It's difficult at best to get any appreciable booty from a short-scale.
I am currently working with pickup designers to do just that.
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Budget short scale for Motown?
- Thread starter FourBanger
- Start date
It's difficult at best to get any appreciable booty from a short-scale.
I am currently working with pickup designers to do just that.
My Chromes are sufficiently aged (no zing). The fact of it is that this bass has little appreciable bass fundamentals.
News to me. I play shortscale exclusively and get plenty of 'booty'.
Here is a clip of me playing my Stambaugh shortie with flats.
I feel that I am getting close to a viable solution as I have been contacted by a number of pickup designers who are confident that they may have an answer to this dilemma.
Oh yeah, there is also all those Beatles and Rolling Stones albums recorded on shortscales. The low-end sounds great to me.
Oh yeah, there is also all those Beatles and Rolling Stones albums recorded on shortscales. The low-end sounds great to me.
I take it that you are not a recording engineer?
OIC, an engineer 
She's not a recording engineer, as long as it goes thump and not clank or ping or bang she'll be happy I'm sure.
I just came back from a trip to play a Mustang, Fender not Squier, and from what I could hear if anything the mids were what was lacking from the sound.
She's not a recording engineer, as long as it goes thump and not clank or ping or bang she'll be happy I'm sure.
I just came back from a trip to play a Mustang, Fender not Squier, and from what I could hear if anything the mids were what was lacking from the sound.
As an aside, if I were going to try and have something made up to 'cure' the sound of a short scale, I would start with strings, not pickups. If one could get something wound with a larger core than standard then the tension at pitch would be closer to typical strings on a 34. The pickup system is not a cure for the issue of string physics, which is where the scales cause a differerence. Maybe it is just me but I'd rather address the cause as opposed to engineering a fix to cover up the cause.
If you like the Mustangs playability, AERO and Nordstrand make good pickups for it.
Bass is not for me, and those pickups alone are probably half her desired budget themselves.
I went to play the Mustang to see what could be done for my own ears and because other than a Bronco or EB0 it is the only short scale in any local shops that I know of. Nobody here stocks Squier Jag SSs or Squier Mustangs.
I went to play the Mustang to see what could be done for my own ears and because other than a Bronco or EB0 it is the only short scale in any local shops that I know of. Nobody here stocks Squier Jag SSs or Squier Mustangs.
Does the bass have to be a short-scale? A full size Squier Jaguar (P/J) has the same thin neck as the SS, and delivers a fuller, meatier sound that lends itself better to the task at hand.
The proper set of flats, and a foam mute at the bridge will suffice.
The proper set of flats, and a foam mute at the bridge will suffice.
She struggled to play any of the 34" basses we had around, Jazzes included. She had been learning the guitar and that has not been a problem. I think her finger reach/shortness is her concern. I'm afraid if we try to talk her into a full scale she'll end up not playing, and I'd rather have her playing a less than ideal sounding instrument than not going for it at all.
I have the same problem. I have a lot of experience modifying Bronco's. It's a good platform. The right pickup for cheap, and you're off.
Let me see what I can come up with.
I do have a drop-in replacement for the Bronco with a good bottom end. The DiMarzio Fast Track 2 is the pickup.
I can email you a soundclip on this setup.
I can email you a soundclip on this setup.
My thoughts exactly. I imagine you could get a killer Motown tone from that thing strung with flats.
From what I gather from the OP the bass in question will not be used in a studio.
I also agree that strings have ALOT do with it. Chromes have a more low-mid sound than say LaBella flats. A well used set of LaBellas just exude motown to me. In fact, I do believe LaBella makes a set of flats named after Jamerson. Extremely high tension on those though.
