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Recommend Bass For Small Hands

#22
:cool:
Left hand technique is eltra-important.
Thumb position?
Good technique, will alow you to play any size neck?
But if your hand is that small, you want a neck with no more than 1 1/2" at nut.
Gibson EBO.
Ibanez
Alembic
Any jazz style neck?
Custom builders,
FBB
Stambaugh
Roscoe.
 
#24
I recommend the Fender Mustang. It's made in Japan and more expensive than the MIM Jazz, but it plays really fast with the 30" scale. I thought I would need to play my P or J for tunes that require a heavy low end, but the Mustang sounds great on everything. To me, its the best small scale on the market. Look at MF for ratings. They're pretty high.
 
#26
You may want to try an Epiphone Allen Woody Signature (Rumblekat?). They have a 30" scale neck, single cutaway semi-hollow with no f-holes. Somewhat reminiscent of the Hofner Club bass, but the Epi has a flat back and is a bit wider. Has gold hardware and a wine color finish. Looks very classy. They sell for about $430 new at EM Shorts but for $500 most other places. A hard case can be had for another $70. Can definitely play old school rock. Can get a tone similar to upright bass because of the hollow body I believe. Seems to be a pretty well made bass. They pop up on eBay occasionally for $300-350.
 
#28
If you can find a Fender Jazz Plus (american made and only built 1990 - 1994), this is the smallest neck I have ever played. 1.5 in at the nut, and about 75% thickness of the modern "c" shape, w/ 22 frets. I've seen them go btwn 500 - 650 on (sigh) the big E. Incredibly great sounding bass, and did I mention it was American made? Fender used the super hot kubicki preamps and lace sensor pickups in these after Fender bought out kubicki. These preamps also have a passive mode.
Also an original Kubicki bass has a 32" scale. Thses sound great too!
 
#29
Thank You for all the info. I was on the net looking up all your suggestions and others as well that caught my eye and I have compiled a list of prospects. Now these are all new basses. I am open to used but I would have to try it first so that rules out e bay.
Ibanez SRX 500 $479
Ibanez SR 400 $399
Ibanez SR 500 $579
Peavey Grind $499
Peavey Zodiac $499
Fender Mustang $569
Dean EVO XM $199 ( This ones scary out of the lot I think this is the nicest looking one but the price scares me)
Epiphone Allen Woody$499
So any advise on these basses would be appreciated. Are they suited for short hands? What do they sound like? Any Problems.

Thanks
 
#31
Enough with the small hand malarkey, dude. I have the smallest hands of any male I have ever met in my life (and no, the rumor is untrue, thank you very much), and I play bass professionally and use mostly large necked basses like Fenders, even a 5 string. Dave LaRue and Beaver Felton have only slightly larger hands than me, and they're world class. Don't let anyone tell you that you need large hands to play bass. All you need are ideas.
 
#32
JimmyM said:
Enough with the small hand malarkey, dude. I have the smallest hands of any male I have ever met in my life (and no, the rumor is untrue, thank you very much), and I play bass professionally and use mostly large necked basses like Fenders, even a 5 string. Dave LaRue and Beaver Felton have only slightly larger hands than me, and they're world class. Don't let anyone tell you that you need large hands to play bass. All you need are ideas.
Click to expand...

I agree. I have really small hands and they have never been an issue when playing. I prefer wider necks too. Its all about position.
 
#33
In response to the last to posts
I agree, it is all about position and my position sucks. I really want to take bass lessons even though I have been playing for 18 years, however that is not possible in my life right now.
I work 7 days a week for a total of 53.5 hrs a week. My wife works 7 days a week but only for 25 hrs total but she works in the evenings so we don't have to pay a baby sitter. I have a 6 year old and a 3 year old. And my son is in swimming lessons, tee ball and soccer. I am sure their are people who are even busier than me so I am not trying to come across as the busiest man in the world but I will cheat were ever I can. Maybe it's a mental thing but when I started to playing my medium scale bass from my jazz my band mates commented that I was more adventourus and playing better hence why I wanted to stay with a medium scale 32" neck or a 34" scale neck that was really small.
 
#35
Thanks for backing me up Bongomania. Very good point about being comfortable. It sounds like you play or played a medium scale bass. What did you have? Did you like it? I like the looks of the Aria II you recommended, after all being a product of the 80's I always respected John Taylor, but I am skepticle of buying off ebay, as I would like to try the instrument I am purchasing.
 
#36
I have no problem with wanting to use a small or medium scale bass. I've owned a couple. I just think you have a small hands thing that's slowing you down. It doesn't take lessons to straighten it out. I corrected it in 3 seconds.
 
#37
I'm suprised no one has mentioned Rickenbacker. 33 1/2 scale length (slightly larger than what you have, but smaller than a Fender Jazz) with very thin neck (string to string). The neck is, admitadly a bit chunky (comparing a jazz to a ric would be like comparing a strat to a les paul), but they are comfortable. And it would work perfect for your classic rock tone.
 
#38
Ricks=1/2" smaller. .5" smaller. One half of an inch. And that's overall- it's only 1/4" shorter where it counts, before the 12th fret.

Chuck Norris wouldn't waste his time on such an inconsequential difference.

canadian bass, check my profile for a list of basses I've owned, half of them were short or medium scale. The one I HOPE to like the best is an FBB custom that is not yet complete. There are a few other custom builders (mentioned by others in this thread) that are worth looking into, but the price of custom starts around $1200. You can have a custom medium-scale neck made for any bolt-on body, and that would be in the $300-$500 range depending on the bells and whistles. Michael Dolan is making just such a neck for my P-bass. I actually haven't tried any medium-high end production medium-scale basses other than the Ibanez MC980, but I fully intend to get a Kubicki one of these days. All of the basses I have owned were great in one way or another, but all were lacking in something after a while, which is why I'm going custom. But for rock'n'roll, many of the less expensive options out there will be fine.
 

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