[BFunk]

I am going to take a wild guess and assume she already knows that.

[Jean Baudin]

My wife is 5'6" and does fine on a Ernie Ball Stingray 5.

[inthevelvet]

I'm not a girl, but a good friend of mine is a 5'2" 110lb soaking wet member of the fairer sex and rocks a heavy 5 string P-Bass like nobody's business. All a matter of individual taste I guess, cause as an above average size guy, I like very thin jazz necks with low action on a very light bass.

[thiocyclist]

Originally Posted by BFunk

I am going to take a wild guess and assume she already knows that.

Perhaps but maybe the meaning of it hasn't soaked in yet? I get the same impression every time I see these threads where someone is asks TB, "Hey, bunch of strangers, tell me what bass to get!" Everyone here comes with opinions pre-loaded and rarely any real-life experience with the specific bass(es) the OP is curious about (the actual wood and metal the OP wants to go buy, not the generalized model) so why these posters think they should cede judgement to a bunch of people on the innernetz makes no sense to me and, frankly, I think leads to bad decisions they will later regret.

[BFunk]

Well thank goodness upstanding citizens such as yourself are around to remind us that we can think for ourselves. Keep up the good work.

[amablkm]

Originally Posted by thiocyclist

Perhaps but maybe the meaning of it hasn't soaked in yet? I get the same impression every time I see these threads where someone is asks TB, "Hey, bunch of strangers, tell me what bass to get!" Everyone here comes with opinions pre-loaded and rarely any real-life experience with the specific bass(es) the OP is curious about (the actual wood and metal the OP wants to go buy, not the generalized model) so why these posters think they should cede judgement to a bunch of people on the innernetz makes no sense to me and, frankly, I think leads to bad decisions they will later regret.

I for one enjoy it for one reason. I become aware of brands I may never have come across. I've never heard of Birdsong before but will definitely check them out the next time I head to San Antonio.

[Evil Undead]

Originally Posted by thiocyclist

Perhaps but maybe the meaning of it hasn't soaked in yet? I get the same impression every time I see these threads where someone is asks TB, "Hey, bunch of strangers, tell me what bass to get!" Everyone here comes with opinions pre-loaded and rarely any real-life experience with the specific bass(es) the OP is curious about (the actual wood and metal the OP wants to go buy, not the generalized model) so why these posters think they should cede judgement to a bunch of people on the innernetz makes no sense to me and, frankly, I think leads to bad decisions they will later regret.

What about my OP made you think I was asking what bass I should buy?

I don't believe that was my question at all.

[smcd]

Originally Posted by DandersonCooper

She was seconds away from swinging that Les Paul into his face (her main axes were in fact vintage les pauls). Her rage carried on for several days.

That girl has serious mental problems.