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Does anyone find shortscale basses MORE uncomfortable?

#22
fnordlyone said:
bassstringsonline, my friend.
also, buy used local gear to maximize your purchasing power. play the (individual) bass before purchase. recognize that the strings have lots to do with sound and ask what strings are on the bass you test, also the pickups :cautious:
happy gassing,
fnord!
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I'd usually look there, but since they've done a lot of work on my bass for me, it only feels right to buy from them. Plus, they're all good folk. Loyalty to the store, I guess, as nutty as it may seem.

Yep, I'm looking at GC used stuff since I can return after I try it out. This specific bass is an '07 Bronco, and it was a birthday present, so there was no trying it out. Gonna sell it (not worth much. Unfortunately) and buy a better, bigger bass.

It's worth noting I'm a female teenager, so I'm rather surprised I was good with a not-short-scale.
 
#24
fourstringdrums said:
I think that goes along with the notion that if you have small hands you can't play bass. If the human body wants to do it, alot of times they find a way to adapt to the instrument
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I do have small hands. Not ideal finger lengths, either. Guitar is incredibly difficult, but if Segovia can do it, so can I. Scales are a great way to stretch, though. My hands have other issues, too. My ring finger on my left hand is double-jointed, and it locks up a lot when it's bent for a long time. Makes playing bass difficult, but I think I'd keep playing even if I only had one arm.
 
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#25
I'm cloer to 5'8 than 5'9 and don't have large hands for my height. I started on upright for 8+ years, and have played electric since...call it another 20 years.

I can play any of them without problems, but I find the shorter stretch on the short scale is nice, and I consistently like the sound of short scale basses with Labella Deep Talkin' Flats. I have bonded nicely with my Gretsch Thunderjet 30" bass while my 1963 P sits in the rack mostly unused.

Each person is different, and their hands respond differently to playing. I do think that generally speaking, the short scales are easier on the fretting hand. I suspect that if someone with average size hands cramps or has problems playing short scale, in most cases they will have similar issues on 34" scale.
 
#29
30.75 is cool with me. I ever played a 30.75 with ADGCF tuning (tenor bass). it's nice bass for soloing. Play it jazz or even put a distortion on it for Metallica-ish sound is wow. I never played a short scale with standard tuning before actually, but doesnt it makes the strings goes too flappy?
 
#30
investario said:
30.75 is cool with me. I ever played a 30.75 with ADGCF tuning (tenor bass). it's nice bass for soloing. Play it jazz or even put a distortion on it for Metallica-ish sound is wow. I never played a short scale with standard tuning before actually, but doesnt it makes the strings goes too flappy?
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The strings are a little looser, but not to where I'd call them flappy. Actually the flats I put on mine recently feel like the flats I have on my standard scale.
 
#31
Hypnotaize said:
It's worth noting I'm a female teenager, so I'm rather surprised I was good with a not-short-scale.
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The fingers on my left hand are from index to pinky, 2.5", 3", 2.5" and 2". I am 6' tall, but it comes from my torso, as I have short legs and arms for my height.

I have a 34" scale bass currently, 4 and 5, and I played a 35" scale 5 string ESP as a young adult in my early 20s. I can play a 27" scale 8-string Ibanez guitar. I have worked at a computer since 1999, and played the poopie out of MMORPGs in my early to mid 20s, and I write literature as a hobby.

A standard 6-string is beyond me, but otherwise, game on! I'm always stretching/twisting my wrists, though, and keeping them nice and limber and feeling good.

I will say that Schecter Stilettos are a lot more comfortable for me sitting down, as I progress up the neck. I can rest them on my left leg instead of the right so I get a better angle. +eleventy billion for straight-wrist technique.
 
#32
DreamError said:
The fingers on my left hand are from index to pinky, 2.5", 3", 2.5" and 2". I am 6' tall, but it comes from my torso, as I have short legs and arms for my height.

I have a 34" scale bass currently, 4 and 5, and I played a 35" scale 5 string ESP as a young adult in my early 20s. I can play a 27" scale 8-string Ibanez guitar. I have worked at a computer since 1999, and played the **** out of MMORPGs in my early to mid 20s, and I write literature as a hobby.

