Also worth checking out the Aria Pro II CSB and TSB series, which are 820mm scale (32.28") with reverse-P pickups that are monsters!
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32" P-bass with jazz neck?
- Thread starter TexasThunder
- Start date
Another vote for a Lowe Conversion neck. It's great to have this option.
32" and 34" Warmoth's. Just to prove they exist 
The 32" weighs under 7 lbs, by the way.
way.
The 32" weighs under 7 lbs, by the way.
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Exactly. When you change scale lengths, it's not just a matter of sticking whatever fits in the pocket, it also has to be designed for that particular body w/r the bridge placement.
I am intrigued and would like to know more about these medium-scale 5 strings you mention...
Not a lot of them out there to choose from, and I’m certainly no expert, but I can tell you a little about mine:
- Muckelroy - I believe Brady Muckelroy builds the best medium-scale 5-string basses on the planet (32” and 33”). Killer B-string, and every instrument of his looks, feels and sounds spectacular. Not cheap, but dollar for dollar a truly great value! Owning one of his basses has seriously spoiled me. This HMC-5 Fretless is my all-time favorite bass:
- Bacchus - They make medium-scale 5’s (I think they are all 33” scale) in Japan and in the Philippines (under supervision of Japanese builders) at a variety of price points, mostly Jazz basses but I’ve seen a couple of P’s. I have only owned one of their Global Series models made in the Philippines (pic below), which was a lot of bass for the money, but I think their craft, team-built and custom instruments made in Japan are probably very impressive. This is the WL533 that I owned for a while:
- Warwick - You don’t see many or hear that much about them, but Warwick makes medium-scale 5’s (32”), even in the RB series. I’m not sure if they are importing them directly or not, so I’m not sure how easy it is to find new ones in the U.S., but used ones pop up frequently enough if you are looking for one. If you can find a used one, they can be a great deal. I just bought a Rockbass Corvette Basic from a fellow TB’er for under $400 (made in China with woods and hardware selected/supplied by Warwick Germany). I have only had it for a couple of weeks, but I’m pretty impressed with it so far. Very nice fit and finish and surprisingly good fretwork. It really sounds good and has a lot of tonal range, but it has a Aguilar preamp that the prior owner installed, so I can’t speak to the quality of the original preamp. FWIW, the prior owner had it refinished (I think they only come standard in gloss black or natural satin finish):
Hope that is somewhat helpful.
Mine just arrived. Tested it with a regular nylon strap, no dive whatsoever.
The neck is nice, thicker than I expected front to back from Ibanez, but still on the thin side. Fret work is nice, pearl seafoam green finish is gorgeous, and the super flat radius makes the neck a breeze to play. Pickups produce very usable and distinct tones all along the blend,and the eq is ok - I'd still rather have a passive tone instead of active eq, and a rosewood fingerboard (I'm having a little problem adapting to the lack of contrast between strings and board) but overall I'm very satisfied. It feels almost toylike after the big and clunky jbass, but the sound it produces has nothing toylike about it.
Can't wait to test it with the band in two week from now.
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Appreciate everyone's response. Right now I'm leaning toward ordering a body/neck from Warmoth and then doing the build/stain/finish/etc myself. I'm a hobbyist woodworker so I like the idea of a project like this.
I'm thinking an unfinished P-bass body and Jazz neck. After market Dimarzio pickups. Stained with an alchohol based blue-burst color and a black-pearl pick-guard.
I'm thinking an unfinished P-bass body and Jazz neck. After market Dimarzio pickups. Stained with an alchohol based blue-burst color and a black-pearl pick-guard.
Keep an eye on the Warmoth Screaming Deals section, if you're patient you can score a PBass body and a 32" jazz neck for cheap. Right now in "regular" stock you can find a short scale PBass alder body, unfinished, for $185, and a rosewood/maple unfinished 32" neck for $180, some patience might score you even better prices (or better/fancier woods - there's a 32" wenge/ebony neck in screaming deals right now
).
I'm really liking mine so far. Still feeling weird due to the difference in weight and ergonomics from my standard jbass, but really digging the tone. It's a bit shrill (might be the strings, still using factory ones), you definitely need to back off the treble a little for classic-y pbass tone. But it's great tone - I find I'm liking the PBass pickup by itself or maybe both centered, not really a fan of the bridge pickup sound in general, but then again I'm a mostly rock player, the Jaco bridge thing doesn't really fit 99% of what I play. It does produce a very tasty Jaco-ish tone from the bridge, fatter than expected.
I'll try to get something recorded to share, but can't make any promises - super busy for the next two weeks
On my 32" Mezzo: 10 inches from 12th fret to bass side pole pieces, 11 1/8" to the treble side pole pieces.
