• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Let's catalog all 28" scale basses

SBassman

SBassman

Jun 8, 2003
9,789
3,350
Northeast, US
#1
Lots of us are having tons of fun with the Squier Mini P in this thread:
The Squier Mini Precision Bass Club

I thought it might be helpful to catalog all the 28"ish scale basses. I'm aware of these:

- Ibanez Mikro
- Squier Mini P
- Jackson JS1X Concert
- Fender Precision Jr. - no longer in production

If you know of others, let's get them listed here.

Would love to find 28.6" scale acoustic basses, but I don't think any exist on the planet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MakoMan, NoiseNinja, Volker Kirstein and 2 others
#2
SBassman said:
Lots of us are having tons of fun with the Squier Mini P in this thread:
The Squier Mini Precision Bass Club

I thought it might be helpful to catalog all the 28"ish scale basses. I'm aware of these:

- Ibanez Mikro
- Squier Mini P
- Jackson JS1X Concert
- Fender Precision Jr. - no longer in production

If you know of others, let's get them listed here.

Would love to find 28.6" scale acoustic basses, but I don't think any exist on the planet.
Click to expand...

I found the ESP LTD B-4 JR on Thomann website.
They state 723 millimeters scale length which is around 28,5 inches.

Here is the link:
ESP LTD B-4 JR – Thomann Italia
 
  • Like
Reactions: HaphAsSard, NoiseNinja and DavesnothereCA
#3
SBassman said:
Lots of us are having tons of fun with the Squier Mini P in this thread:
The Squier Mini Precision Bass Club

I thought it might be helpful to catalog all the 28"ish scale basses. I'm aware of these:

- Ibanez Mikro
- Squier Mini P
- Jackson JS1X Concert
- Fender Precision Jr. - no longer in production

If you know of others, let's get them listed here.

Would love to find 28.6" scale acoustic basses, but I don't think any exist on the planet.
Click to expand...
~
Not a bad idea.

Who knows, it might turn into another club thread. :)

AFAIK the Jackson bass is aka the Minion.
~
 
#4
Shorty3 said:
I found the ESP LTD B-4 JR on Thomann website.
They state 723 millimeters scale length which is around 28,5 inches.

Here is the link : ESP LTD B-4 JR – Thomann Italia
Click to expand...
~
Interesting.

Somebody mentioned that ESP made a 28.x" bass a few days ago [in the Squier Mini-P thread, IIRC], when we were discussing strings, but did not mention the model number.

I did some searching and found that it was the model which you posted.

However, no stores which came up in my searches had them in stock, and they looked to have been discontinued.

Yet Thomann seems to have some in stock.

That all said, the ESP looks to have a narrow nut width of 38mm, so I will not be into buying one.

And Thomann also seems to have recently done a makeover on their site, since the last occasion that I spent some time there.

Pages are laid out differently.
~
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Shorty3
#5
SBassman said:
Lots of us are having tons of fun with the Squier Mini P in this thread:
The Squier Mini Precision Bass Club

I thought it might be helpful to catalog all the 28"ish scale basses. I'm aware of these:

- Ibanez Mikro
- Squier Mini P
- Jackson JS1X Concert
- Fender Precision Jr. - no longer in production

If you know of others, let's get them listed here.

Would love to find 28.6" scale acoustic basses, but I don't think any exist on the planet.
Click to expand...
~
I think that the original Hofner Shorty bass [from the 80s] had a 28.x" scale.

The current production reissue of those is 30".
~
 
  • Like
Reactions: HaphAsSard
#7
SBassman said:
Lots of us are having tons of fun with the Squier Mini P in this thread:
The Squier Mini Precision Bass Club

I thought it might be helpful to catalog all the 28"ish scale basses. I'm aware of these:

- Ibanez Mikro
- Squier Mini P
- Jackson JS1X Concert
- Fender Precision Jr. - no longer in production

If you know of others, let's get them listed here.

Would love to find 28.6" scale acoustic basses, but I don't think any exist on the planet.
Click to expand...
~
YOU must know about THIS thread :

Sub-Short Scale Talk | TalkBass.com

A day or two ago, in the Mini-P thread, I mentioned seeing such a thread.

I just found it again, and it covers basses with even shorter scales, but there might also be some 28.x" basses mentioned in it.

BTW, 28.6" was apparently aka Baritone guitar scale.
~
 
  • Like
Reactions: B-Mac and SBassman
#8
DavesnothereCA said:
~That all said, the ESP looks to have a narrow nut width of 38mm, so I will not be looking into them further.~
Click to expand...

They all do, except for the Mini P, which I believe is 41mm.

--

Also it might be worth mentioning that Ibanez makes a 5 string Mikro Bass, the GSRM25, as well with a 28,6" scale, where the 4 strings are GSRM20, or GSRM20B for different finishes with black hardware, just like the 4 string.

And that ESP used to make a 5 string version of their LTD B-4 JR, I believe called the LTD B-5 JR, now out of production.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Shorty3
#9
NoiseNinja said:
They all do, except for the Mini P, which I believe is 41mm.
Click to expand...
~
Nope, also 38mm.