A standard 6-string is beyond me, but otherwise, game on! I'm always stretching/twisting my wrists, though, and keeping them nice and limber and feeling good.

I will say that Schecter Stilettos are a lot more comfortable for me sitting down, as I progress up the neck. I can rest them on my left leg instead of the right so I get a better angle. +eleventy billion for straight-wrist technique.
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Yeah, I haven't taken the best care of my hands, but as soon as I got serious about bass, I buckled down and started getting real concerned. I tried an Alembic 6-string at the music store a little while ago. Could barely reach the top string. I've started including riffs like Sunshine of Your Love and Come Together in my warm-up to loosen up my wrist and get used to string-hopping.

My pinky on my right hand is double jointed, though, and it is the perfect hook to pop with.
 
#34
Timely post for me. I built a short scale Warmoth recently and love it immensely. It just feels good. Tonight I was driving past GC and thought I'd stop in and try a 34" again just to see what I was "missing." Turns out I'm missing nothing at all. 34" feels ungainly. Fret span at the low end is awkward. Not to mention neck dive a'plenty. I tried a Squier P, a Squier J and a Fender MIM P. None impressed me. On a side note, for those who tout Squier's supposed quality these days I say nope. My Warmoth looks and feels like a world away from the Squiers and the Fender MIM I tried.
 
#37
Maybe 33" in the lower register, but in the upper octave I need minimum 34".

I played the beatle bass (dunno what scale is that) and it felt so unconfortable to me. Cramp city, all my fingers looked and felt like they were tied up together.

A 2 scales bass would be awesome, 34" scale for the lower octave and 35" scale for the upper octave.
 
#38
I'm wondering if its not the scale so much, as the angle of the bass relative to your body?
I had a similar situation with an Ovation Celebrity I found cheap and was using as a travel guitar. My "regular" acoustic is a Yamaha APX 5 (shallow bodied) which I can play all day with no issue. The ovation was a smidge uncomfortable sitting down (my rounded belly to it's rounded belly which is as deep at the tip as a standard dreadnought), but when I took it out for Christmas carols, I was in misery halfway into the night.

Standing, the bowl rolled the body angled back towards me, changing the neck angle, and causing all kinds of funk with my wrist and thumb. When we got home later that night, I pulled out my Yamaha and played it for a while, all my aches faded. I sold the Ovation.

All kinds of things change when you go short scale, elbow angle for one, tilt back if it's a hollowbody (and you have a gut), hanging away from your body if your guitar had a neck heel strap peg, (even worse with strap locks). The smaller bodies with some SS's change things up as well.

I found my Jack Casady was hanging away too far from my body playing with a strap, and my left wrist was ache-y unconsciously pulling it in closer to my body. A set of planet waves elliptical strap pins fixed that right up.


Fender JP-90
Epi Bass Club #169 JC sig
 
#39
My basses range in scale from a 41+" upright to a 18" '80's Guild Ashbory including 35, 34, 30, 28.6, 25.5, 23 and 20 inch scales. I've gotten used to swapping between them. It didn't take long. Lately, I've been mostly playing the 30" to 20" scales.
 
#40
RedHotFuzz said:
Timely post for me. I built a short scale Warmoth recently and love it immensely. It just feels good. Tonight I was driving past GC and thought I'd stop in and try a 34" again just to see what I was "missing." Turns out I'm missing nothing at all. 34" feels ungainly. Fret span at the low end is awkward. Not to mention neck dive a'plenty. I tried a Squier P, a Squier J and a Fender MIM P. None impressed me. On a side note, for those who tout Squier's supposed quality these days I say nope. My Warmoth looks and feels like a world away from the Squiers and the Fender MIM I tried.
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So, to sum up: based on your extensive 1/2 hour research at Guitar Center, your tiny-child-scale Warmoth is the best production bass ever made; all 34" basses have horrible ergonomics and neck dive; and the widely-acknowledged quality improvements to Squiers' products are a sham. I admire your decisiveness, but you lose points for research methodology.

Also, 5'11" dude with average-sized hands, no reported hand issues, and can't hack 34" scale?
 
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