Guitar Scale Acoustic Basses

[OtherLisa]

For the widest variety of available steel core strings, the solid body route really is the easiest way to go.

Gear4Music sell the Samick Greg Bennett MCR-1 for $215 shipped. The LaBella MBLS flats fit well and sound great. The stock pickups didn't sound bad, but I did put a set of EMG Geezers and pots in mine.

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I have one of these and signed up to get notified when those LaBella's came back in stock. Have been contemplating making the switch. I took a very long break from bass and just got back into it a couple of years ago so have been doing some experimenting to figure out what I like. I tend to go for the GHS Pressurewounds for my other basses and have never actually played with flats -- I thought this might be a fun option to try that (I might at some point try flats on my Mustang or Squier VM Jag SS).

I love my Taylor Mini G! I wouldn't mind getting a second acoustic of some sort though. A cheaper guitar-scale for travel (though with all the raves on the Guild, that's kinda tempting! But seems redundant). And maybe a big one just because...

 

[tymbrewolf]

Other than flats, ghs pressurewounds are the only other strings i play. Ghs nickel rockers in guitar ish stuff

 

[bsman]

Hope I won't get run off here, but this is my first attempt at playing bass while singing (or vice-versa if you prefer). I've played guitar longer than most of you have probably been alive, but for some reason, find it about 10x more difficult to sing while playing bass than guitar. Anyway - I'm really enjoying this new venture, particularly the little guy I'm using here (much easier for me than the standard-35 inch bass I got at the same time).

 

[Don M]

I’ve messed with these at GC several times and like them. I went Taylor, but if Guild is ever offered in a five string version I’m there. I can dream, right?

There is a 5 string, but not a Guild. It's from Argentina if I remember correctly, just can't remember the name right now. I think someone on here may have one by now, but can't remember for certain. It is string like a classical guitar, but strings are available.

Just remembered! : Magma Strings

 

[HeavyDuty]

There is a 5 string, but not a Guild. It's from Argentina if I remember correctly, just can't remember the name right now. I think someone on here may have one by now, but can't remember for certain. It is string like a classical guitar, but strings are available.

Just remembered! : Magma Strings

I remember that, and I even talked to the builders a year or two back. What turned me off was the flat classical-style fretboard and having to direct import it. If they ever offer it with a radiused fretboard, I will be very interested.

 

[SBassman]

Have I said lately how much I love these basses?

I switch between my acoustics and my solid bodies, and I always quickly come back to the acoustics. I love these basses.

Was wondering if others besides me would be interested in this type of bass: [not made today]
guitar scale, of course, acoustic construction, but - super shallow body, and no sound hole, or very small sound hole just for a bit of acoustic unplugged volume.

Think Ovation shallow body type design, in an acoustic guitar scale bass. The use case is - plugged in, not actual acoustic tone/volume - much like an Ovation.

It would be super light, super comfortable from the shallow body, and have no feedback issues as a stage instrument.

If that bass existed at a price point you could afford, would you buy it?

 

[tymbrewolf]

Yes if 24 or less string scale.

 

[Protagonist]

If that bass existed at a price point you could afford, would you buy it?

Maybe, and since we're talking about not caring much about acoustic volume, you could make it a smaller, comfortable body shape (like parlor), or give it a cutaway.

 

[steve_rolfeca]

Having played and loved a number of full-scale Turner Renaissance basses, yes, yes, and YES!

I would kill for a slimline nylon-bronze hollow body in 24-25” scale with that type of construction.

 

[Don M]

Have I said lately how much I love these basses?

I switch between my acoustics and my solid bodies, and I always quickly come back to the acoustics. I love these basses.

Was wondering if others besides me would be interested in this type of bass: [not made today]
guitar scale, of course, acoustic construction, but - super shallow body, and no sound hole, or very small sound hole just for a bit of acoustic unplugged volume.

Think Ovation shallow body type design, in an acoustic guitar scale bass. The use case is - plugged in, not actual acoustic tone/volume - much like an Ovation.

It would be super light, super comfortable from the shallow body, and have no feedback issues as a stage instrument.

