Santa's looking for small bass

musiciansfriend.com was carrying these for a while, you might want to check with them.

 

Was it a dan electro perhaps?

 

it wasn't a danelectro, although they do make a very nice small bass. It looked like a mini Fender and cost $99, I think.

 

This isn't the one you have in mind, but there's a Hamer Slammer short scale bass on ebay right now with a current bid that's about a buck and a half that looks nice--flamed top and all. I think the auction runs for another day or so. The only Danelectro I can think of that's a short (30") scale is the Longhorn, but the list on that is $399 (check danelectro.com). Good luck. Hope somebody knows exactly the one you're after and can help you track it down.

 

hey, we're neighbors, send me an email and I'll give you my phone number.

[email protected]

 

Um I think you're talking about the Squier bronco... Musiciansfriend.com still has them.

 

Yeah, the Squier Bronco bass is 30" scale. Are there any decent short scale basses out there? The Squier bronco is REALLY HORRIBLE. It has one single coil pickup, it probably hums like crazy.

 

You might look for a Fernandes Nomad. I haven't played one, so I can't tell you anything about them but that they are tiny and they have a built in amp and speaker. I think the bassist for Ozzy uses one. Another to look for is a DeArmond Ashbory. They have an 18" scale.

 

Squier Bronco is not a great instrument, but it may work for a young student with small hands to learn on. I have a 14 year girl student who learned on that and is now moving up to a Mexican Precision.
She hasn't had any humming problems in particular.

The Danelectro is a cooler instrument. The main problem with it is balancing it while you are sitting down.

Yamaha used to make a pretty nice short scale bass, the best sounding one I have ever heard, but I don't know if they are still making it.

I wouldn't worry about getting a super quality instrument for a child's first playing experience, it just has to be playable and there are few basses out there which are not playable as opposed to guitars or clarinets.

My music lessons on several instruments started with inexpensive used instruments until I proved that I was serious enough to warrant spending the money on something better.

Jeremy Cohen

 

That's hogwash! I bought my daughter a Squier Bronco (because her P bass was too awkward for her) - it sound's fine. I play it once in a while. If you want to hear what it sounds like, check out my "Proud Daddy" thread in Miscellaneous for a short mp3 featuring the Bronco on 'lead' bass.

 

Isn't it amazing how people have opinions on things that they have never played before?

 

I wouldn't go with the Ashbory, not realy a "bass" bass. I tried a Bronco and it wasn't to bad, a guitar playing freind of mine picked one up used for cheap cash. I used it to play 2 songs at a party, not to bad it just didn't hide my gut well enough.

The Fernades Nomad goes for about $350 so i don't think that was the one either.

Geez why can't your elves just build one Santa?
I new if there was a Santa Claus he would be a bass player.

 

The 2 things I did to my daughter's Bronco are:

1) Change to lighter gauge strings.

2) Lower the action.

The reason I did that is because it's difficult for a child to fret and hold the strings down if they're 'hard' and high. It plays like a charm.

 

my sisters friend has a squier bronco,and it hums like crazy.i play open E and i hear BADUMMMMMMMMMMM!

 

You should consider looking for an Japanese Fender Mini Precision Bass. They are rare, but once in a while one will pop up on eBay.
These basses have the same electronics, pickups, and hardware as full size Japanese Fender Precision Basses, which are quite good. The body, neck, and scale length are all down-sized.

Here is one I found a couple months ago:

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1463835480

 

Cool...kinda...uhh..dinky sized. But I can see the appeal.. would be a great child's bass.

 

My kids like a Jerry Jones bass I have. Styled after the Dano; but a lot better made.
I recommend the Danelectro-the weight is easy for them to handle. Granted the balance is not great; but it's not cumbersome for them.

I had picked up a Japanese mini-p-bass some time ago. The scale length was impossible to tune up normally. I had to tune it up to "A". Plus, the balance was real bad because the tuners were normal size; but the body was down-sized. Cute, IMHO not really playable.

 

My kids like a Jerry Jones bass I have. Styled after the Dano; but a lot better made.
I recommend the Danelectro-the weight is easy for them to handle. Granted the balance is not great; but it's not cumbersome for them.