Fender originally published the wrong figure, and most retailers copied without checking, but it has been changed now on the Fender site, and on Sweetwater.

SW changed first, because I contacted them and asked them to check their stock, after several folks in the Mini-P Club thread had checked and found it to be 38.

SW likely nudged Fender about the error.
~
 
Last edited:
#10
DavesnothereCA said:
~
Nope, also 38mm.

Fender originally published the wrong figure, and most retailers copied without checking, but it has been changed now on the Fender site, and on Sweetwater.

SW changed first, because I contacted them and asked them to check their stock, after several folks in the Mini-P Club thread had checked and found it to be 38.

SW likely nudged Fender about the error.
~
Click to expand...

You can buy a 5 string Mikro then, it got a 45mm nut, and just take off one string. ;) :thumbsup:

:woot:
 
  • Like
Reactions: DavesnothereCA
#11
DavesnothereCA said:
~BTW, 28.6" was apparently aka Baritone guitar scale.~
Click to expand...

By far most baritone guitars will have a straight either 27" or 28" scale, though there are some manufactures that uses different scale measures from those 2 most common, at least I know there are a few 30" scale baritone guitars on the market as well.

The Warmoth baritone conversion necks are the only one I know of that utilizes a 28,6" scale (or technically to be exact 28 5/8", but as close as it gets).
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: DavesnothereCA
#12
NoiseNinja said:
You can buy a 5 string Mikro then, it got a 45mm nut, and just take off one string. ;) :thumbsup:

:woot:
Click to expand...
~
Don't laugh !

I HAVE thought about doing something like that, converting a short scale 5 string into a 4.

However, there ARE other 30" scale basses with somewhat wider necks at the nut [30" is short enough for me], and I have accumulated a few.

Hofner, Gibson, Jay Turser.

And I may get a Harley Benton as well, and maybe a Bronco or one of certain Mustang models.
~
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: NoiseNinja
#13
NoiseNinja said:
By far most baritone guitars will have a straight either 27" or 28" scale, though will use different scale measures from those 2 most common, I know there are a few 30" scale baritone guitars on the market as well.

The Warmoth baritone conversion necks are the only one I know of that utilizes a 28,6" scale (or technically to be exact 28 5/8", but as close as it gets).
Click to expand...
~
That might be where I saw the reference.

Though I think that there was also a Squier baritone model in that length, unless I'm dreaming.

And I might be. :bag:

EDIT :

Yeah, fast asleep ! :sleep:

Squier baritone - Bing

It is 30", the baritone Squier.
~
 
Last edited:
#14
DavesnothereCA said:
~
That might be where I saw the reference.

Though I think that there was also a Squier baritone model in that length, unless I'm dreaming.

And I might be. :bag:

EDIT :

Yeah, fast asleep ! :sleep:

Squier baritone - Bing

It is 30", the baritone Squier.
~
Click to expand...

You could also build your own 28,6" scale bass with wider nut (42mm as far as I recall) using Warmoth baritone parts (as said actually 28 5/8" scale to be exact).

I did once, and it actually sounded truly amazing, very clear and articulated, something somewhat piano like over it's tone, with a Seymour Duncan Rickenbacker neck pickup replacement pickup in the neck position and a Strat guitar Hot Rails humbucker pickup in the bridge position.

Unfortunately I was stupid enough to sell it, which I much regret.

Looked like this (I designed the headstock myself, but might have gone a little overboard there :woot: (I actually genuinely really like the design, it just doesn't fit that bass at all, and it should have been scaled down, being way too big as is)) :
Warmoth-28-5-8-bass-small.jpg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: tutubass, Cullen G, Inara and 4 others
#17
DavesnothereCA said:
~
That might be where I saw the reference.

Though I think that there was also a Squier baritone model in that length, unless I'm dreaming.

And I might be. :bag:

EDIT :

Yeah, fast asleep ! :sleep:

Squier baritone - Bing

It is 30", the baritone Squier.
~
Click to expand...
I also remembered that Jazzmaster 30" but also other, shorter-scale Fender baritones, specifically one or two Tele models, but it turns out most/all of them are/were 27" (Custom Shop Baja Sexto, Blacktop Telecaster Baritone, Paranormal Baritone Cabronita Telecaster).
One exception was the CIJ, hilariously-named Jaguar Bottom Master, and its export versions Jaguar Baritone Custom/Jaguar Bass VI Custom
Fender Jaguar Baritone Custom - Wikipedia
which were 28.5" all-right. However, they came tuned E-e like olden- and present-day Bass VI models.
Not to be confused with the Jaguar Baritone Special HH, which was 27".
[Sigh. The usual designation mess...]
 
  • Like
Reactions: DavesnothereCA
#20
DavesnothereCA said:
~
YOU must know about THIS thread :

Sub-Short Scale Talk | TalkBass.com

A day or two ago, in the Mini-P thread, I mentioned seeing such a thread.

I just found it again, and it covers basses with even shorter scales, but there might also be some 28.x" basses mentioned in it.

BTW, 28.6" was apparently aka Baritone guitar scale.
~
Click to expand...

Umm, I Created that thread. :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: pcake, Nuage420 and DavesnothereCA

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back