If that bass existed at a price point you could afford, would you buy it?

YES....and while we are at it....let's add a magnetic pickup option or plug for connecting to Midi

 

[SBassman]

Has anyone tried the LaBella CB60s on a classical guitar?

 

[Pupalei]

*stops to breathe after reading 1,431 posts in 3 days*

Greetings all, and thank you so much for the awesome discussion. I'm a member of the Ibanez clan. Unlike most of you who researched, analyzed, deliberated, trialed & never really errored, I bought my PNB on a whim 24 hours before leaving on a Thanksgiving cruise. A cruise is where you pay hundreds of dollars to defy social distancing rules and eat buffet food. Holy man, I love this little bass.

Long story short(er), I found this thread while looking around for short-scale electric opinions, because my beautiful Ibanez SR is juuuust unwieldy enough to make me practice less than I should (until bedtime where my PNB waits patiently on the bedroom wall). Apparently, without warning, my shoulders became 49 years old.

Anyway, I probably searched, "best electric bass just like my PNB14e" or something. I'm a level 2 (of 10) Google Fu master. BTW, I ultimately have ordered a Fender Player Mustang Bass PJ - Aged Natural and it arrives Thursday.

So back to the PNB, which I love with all my heart. Having bought it at the 11th hour from Guitar Center (I had a boat to catch, or it would have been Sweetwater), it was never set up right. It buzzed, and the 12 fret that my teacher insists should be the same note... wasn't. I took it to the small local shop where my boy gets lessons, and they did a half-setup. A half-setup is where you raise up the action to get rid of the buzz, futz with the truss rod a little, declare the neck "bad", and give it back only charging half-price.

I now have an appointment with the best bass set up professionals Yelp knows about. They have a 4 week backlog due to Covid (and because Yelp apparently sends everyone in Northern Colorado there). And so I'm left with reading 1,431 posts about which strings I should buy before I get the phone call (It's been 8 months or so and my strings are getting splotchy).

So where were we (you)? It seems that several of you folks have determined that the original D'Addarios are pretty good if you're gentle, and I can't disagree with that. I have already ordered CB40s, when convinced after 20-40 posts that they were perfect, only to read the rest and wonder if they're going to tarnish my hands with their broken promises and E strings while refusing to answer my emails. SBassman has a new solution every 2-3 months and joyfully shares his findings (I'm saying this with love; btw, do you still love the Ernie Ball nickels?).

I've lost the thread (sorry) on a couple of things. On or about page 50, a member brought up the KALA METAL ROUND WOUND U•BASS STRINGS 2-3 times, but as far as I can tell received no replies and went inactive. And then a month or so ago we (you) were all going to order some special Black Diamond strings but I'm not sure what the status is on those (I'm interested!).

Anyway, sorry for the long, silly post (hopefully it didn't take you 3 days to read). I really appreciate your conversation and so at the very least, thank you!

 

[skycruiser]

*stops to breathe after reading 1,431 posts in 3 days*

Greetings all, and thank you so much for the awesome discussion. I'm a member of the Ibanez clan. Unlike most of you who researched, analyzed, deliberated, trialed & never really errored, I bought my PNB on a whim 24 hours before leaving on a Thanksgiving cruise. A cruise is where you pay hundreds of dollars to defy social distancing rules and eat buffet food. Holy man, I love this little bass.

Long story short(er), I found this thread while looking around for short-scale electric opinions, because my beautiful Ibanez SR is juuuust unwieldy enough to make me practice less than I should (until bedtime where my PNB waits patiently on the bedroom wall). Apparently, without warning, my shoulders became 49 years old.

Anyway, I probably searched, "best electric bass just like my PNB14e" or something. I'm a level 2 (of 10) Google Fu master. BTW, I ultimately have ordered a Fender Player Mustang Bass PJ - Aged Natural and it arrives Thursday.

So back to the PNB, which I love with all my heart. Having bought it at the 11th hour from Guitar Center (I had a boat to catch, or it would have been Sweetwater), it was never set up right. It buzzed, and the 12 fret that my teacher insists should be the same note... wasn't. I took it to the small local shop where my boy gets lessons, and they did a half-setup. A half-setup is where you raise up the action to get rid of the buzz, futz with the truss rod a little, declare the neck "bad", and give it back only charging half-price.

