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Short-scale basses are no substitute for long-scale basses?

Can a short-scale bass substitute for a long-scale bass?

  • Yes

    Votes: 322 83.6%

  • No

    Votes: 63 16.4%
  • Total voters
    385
  • Poll closed .
#181
wiscoaster said:
Did the original pickup you took off yours have six pole pieces?
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wiscoaster said:
I was surprised to see the original pickup was a six-pole guitar pickup, so why I asked about yours.
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The magnetic field from a multi magnet/polepiece pickup is quite wide so strings aligning with the poles isn't that important. Pickups have no idea what instrument they're in and there are some excellent guitar/bass and vice versa substitutions that work very well.
 
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#182
bassdude51 said:
I used to be so anti-short scale basses. And then, my son gave me a cheapie Squier Bronco Bass. I did mod out the pickup though.

I love it! It's not my #1 bass but it works just fine and sounds like a P Bass!

I will say that short scales kind of loose good sound in the high register area but I try to stay away from that even on my long scales basses.

With your hand problem, you kind of have to stay with short scale, don't you?

Paul McCartney. Bill Wyman. Many, many others!

(AlNiCo bar magnet Strat bridge pickup humbucker, about 12k ohm.)

View attachment 4481602 View attachment 4481603
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Short scale basses seem to have a deeper fundamental tone with fewer harmonics and they are more even-sounding from string to string. If you use tape wound strings, the diameters of the A and D strings is pretty small and they sound very balanced.
 
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#184
A9X said:
The magnetic field from a multi magnet/polepiece pickup is quite wide so strings aligning with the poles isn't that important. Pickups have no idea what instrument they're in and there are some excellent guitar/bass and vice versa substitutions that work very well.
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Four pole pieces? Six pole pieces? Nahhhhh ... I really like the ones with eight pole pieces!! ;)

mm_pu.JPG


(btw, yes, that's me w/ my ipad reflected in the volume knob)
 
#186
I'd have to say you're probably right; but as a 70-y/o retired engineer, I'm kinda leery of blanket statements like that. Particularly without a s**tload of empirical evidence to back them up. As far as it goes with most of my short scale basses - with the strings they wear at the moment - compared to most of my 33 1/4 - 34" basses - with the strings that they wear at the moment? Yes, in a living room setting, when comparing basses with the same brand/gauge strings, most of my shorty's do lack the harmonic overtones that the longer scale basses display. The only exceptions are:
- My Dano Longhorn and one of my long scale Dano DC59 Pros, both with very light gauge La Bella 760FX flats. My hearing is still excellent, and, to my ears? They sound almost exactly the same, given slight differences in pickup output, and the Rosewood vs. adjustable Pro bridge. And, that "same" is; some overtones - but not much...
- My '78 Fender P-Bass with an "A spec" neck, and my 30" scale Warmoth Mini-Precision (built with the same kind of woods, finish, pickup, and hardware as the Fender), both with identical gauge GHS Precision Flats. With a foam mute under the bridge cover of the '78, they sound identical - to my ears; base tones only. With the mute/bridge cover off? The '78 does have barely perceptible overtones - emphasis on the "barely". And then, there's
- My '94 Gretsch G6119BO Broadcaster. 30" scale - believe it or not; the thing is huge - with "short scale" TI Jazz Rounds. Maybe because the strings are actually medium scale, combined with the extra length back to the trapeze tailpiece, but... it plays and sounds like a long scale bass. The harmonic overtones are definitely there... I'd have to call "special case" on Big Orange, though...
With all the other basses? Long scale = harmonic overtones; short scale = base tones only. However....This is in a "bedroom player", solo situation only. I'm afraid I have to agree with all those who've said that in a band mix/stage setting, nobody in the audience is going to be able to hear the difference - or care, for that matter. Yeah, you'll know there's a difference, but... I'd bet a dollar to a donut, you won't be able to hear the difference either. Bottom line? Probably best to just accept short scale basses for what they are; and what they are is - not a "substitute" for a long scale bass. Any more than a Shetland Pony is a "substitute" for a Clydesdale...:cool:
 
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#189
A9X said:
They've been around over 60y in dozens of brands, pickup types and placements and constructions.
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they're more sought after now than they were a decade ago for sure I think and I think more new designs are coming out now rather than in the past. I think the lions share of short scale options before the last 4 years was reissues of early 60s basses. Short scale mania will only peak when we have a musicmaster reissue. But I think seeing a company like musicman, who had no short scale option for 35+ years offer one indicates that there's something to it
 
#194
A9X said:
Ugh. I can think of little worse in terms of SS's.
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And thats exactly why they need reissuing.

To explain a bit more what I mean I had a Musicmaster bass years ago, lookswise there is something kind of awesome about them but in terms of the actual quality of the bass it was an absolute dog, weight wise that thing must have weighed 12ibs, had a nut so cheap that it split after about a year, pickguard split where it was so cheap and poorly made, bridge was one of those awful two saddle jobs, tone wise it sounded like mud and had a tone control that did pretty much nothing, apparently these basses had an extra capacitor wired in place to increase the amount of treble rolled off which meant that regardless of how you set the tone control you got mud.

So, if Fender addressed all of these issues in a reissue I think they would be onto a winner.
They could resissue and use a lighter wood for the body, use a better made nut and pickguard, use a four saddle bridge like on the American performer Mustang bass, ditch the tone sucking wiring and instead of the strat pickup they used to use they could use a single coil P pickup.

I really think that with short scales being more popular than ever that if they reissued these as MIM resissues they would sell a tonne of these especially with the originals now often being on Ebay for over a grand
 
#197
A9X said:
Based upon my experience buying a new Jag recently and your litany of faults in the original, they need to be put on a pyre. If I was going to buy another SS, based upon experience, Fender would be quite low on the list, especially if USA made and priced.
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The PJ Mustang is a really nice bass, I have one and I cant fault it (well I could but I would really be nitpicking)
 
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#200
If all you are changing is the scale, then it will ABSOLUTELY sound different side by side. You would most likely have to use a different gauge (heavier?) in strings to compensate for the lessened tension.

Its not that they can't sound like full scale, they just need a slightly different set of conditions to achieve it.
 

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