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34" vs 35" scale. Can anyone really tell the difference?

#122
I've got 34 and 35" instruments. I can definitely tell the difference in feel, but it's not really a bother to me.

So, to answer the OP's basic question... yes, some of us can tell the difference.

How the difference might affect someone is purely individual, so I can see someone having a preference for one or the other as perfectly valid.
 
#125
I can’t figure out why, after 7 pages of responses, I feel compelled to respond, but why not, I guess…

I own 35” Mike Lulls and a 34” Stingray. All 5-strings. I can pick up one or the other and honestly, not notice the difference in playing them. I do notice the weight of that Stingray, but nothing unusual there.

Do I think 35”s sound better? How would I know? There’s not many similarities in the tone of a P-style bass, a Jazz-style bass and a Stingray-style bass. To determine if one sounded better. I’d have to have an identical pair of basses except for one being a 34” and one being a 35”. I do not have that. Nor do I intend to.

Thankfully, I am able to just play the damn things….:D
 
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#126
Yes. I can tell the difference. It became apparent that the 5 String 35 scale bass I was using was not going to work well for the 5+ hours shows we were doing. Most of the songs were no issue but there were some songs that post 3-4 hours of playing became a real challenge. I moved back to the 4 string and a 34 scale neck and it cleared the fatigue right up.
 
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#128
I think people place too much emphasis on what the extra inch actually is. In terms of fret distance math, it works out to a quarter step, pitch wise. Half a fret. Quick and dirty fret math is simple, divide by 18. As such, if we look at 34" as 17/18(simply because 34-17 works well in this example), the next fret down from 0 would be at 36". I know I'm not explaining this well, but it works in my head.
 
#129
BassikLee said:
I think people place too much emphasis on what the extra inch actually is. In terms of fret distance math, it works out to a quarter step, pitch wise. Half a fret. Quick and dirty fret math is simple, divide by 18. As such, if we look at 34" as 17/18(simply because 34-17 works well in this example), the next fret down from 0 would be at 36". I know I'm not explaining this well, but it works in my head.
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Yes, but my hand doesn't care about math. This again is only an issue with certain songs after about 3-4 hours of playing.
 
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#130
yes, I can really feel when it's a 35" scale, and I misfret all the time. I'm used to the extra stretch for 34" scale, and I try, when I'm not being really lazy or rushing through a fast lick, to finger on the frets rather than between the frets for a bunch of reasons that I won't bother getting into here. Those reasons of muscle memory etc make it hard for me to change scale, although when I play guitar I am fine on it too without thinking (at least if it's 25.5" scale... I play 24" scale guitar also which is a minor shock too, but I've played guitar in both scale lengths for so many years that it isn't a big deal).

That might be part of it. I played 34" fender scale since 1983, hours per day every day, basically. It is so ingrained that 35" messed me up and play less well.

I may be unusual, though.
 
#131
tb-player said:
In all my years of selling basses, this happens most consistently:

I post a 35" scale bass. I get a comment saying, "If this bass was 34-inch scale, I'd be all over it." A little while later, I sell a 34" scale bass and get the comment, " Man! If this was 35-inch scale, we'd be talking."

I own both. I play both... in 4-string and 5-string. Scale-length has never crossed my mind when switching from a 34" to a 35". I've never noticed any need to adjust. For me, scale length isn't even in my top-10 of things I look for in a bass.

Can anyone REALLY tell the difference between 34" scale and 35" scale? If so, what's the deal? Does it affect your playing? Is it all about how the low-B sounds?

I don't get it. Enlighten me. :meh:

(don't get me started on multi-scale... lol)
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I can tell slight difference in playability, and it does slightly affect my playing. But there is a big difference in how the low B sounds. So it's worth it for me.
 
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#132
BassFalcon said:
I agree that there is a difference, especially on the B, and more richness in the harmonics, but the difference isn’t insurmountable, that’s the best word I could think of for the situation. All things being equal I would take a 35” over a 34” any day. But they never are equal, and so some 34”s do have a better B string etc. I have a lot of double bass in my background though which is about 41”, so the longer scale instruments never posed an issue for me.
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ah, but double bass is an entirely different instrument due to the scale length. It isn't fingered the same (one finger per semi tone), and has much more feel available as do all of the violin family) for you to know where you are in your left hand positions regarding the neck angle, height of the fingerboard, and where the neck meets the body. I'm not saying it's easier than electric, just entirely different. Being able to play upright without looking at your left hand is entirely possible for much of our playing (for example while reading music), but not electric without looking as you change positions.

Obviously an over generalization, but based on facts.

Playing a longer scale electric bass still uses the same one finger per fret technique, which gets increasingly harder as you increase the scale length... unless you were blessed with big hands.
 
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#133
tb-player said:
In all my years of selling basses, this happens most consistently:

I post a 35" scale bass. I get a comment saying, "If this bass was 34-inch scale, I'd be all over it." A little while later, I sell a 34" scale bass and get the comment, " Man! If this was 35-inch scale, we'd be talking."

I own both. I play both... in 4-string and 5-string. Scale-length has never crossed my mind when switching from a 34" to a 35". I've never noticed any need to adjust. For me, scale length isn't even in my top-10 of things I look for in a bass.

Can anyone REALLY tell the difference between 34" scale and 35" scale? If so, what's the deal? Does it affect your playing? Is it all about how the low-B sounds?

I don't get it. Enlighten me. :meh:

(don't get me started on multi-scale... lol)
Click to expand...
It's no different than saying "Yeah, I really wanted an Alder body". Let the internet do what it does best.
 
#134
tb-player said:
Can anyone REALLY tell the difference between 34" scale and 35" scale? If so, what's the deal? Does it affect your playing?
Click to expand...
I spent 12 blissful months completely unaware the bass I was playing had a scale length of 35" ; Peavey Grind NTB , sweet bass :)

I didn't rush out and buy more 35" scale length basses , just chalked it up as another TB topic some folks have strong opinions on which I don't give a monkey's about :roflmao:
 
#135
A huge difference isn't just the number but where the bridge sits. If the neck extends out it will feel longer.

Mo Mina from Nordstrand's shop designed his 35" scale neck to be set deeper where it doesn't make your left hand less stretched out.

Tim Cloonan did that with the Callowhill's, too. I wish more builders designed it that way.

But yes, I've sold my 35" scale basses due to the discomfort. I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal, but it was enough.
 
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#136
I've only owned a 35" scale 5er for 3 years (Schecter CV-5). IDK if it's the ubber comfortable skinny neck or what but my experience is just like the OP's: no conscious adjustment effort at all (same thing for short scale or 4/5 strings). Has a great low B, but so do my Stingray5s, which BTW play really alike to the Schecter too. Still, I don't even feel like "adjusting" when coming from my Star Bass 5 (34", THICK D shaped nec profile, feels "offset" to my left, fretting hand has to extend a little due to the bridge being deeper into the body). Funny fact also, even tho' I've never owned a fanned fret bass I've tried a bunch and never felt like adjusting either, indeed I'm usually surprised first contact at how natural they feel to play. Only thing I could mention that might require a more conscious approach should be over 18mm spacing on 5ers. After 20+ years stuck to Stingray5s I got a little stuck in that zone I guess.
 
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#138
I can play either without looking at the fretboard on most songs with which I'm familiar. For most folks, it's much ado about nothing. I find more difficulty with string spacing in that I have better fluidity with certain spacings and neck profiles.
 

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