They stopped making them but the Squier Jaguar SS was a great shortie at a cheap price. Used ones are taking off now price wise, last summer I sold one of the two I had for nearly $300 versus $180 selling price. Only issue was that they could vary widely on weight and the J pickup was very weak.
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Favorite short scale bass
- Thread starter BigN8bass
- Start date
vbtravelbasses
Commercial User
I have a '77 Mustang and a '70 EB-0. Also a Curlee, but that's technically medium-scale.
The Gibson, strung with Pyramid Golds, is my go-to.
The Gibson, strung with Pyramid Golds, is my go-to.
Nordstrand "Cat" bass all day! Stoopid fun to play and sounds great. Haven't played anything else that comes close that isn't considerably more expensive.
The Duesenberg Starplayer and the Rob Allen Mouse are two awesome basses, particularly the Mouse. But they are both fairly specific types of instrument. If I was getting a SS today with a view to gigging it, I would be looking very closely at the Stingray SS. Which is so totally not a Stingray in my view (I know I know) but seems like it would be a nice bass.
I injured my fretting hand and 2 fingers (sprains) and at 60 they don't heal so fast - I've re-injured 'em twice in the last cuppla weeks, one time by playing bass.
So, I just bought a Ibanez TMB30 a cuppla hours ago to be delivered in 4 days - I'm hoping it's easier on the mitt.
This thread helped with the choice.
So, I just bought a Ibanez TMB30 a cuppla hours ago to be delivered in 4 days - I'm hoping it's easier on the mitt.
This thread helped with the choice.
Once I swapped out the pickup and bridge, my Squier Bronco outperformed my JMJ Mustang in every way possible.
Sorry; can't help you with those. I'm left handed, and... those basses aren't. If you want a left handed short scale, you'll be fishing in a pretty small pond - unless you want very cheap, or custom/boutique. However, I've managed to acquire 7 of them that I like. My favorite? That's a hard question to answer. I have a lot of basses, and tend to use specific basses for specific kinds of music. But, the short scale bass that sits out on a stand most of the time is an older, Korean - made Rogue VB-100 violin bass. Very well made, and works fine for playing old Beatles and other vintage rock. Another one that gets a fair amount of play is my Warmoth Mini-Precision Bass. I built it to duplicate the sound of my 11 lb. '78 P-Bass - which it does very well. It's also 4 lbs. lighter, which my 70 year old shoulder really appreciates. And, the one that gets the balance of my short scale preference is my Danelectro Longhorn. It's very light - lighter than either of my violin basses, in fact - and, in spite of it's appearance, is very easy and comfortable to play. Think of it as a Gibson ES-335 shaped bass, with parts of the body (that you don't touch) missing. Mine lives in an ES-335 case, in fact. Probably not the most versatile bass, but it responds very well to string choices if the "Dano sound" isn't what you want. In my case, it is what I want, so... it's a very nice little bass. I do play all of them, but these three are the ones I play the most.
As for my other shorties? They're all rather old and obscure; pretty expensive; or (as is the case of the Gretsch Broadkaster) pretty much a niche instrument...
I recently bought one of these too. I’ve only played it on one gig and all I can say is that I was hoping for more different tones. I just bought some T-I Jazz Flats for this bass and I’m hoping these will make a big difference. Like one of the previous posts said, if you can afford it, the Serek with the Guild-style pickups is a killer bass with a unique sound
I bought a Squier Jag SS a couple years ago, but I was VERY impressed with the solid feel of an Ibanez Talman 30" scale bass somebody brought by the shop a while back. Didn't feel like a toy, which is the off-putting thing (to me) about a LOT of the shorties out there.
I just saw and played briefly a Maruszczyk. I was very impressed how large it sounded. Guy said it cost him over 2K. But sound wise, specially on the punch - the 3 bass strings on my Hybrid Universal 7 by Wes Lambe and Clay Conner were on a different scale. Probably because they are tuned a Minor third up/ G-C-G - plus those Armstrong pickups are something else. Hot and juicy as roasted lamb. Not much said about them here. I wonder if Clay and Wes would make a 4 and/or 5 string short scale bass.
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To me the Gibson SG/EB basses are to the short acale what the P- and J-basses are to the long scale. They even kind of define the quirks (stereotypes)
Being a lefty, there's not that many options to choose from; but I think I would go with this one..
I've had a grand time with my short scale 1971 Guild Starfire II. It's got a really distinctive thuddy, hollowbody tone that has its mids lined up so they cut right through a mix on timbre alone. The singer in this particular outfit absolutely fell in love with the Guild when I brought it along to do a couple of tunes. He said that he'd never really paid much attention to bass tone before (thanks...) but this one knocked him out.
Have you tried different strings on the Kalamazoo? I run GHS Pressurewounds on my 65 Epiphone Newport, of course its all Honduras mahogany but same 'mudbucker'.
My fleet:
Epiphone Woody Allen
Schecter Banshee
Warwick Corvette SS
Gretsch Electromatic 2202
Hondo All-Star H-800
Fender Bullet
Epiphone Woody Allen
Schecter Banshee
Warwick Corvette SS
Gretsch Electromatic 2202
Hondo All-Star H-800
Fender Bullet
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