I'm on the fence as to whether I should go for a Squier Mustang bass or the Squier Jaguar bass and it all comes down to the scale length. Since I've only ever owned a long scale bass I'm not exactly sure which one would make the most since. I've heard great tihngs about both of these basses but have only ever played a Mustang. Due to the current situation getting to try a Jaguar right now is next to impossible at the moment. So, what say you the collective spirit of TB? Mustang or Jag? Please say why, if you don't mind. Thanks & Cheers!
I'd argue that there's a couple of other factors that would make more of a difference to the feel of the instrument overall than those 2" of scale length.
The Mustang is a slab body, so no belly cut or arm contour. The Jag has both. I have a Mustang PJ and I love the instrument itself, but it gets less play than my shortie 'Ray - and its essentially for that reason. Once I've been playing and I'm used to it, it's not too bad, but it does bother me at first.
The second thing is body size. The Mustang is much, much more compact than the Jaguar, and that size different will be noticeable. All things being equal, it should make the Jag heavier - however, a common complaint is that 'Stangs can be a little neck heavy without lightweight tuners, so that's definitely something to take into account.
Past the ergonomics, I'd also consider sound - a single Mustang pickup will sound very different to a PJ setup. If you want the bridge pickup tone, it has to be the Jag. If you like a P tone, the Jaguar will do that perfectly, but the Mustang will get you close, with a cool vintage vibe as well. You can replace both easily, but a great Mustang pickup like a Nordy wouldn't be cheap, and hard to find second hand compared to a PJ set.
I'd also consider strings. If you have a preferred set or model, look up what they're available in - short scale seems to be more common than medium, so you'll have more choice. If you go for the Mustang, you might want to go for a slightly heavier guage to keep the same tension level, so take that into account while you look.
As a tl;dr summary - while the different in scale length is definitely noticeable, I don't think it's enough to make the decision between the basses simple. They'll vary greatly in sound and feel as well as replacement part & string options, and my advice would be to get the instrument you think will be best for you in the long run. You can easily adapt to short or medium scale, but it isn't so easy to adapt to a slab body or a bigger body or not having a bridge pickup if you need one.. and so on.
