• 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.

35" scale basses - thin sounding?

simenandreas

simenandreas

Jan 23, 2011
174
11
#1
The 35 inch scale basses I`ve tried sounds really great in the low register like the B, E and A string, but I've found them really lacking meat and bass from the D and G string.

I have talked to other players about this, but they don't recognize me with this problem. Am I the only one experiencing this? I believe dingwall's multiscale basses are a good solutions to this, but I have haven't tried the instruments and I can't really judge from youtube. I have owned almost 15 basses, 3 of them have been 35" from different manufactures. They have all got this thin sounding D and G string and it is really making me crazy :P I think it most be a tension problem, but I am not sure..
 
#3
You cannot isolate a single aspect and blame the sonic consequence, which derives from a holistic result of many factors in a musical instrument, on that singular aspect, over the range f instruments that manufactured from Anchorage to Wellington.

Viz., scale as a mathematical quantity has certain characteristics but you cannot attribute 'thinness' just to it. You might as well blame the bass for being blue instead of red.

Yu could talk about a particular group of instruments say ABC manufacturer who make a range of 30" - 35" scaled instruments using the design parameters, same wood, pickups, construction, metalwork, finishes etc... then you have a valid basis for asking "is 35" thin sounding?" - otherwise what you have is a classic Wittgensteinian 'non-question'.
 
#10
Of course there are many factors, but IME a 35" scale bass is more prone to thin sounding D and G strings than a 34". For a given string, tension must be little higher at a given pitch due to the longer scale. I still prefer 35" sound overall, but consider a Dingwall Super P or J, in which the B is 35" scale, the D 32.75 and the G 32" scale, allowing for (IMHO) a sweeter D and G and still a tight B
 
#11
simenandreas said:
I have owned almost 15 basses, 3 of them have been 35" from different manufactures. They have all got this thin sounding D and G string
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure I too have owned (at least!) 15 basses over the years, and three of the instruments I currently own are 35" from different manufacturers

...and two of them have absolutely gargantuan, thick, fat, plush D and G strings. And the one that has slightly thin sounding D and G strings also has slightly thin sounding E, A and C strings!

More data points, I guess.
 
#13
I have to agree with the OP and I own two long scale Dingwalls now. Am not the least bit interested in anything else. Many people who experience this balance don't look back, and sound engineers do not know what they were missing until they record or set up stage sound for a fanned fret bass.

But, even though it's physics and unavoidable, the strings, the touch and the EQ can make this imbalance go from barely noticeable to unacceptable and anywhere in between.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back