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Help me understand....why use micro and short scale basses?

I'm 5 feet tall. Let me re-write this for you from my perspective:

How can you play a long scale bass?

I just don't get the appeal. They are huge and heavy and make my fingers stretch to unnatural positions as well as really difficult to get to the lower frets on. I played one for a few weeks while my short scale was in the shop, just don't get it. My left arm/fingers developed aches & pains, and my right shoulder got out of whack from rolling forward to accommodate the much larger body. I know a lot of people seem to like them, can't figure out why. ;-)
No pain no gain :) It will toughen you up some, grow a beard, more chest hair, you will eat nails for breakfast and poop out barbed wire fence by noon. Your hands will have the strength of ten men. You will bench press a buick.
 
I just dont get the appeal. They are dinky and feel really cramped as well as really dificult to get to the upper frets on. Ive played on them before, just dont get it. I know a lot of people seem to like them, cant figure out why.
Everyone has different hands. For some, short scales are more comfortable. Personally I prefer medium-long scale, but having more options is better, right?
 
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My only 2 basses are a Fender Jazz and a cheapo (not Hofner) violin bass. The violin is the go to practice bass and my favourite as it's miles easier to play. Add a pre-amp, a compressor/limiter, a reverb pedal, much better strings and eventually it sounds alright.
 
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I get it from a practical point of view....but just no. Im sure there are lovers of the headless thing, they make me want to vomit just looking at them.

The balance on headless instruments is perfect and they tend to be a lot lighter. I tried out a friend's Status Streamliner for a few rehearsals and while it literally looks like a canoe paddle and not in a good way, it played very well, sounded really good, and was by far and away the most comfortable bass I've ever used. Yeah, they ain't too pretty but ergonomically they just make sense. Sometimes the best and most practical solutions aren't the most attractive ones. I love my Warwick Thumb but it weighs a ton, balance is a bit weird and it gives me shoulder pains on long gigs.

If (gods forbid) I ever have any sort of injury or disability in the future and need to switch to instruments that are easier to play, a short-scale headless bass like a Fodera Imperial Mini would probably be ideal (plus would require me to sell off all my other basses which would be pointless to own anyway). I know someone on this forum plays a Marleaux Soprano purely due to bad case of early-onset arthritis.

Plus, short scale basses are GREAT for kids to get into.
 
I play my 30" about 50% of the time. It is great for sitting down while at the PC, but also very lightweight. I usually carry it to gigs as my backup bass, too. I think as long as you have the right strings, playing a short scale is no problem. I tune all my basses to DGCF, including the short scale (but I am thinking about doing a BEAD-tuning on one of my 34" basses). 5 strings just feel wrong to me.

When it comes to upper frets, that is certainly a challenge, but to me it's easier to overcome than some of the finger-stretching excercises of covering 4 or 5 frets with your hand at the far end of a long scale.

As a member of this club, I think it's not a question of one size fits all. It's a question of what works for you: Squier Jaguar Short Scale Club Part 3
 
I'd like to see that without the cover. Also, how about a closeup of the headstock? What's going on up there?

It's ugly without the cover, because the stick pickguard is cut for a strat size pickup, and putting a p-bass pickup in there means that part of the original pickup rout remains. a little hard to explain, but the footprint of the p-bass pickup does not completely cover the hole for the strat pickup. I have a pickguard blank coming and I'll make a new guard. Headstock has my own logo on it
 
I just dont get the appeal. They are dinky and feel really cramped as well as really dificult to get to the upper frets on. Ive played on them before, just dont get it. I know a lot of people seem to like them, cant figure out why.
Agree 100%!!
Personally, I like my basses to feel like weapons!
 
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Back in the day a memeber here bought one of those micro's and donated it to a girl who had spinabifida, should have seen the look on her face. She was sooo happy. I wish I could remember the member who donated it and the member who made the original post. It was super cool, over 10 years ago now.

I guess I use the example to show a very important reason why they may exist. Those who physically are unable to cope with the standard sized instrument.
 
You all play tiny instruments compared to the 42" scale of the O.G. bass on the dark side of this website. As far as playing less than 34", I find that full-scale basses sit on my body in a position that makes it too much of a stretch to play as comfortably as my short scale musicmaster bass. Although my main bass is a 4003, which has some different ergonomics than a jazz for example, so I'm comfortable playing that. What's my point? People sometimes just don't like things, and like other things. I guess it's a good thing that Talkbass doesn't realize this, or the majority of the website's threads would vanish!
Rickenbackers are slightly shorter scale than a jazz, at 33.25" scale, too.

No pain no gain :) It will toughen you up some, grow a beard, more chest hair, you will eat nails for breakfast and poop out barbed wire fence by noon. Your hands will have the strength of ten men. You will bench press a buick.
I'm pretty sure Boaty is a woman, so may or may not necessarily want to grow a beard and chest hair. I'm a dude, and I would prefer not to poop barbed wire.