I now have an appointment with the best bass set up professionals Yelp knows about. They have a 4 week backlog due to Covid (and because Yelp apparently sends everyone in Northern Colorado there). And so I'm left with reading 1,431 posts about which strings I should buy before I get the phone call (It's been 8 months or so and my strings are getting splotchy).

So where were we (you)? It seems that several of you folks have determined that the original D'Addarios are pretty good if you're gentle, and I can't disagree with that. I have already ordered CB40s, when convinced after 20-40 posts that they were perfect, only to read the rest and wonder if they're going to tarnish my hands with their broken promises and E strings while refusing to answer my emails. SBassman has a new solution every 2-3 months and joyfully shares his findings (I'm saying this with love; btw, do you still love the Ernie Ball nickels?).

I've lost the thread (sorry) on a couple of things. On or about page 50, a member brought up the KALA METAL ROUND WOUND U•BASS STRINGS 2-3 times, but as far as I can tell received no replies and went inactive. And then a month or so ago we (you) were all going to order some special Black Diamond strings but I'm not sure what the status is on those (I'm interested!).

Anyway, sorry for the long, silly post (hopefully it didn't take you 3 days to read). I really appreciate your conversation and so at the very least, thank you!

Welcome and thanks for sharing your story! Good luck with the intonation adjustment. I notice my PNB has the same issue but I haven't really bothered to try to fix it. I tend to play down on the low end anyway when I play the PNB so it doesn't really bother me too much. It might be quite awhile before I try changing the strings too.

Great choice on the Mustang also. I have the same bass on my short list (that one or the Sienna Sunburst), though it may be a long time before I can buy another electric. I look forward to your NBD thread!

 

[SBassman]

*stops to breathe after reading 1,431 posts in 3 days*
...SBassman has a new solution every 2-3 months and joyfully shares his findings (I'm saying this with love; btw, do you still love the Ernie Ball nickels?).
...

Hey - I'm in this to enjoy - and to share.
Yes - I am still using and enjoying the Ernie Balls. I actually have 2 basses and two different sets - nickels on one, phosphor bronze on the other. Both from Ernie Ball.

Then, when you keep reading you are going to see that I facilitated a custom build of a nickel set from Black Diamond. It has been delayed because of COVID, but it Will happen.

The PNB you bought is a great build. If someone with any knowledge gets their hands on your bass, I'm sure they will set it up to perfection. If Ibanez used pinless bridges, I would have never ventured out to Michael Kelly. I have a bit of an OCD problem with pin bridges, and the second I saw a pinless solution among these basses, I didn't look back. But, I really, really enjoyed my Ibanez PNB. I really like that compact body, and the bass was a ton of fun to play.

Ok, get back to reading.

 

[Pupalei]

Awesome. I'll look forward to the Black Diamond set.

The CB40s have shipped, so I think I'll try them next. I ought to just learn to setup myself, but I have strong FOFU (fear of screwing up).

 

[pcake]

*stops to breathe after reading 1,431 posts in 3 days*

Greetings all, and thank you so much for the awesome discussion. I'm a member of the Ibanez clan. Unlike most of you who researched, analyzed, deliberated, trialed & never really errored, I bought my PNB on a whim 24 hours before leaving on a Thanksgiving cruise. A cruise is where you pay hundreds of dollars to defy social distancing rules and eat buffet food. Holy man, I love this little bass.

Long story short(er), I found this thread while looking around for short-scale electric opinions, because my beautiful Ibanez SR is juuuust unwieldy enough to make me practice less than I should (until bedtime where my PNB waits patiently on the bedroom wall). Apparently, without warning, my shoulders became 49 years old.

Anyway, I probably searched, "best electric bass just like my PNB14e" or something. I'm a level 2 (of 10) Google Fu master. BTW, I ultimately have ordered a Fender Player Mustang Bass PJ - Aged Natural and it arrives Thursday.

