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Do you play both long and short scale basses? Why?

#21
Just to throw in my input, although I think everyone has covered both sides pretty well....

I play 35" 34" and a squier bronco (which is much shorter yet) of my daughter's which I'm falling in love with (the bass, I already love my daughter LoL).

I also play guitar, les paul and strat (well, ibanez) scale length. I also play violin, viola and some cello, and teeny tiny mandolin and lap steel (short scale slide guitar).

So yea...... scale length turns out not to matter.... until it's too big to be comfortable. 35" is pushing it for me, but I can't afford to be picky enough to choose only ideal scale lengths.

I understand advantage of never changing scale length, particularly if you jump up neck sometimes and need to get there reliably without looking. That drives me nuts on violin where you jump all the time and it's not particularly visual since it is towards your eyes up high, not lateral view, so you really need to play by feel.

But I've learned that you can adapt pretty well with a bit of practice. For me it's worth it - I wouldn't recommend changing scale lengths unless you need to, but as I am a multi instrumentalist I need to, so it's just a side effect of the tools of my trade.
 
#22
I notice that if I'm playing my SS Gibson more often, switching over to a regular scale bass, like my Ray, takes some getting used to. And, vice-versa. I've been playing a Ray and Jazz Bass more lately and when I busted out the Gibson the other night, it felt kind of weird. I really like both short and long as long as the action is fairly low and it is a neck profile I like.
 
#24
I’ve got 30, 30.5, 32, 34, 34.5, and 35 inch scale necks on my basses.

I bought each of them for their individual tone and vibe.

I play different scale lengths because the basses I like each had different scale lengths. I didn't buy any of them because they came in a specific scale length. I don’t see any point in letting the tail wag the dog.
 
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#25
My basses include 30, 32.5, 34 and 35 inch scale lengths. As has been mentioned above, not only do they all play differently, they also sound different. Different scales seem to have different partials and overtones (no physics to back this up, just ears). Generally I'll simply play what I brung, although I've been known to bring different scale basses to a gig so I can play to the strength of the instrument (or to the needs of the song).
 
#27
I originally bought a short scale to play stuff like Death From Above 1979 a bit easier, then never really got into it. I like the feel of it and as long as I use a really thin (.50) pick I can rock it live, it's fairly unique looking and sounds good. I have a P bass that's long scale and it sounds amazing so I use it more for recording than anything else. So it's really comfort on one and sound for the other.
 
#28
Do you play both long and short scale basses? Why?
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#32
I play both long and short scale basses, the reason is I like classic basses and picked up a couple of old Gibsons, an EB-2 and an EB-3, the EB-2 feels more like a long scale than a short scale as the neck juts out more because of the body design but I really like playing both of them. It doesn't take very long to get accustomed to them either and I have been playing long scale basses for many moons. I'm not sure which one of those two basses I'd buy, I would assume the Fender would have a more traditional sound which would be a point that I would consider if I were just going to buy one.
 
#33
Out of those two, I'd go with the gretsch. To me it sounds better than the mustang, though with the extra money save from gretsch you could get a classic vibe mustang which has been stealing the show for me lately. It sounds perfect with the band I play with. I was rotating basses every practice to get a feel for which bass was best suited and since I've gotten that mustang I'm going on practice #5 with it!
 
#34
I play a 30" BG and a 40.5" EUB. Full scale BG hurts my hands way more than upright. Maybe because I was mainly an upright guy until recently, but I feel like upright left hand position is much more ergonomic.

That said, my 9 yo son started bass in his school orchestra, and I have been playing around on his 32" upright ... now I think I might want to find a 34" EUB that I can play sitting in a regular chair.
 
#36
40Hz said:
I’ve got 30, 30.5, 32, 34, 34.5, and 35 inch scale necks on my basses.

I bought each of them for their individual tone and vibe.

I play different scale lengths because the basses I like each had different scale lengths. I didn't buy any of them because they came in a specific scale length. I don’t see any point in letting the tail wag the dog.
Click to expand...

+1 here. And love the tail wagging the dog reference--to appropriate here!
 
#37
I'm tri, and I love it. 30,32, and 34 (plus Rick)

My hope and desire is that we will see a surge of interest and supply in medium scale basses like we have seen with shorties. Short scale players have it great right now, and my 'Stang and Supro H1 are amongst my favorites.

In 32" land we have the new and I think quite popular Ibanez Mezzo, which I don't have as I don't like the maple neck look, and a lot of people are on the lookout for Japanese Fender Jazzs in medium scale. There just aren't that many choices.

I just obtained a 1986 Yamaha Motion medium scale bass that was beaten up pretty badly. It played so great I went all in and stripped it to bare wood and repainted / refurbished it. Just got home from rehearsal with it and the guitarists pretended to be impressed so there's that. We need more 32" basses.
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#39
18" 25.5" 30" 32" 33.25" 34" 40"
The 30" is a BC Rich Bich 8 string, I found the wide necks and string tension on the 34" 8 & 12 I had owned previously made them difficult to play. The 40" is also an 8 string, but an electric upright.

Scale length isn't always a guarantor of comfort for me, my 32" Exploiter has quite a reach to the low frets and a wide neck which makes it a chore after an extended duration.

My 5 string is a 34" because low A at 30" is sub-optimal. I've had to do it in an emergency when all I had available was an Epiphone EB-0 and it was gruesome but it got me through the set.

For the most part scale length was not a major factor, what mattered was that I liked the way the bass sounded, played, and looked. I don't have difficulty switching between scale lengths other than the Exploiter. With my arms at the same position as they would be playing another bass, I would be playing a step higher.

Of the 2 basses the OP mentioned I would have to say the Mustang. I've played other Mustangs in stores, and preferred them to the Gretsch which I personally found uninspiring. If I was looking for a short scale I'd probably not choose either one. Always thought Longhorns looked cool, I'd check one out if I could.
 

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