• 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.

Budget short scale for Motown?

FourBanger

FourBanger

Guest
Sep 2, 2012
1,842
1,037
SE Como
#1
Arighty, I've been slowly getting to know my 400+ neighbors here at the grad school housing complex and I ran into a gal who wants to start playing the bass.

She is Korean, small hands but not like a child, and she has become fascinated with motown music. She particularly likes the way the bass "keeps the music dancing while the men sing" and would like to learn to do that so she can impress her friends back home as well as her own enjoyment.

She doesn't want to spend a lot, being a poor grad student and saving for when she goes home, and really struggles with a 34" bass. I know there are many inexpensive short scale basses out there like the Bronco and Jag SS and Mikro, etc but can any of them pull off a decent motown tone? I'd be happy to buy her a different set of strings like flats as a gift if that would help.

Chances are she'll play direct into a Mac.


Edit: fixed the title for you ;)
 
#3
You need a P with flats to nail the Motown sound and any amp can dial in the sound. There is a Bob Babbit post on nailing the motown sound on his website and that is basically what he says.

The only short scale P's I can think of are budget stuff, I learned on a short scale Regal P. It was some cheap Korean made bass and I have never seen the brand again.
 
#4
Squier Mustang or Musicmaster bass will fit the bill. Load it with TI's and put some foam under the strings. Bonus she can probably find it in a girly color if she's into that.

Invalid Link Removed
Fender%20Pawn%20Shop%20Mustang%20Bass.jpg

big%20squier%20musicmaster%20bassDSCN8221.jpg
 
#8
I have plenty of 35"-, 34"-, and 30"-scale basses, but for the last 6 months I've been using my 28"-scale 5-string Ibanez Mikro almost exclusively for gigging. The quality is amazing for the price.
The only quirk with the bass is that it has two Jazz-like pickups and two volume controls, so the volume controls have to be at the same setting to work as humbuckers.
Short-scale flats on a 4-string Mikro should get her going.
 
#12
There is a short scale squire jag with a PJ configuration. I would go with that. It is a P after all.

The other thing I would try to find an Ibanez Artcore bass. They made a solid body version for a while called the ARTB100. It looks kind of like a Les Paul. Is Short scale. And sounds awesome with flats. I had one for a long time and loved using it for that thumpy kind of sound.
 
#14
Danelectro w/ LaBella flats. EZ to play, light, cheep and it thumps very nicely. Longhorn, single cut, whatever.

PS- a piece of foam rubber under the strings back by the bridge for a mute will help any of the above sound more like it.
 
#15
George Mann said:
Currently, no short-scale that I am aware of can provide the correct sonic properties for Motown.

You may be able to wing it with an EB-series.
Click to expand...

Bear in kind that I don't think what we are shooting for is "sounds just like Jamerson" but more along the lines of not sounding too much like modern slap, funk, Jaco, Fieldy etc etc etc.

Leanings towards a P is all she would expect it need to sound like.
 
#17
FourBanger said:
Bear in kind that I don't think what we are shooting for is "sounds just like Jamerson" but more along the lines of not sounding too much like modern slap, funk, Jaco, Fieldy etc etc etc.

Leanings towards a P is all she would expect it need to sound like.
Click to expand...

Then let me inform you that most short-scale P's are limited to midrange output. Powerful humbuckers are what you seek!
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back