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Scale Length - Why Does It Matter?

#41
BulbousMoses said:
It seems that amongst bass players, scale length is more of a big deal that it is with guitar players. Witness the fact that Gibson and Fender generally have different scale lengths in their electric guitars with Gibson being 24.75" and Fender 25.5" With bass players, I see a lot more derision for short and medium scale instruments than on guitar forums. What is the reason for this? If short and medium scale basses are so bad, why are they still being made and played?
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The difference you cite for guitars is three-quarters of an inch. With basses, it can be as much as six inches. Scale length is the greatest factor affecting string tension - it also affects playability, technique and tone.

Short-scale basses aren't "bad," they're different. Those differences are attractive to some players, otherwise the manufacturers wouldn't sell enough of them to justify their existence. Any derision you see for short-scale basses is borne primarily of ignorance and intolerance. Why would it matter to anyone whether someone else chooses to play a bass of a different scale?
 
#43
I agree that scale length vs. tone is a minor factor once the signal ran through half a dozen of stomps and competes against two guitars, drums and a keyboard.
It can be a difference when playing alone with a good amp and headphones.
The exception is that i've never seen a 30" 5 string with a low B.

BUT:
To get a real chance to compare you'd need two identical basses that only differ in scale length and string diameter. A company that builds only extra long scales will do so because they think this is better and their instruments are developed towards this length of scale. The same goes for shorter scales.
I regularly swap between a multiscale 5 with 36" a B string and a regular 5 with 34".
After getting used to both instruments, the main difference perceived with my left hand is not that the strings are longer and the frets further apart, but that the multiscale has a wider stringspacing (2mm). The big difference and my major reason to play multiscale is the right hand. The lower stings feel a lot tighter, especially when playing with the hand over the neck PU or the neck. I get more response and a better control over the tone and attack.
 
#46
Orangeclawhamme said:
OK, someone had to bring this up. What would McCartney or Wyman have to say about any of this. For the record, one of my basses is 30" scale and the other is 23".
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McCartney wrote "Fool on the Hill" - in the liner notes he explains that it is about a dude in an "Art Collective" that believes that short scale basses are inferior to long and longer scale basses. Although McCartney calls him "Fool", don't be fooled. That was the name that the dude gave himself.
 
#49
There's a lot of mis-information in this thread.

Let's look at the physics:

f = (T/m)0.5​
_______
2L

f = frequency
T = Tension
m = Mass/unit length of the string
L = Scale length

If you increase the scale length and keep the pitch constant you need greater tension or a lighter string.

If you keep scale length and pitch constant and use a heavier string then you need to increase tension.

The above fits with our general observations. However, this does not help with tone.

The Grand Piano analogy is helpful as there is some consensus that the tone of the Grand Piano is superior to baby grands and uprights. The longer string enables frequencies to resonate from a large surface area, which equates to a more balanced, full-bodied tone.

Some pianists prefer the tone from intermediate sized pianos (between Grand and Baby) as they simply have a different tone.

The relative strength of the fundamental pitch and all the overtones that occur from a plucked string will vary according to scale length. It is not a question of what is better. Gibson guitars have a shorter scale length from Strats and Teles; it has been concluded that the shorter scale equates to a warmer sound and the longer scale of the Fenders equate to a brighter/more defined sound.

So, in conclusion scale length does affect tone.

Davo
 
#51
Today I replaced the 34" scale neck on my DIY 51 style P bass with a Warmoth 30" scale neck. The improvement in tone was remarkable...no deadspots either.

Was the tonal improvement due to the scale change? Partly. The fact that it's a different neck plays it's part.

Equally important is, due to the position of the pickup and shorter scale, the pickup is now transducing a portion of the strings where the harmonic structure is different compared to the 34" scale setup.
 
#52
It also depends on what short-scale bass we are talking about. There are not all created equally.

photo%201a.jpg



This is 30" scale but the B sounds great and it's not 'floppy' to my touch.
 
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