So back to the PNB, which I love with all my heart. Having bought it at the 11th hour from Guitar Center (I had a boat to catch, or it would have been Sweetwater), it was never set up right. It buzzed, and the 12 fret that my teacher insists should be the same note... wasn't. I took it to the small local shop where my boy gets lessons, and they did a half-setup. A half-setup is where you raise up the action to get rid of the buzz, futz with the truss rod a little, declare the neck "bad", and give it back only charging half-price.

I now have an appointment with the best bass set up professionals Yelp knows about. They have a 4 week backlog due to Covid (and because Yelp apparently sends everyone in Northern Colorado there). And so I'm left with reading 1,431 posts about which strings I should buy before I get the phone call (It's been 8 months or so and my strings are getting splotchy).

So where were we (you)? It seems that several of you folks have determined that the original D'Addarios are pretty good if you're gentle, and I can't disagree with that. I have already ordered CB40s, when convinced after 20-40 posts that they were perfect, only to read the rest and wonder if they're going to tarnish my hands with their broken promises and E strings while refusing to answer my emails. SBassman has a new solution every 2-3 months and joyfully shares his findings (I'm saying this with love; btw, do you still love the Ernie Ball nickels?).

I've lost the thread (sorry) on a couple of things. On or about page 50, a member brought up the KALA METAL ROUND WOUND U•BASS STRINGS 2-3 times, but as far as I can tell received no replies and went inactive. And then a month or so ago we (you) were all going to order some special Black Diamond strings but I'm not sure what the status is on those (I'm interested!).

Anyway, sorry for the long, silly post (hopefully it didn't take you 3 days to read). I really appreciate your conversation and so at the very least, thank you!

the mustang is, imo, a really great bass, but the scale is 4.25" longer than the PNB. the two solid body basses with the same scale length as the PNB are the greg bennett mini bass (whatever it's called) and the smallguitars.com MB2.

btw, there's no such thing as a half setup - they should have figured out what the actual problem is if there is one and told you so you could go from there. could be the short scale but it could be a bad neck angle, too. raising the action makes it harder to play, so unless the PNB's action was very low and that was the issue, it's not a good solution. that being said, a lot of recent new ibanezes have little to no neck relief, and that's an easy fix.

you say the note at the 12th fret wasn't right - was it off but not an entire note off?

the black diamonds aren't ready yet - i'm waiting for them with excitement for my smallguitars MB2.

the PNB comes with these D'Addario EXPPBB190GS GS Mini Acoustic Bass Coated Phosphor Bronze 23.5 Scale Acoustic Bass - .037-.090 according to sweetwater. they're nylon core so the tension is probably lower than steel core strings.

 

[Pupalei]

Right; all true. “Half setup” was my snotty term for “failed setup”. I’m going to a different place and hoping for better results. And right, the new Fender is a 30 inch, which I think will better for me than my current 34 inch Ibanez. The PNB was bought for traveling, and it’s doubling as a wonderful bedroom practice bass.

 

[Pupalei]

CB40s are on!

I think I understand your pin bridge aversion now, but I thiiiink I've finally got them stable (which I should and will not say out loud). I'm now in the tune-every-15-seconds stage.

Happy 4th.

 

[SBassman]

I'm standing near a rabbit hole. A nudge or two, and - I might fall down it.

So, I have a coupla sets of test strings from Aquila - for bass strings for guitar scale basses. I haven't been able to try them yet because they are a bit too big for the tuners on my bass. I May actually put some Kala tuners on my bass to do the experiment.

But ... I was thinking. [sometimes I think too much] Maybe those strings would be a fun match for - a 3/4 scale cello. Which - is - presto - 25" scale. What do you think?

 

[SBassman]

CB40s are on!

I think I understand your pin bridge aversion now, but I thiiiink I've finally got them stable (which I should and will not say out loud). I'm now in the tune-every-15-seconds stage.

Happy 4th.

They Will stabilize. But, in time. About a week or so. Ish.

Don't just wait for it to happen naturally. Give those suckers some stretches and retunes - a few times - every time you touch the bass.

Happy 4th and great weekend to all guitar scale acoustic bass loving brothers and sisters.