Can you switch between short and regular scale without constantly being a half step off?

[J Wilson]

Personally, it's no problem.

I'd suggest that as you play both over time and build some hours doing 'double duty', your hands will just know which is which and it will no longer be an issue.

 

[Polfuste]

Just a matter of habit. I play my acoustic 32" at house, and only standard 34" with bands. No problem.
That's like the computer mouse: i took the habit to use it with bother hands without changing buttons set up. Tricky at first but quickly became a second nature.

 

[Groove Doctor]

Jumbo frets can put me off if I’ve been playing a lot of Fretless then shift. Feels very aggressive to my fingertips.

I’m digging smaller frets these days. Much closer to a Fretless in touch. Lee Sklar uses mandolin frets on his basses. Hmmm…. that might be my next mod.

I actually used to have a bigger (but still minor) problem occasionally when going from a 24-fret bass to a bass with fewer than 24 frets, if I had a part where I moved quickly into the highest registers where I was relying upon the marker dots to place myself, because the "geography" can look different up there when you have fewer (or more) dots due to the number of frets.

Me too. After 37 years I still haven’t worked that one out.
Anyone got any tips for this?

Just takes some playing time and it will feel normal to switch. I only have problems with guitars switching from say anything to an sg. Same scale but something about the body and neck position gets me an inch off on the sg. Bass bodies I’ve never had that problem.

Loved my Duesenberg Starplayer bass (Les Paul shaped body). It had the same reach to the nut as a 34” bass. Quickly jumping up to upper register was so off-putting.

Not just fingering the right frets, but the reach to the first fret.

Yes. Exactly.

I play a lot of fretless and my muscle memory/ear interaction is something I try to preserve. I've waived off anything that isn't 34" scale due to this. Just not worth the momentary hesitation switching scale lengths can sometimes produce. YMMV

I was exactly like that for the first 27 years of playing. My first shorty was rescued from the side of the road council rubbish collection. Then I caught the bug….

The key is to play both very regularly in the beginning.

Yes. I played Fretless from very early and now it’s second nature to me.

Best advice that people were saying — I’ll stick with the same scale for several days before gigging it.

QFT. I’ve taken my shorty Fretless to gigs before when I’d only played 34” fretted prior to the gigs. The first few songs I have to really look at the fingerboard when shifting positions to make sure I’m in the right place. By the 5th songs in golden.