Yeah, it depends on the bass. I only have 5 short scale basses that wear actual "short scale" strings. The other other 4 short scale basses, because of their trapeze tailpieces and floating bridges, have to wear "medium scale" strings. Only one of the eight wears rounds, and only one wears tapes. All the rest - and my 16 "long scale" basses - wear flats. As a general rule, for short scale basses I will default to 43-104 or 45-105 gauge strings. Much lighter, and I find that they get a hair too flexible for
ME to play well with a pick, as I'm too used to playing stiff long scale flats that way. But, if the tone I want from a particular bass requires lighter gauges, I will certainly go with them. So... which shorty bass wears what gauge strings? First, the ones that wear actual "short scale" strings:
- '81 Kramer "The Duke". 31" scale; aluminum-necked; and headless, the Duke wears 45-105 DR SFL45 Legends. Mainly because, although they're flats, they sound very much like the 50-107 GHS Boomers it came to me with. If they didn't? It would most likely be wearing a new set of those Boomers...
- '17 Eastwood Flying V Bass. GHS Precision Flats; the 45-95 #3020 set. This thing's pretty much a Gibson Flying V clone, but with less "muddy" mini-humbuckers. These strings, IMO, suit this bass perfectly...
- '18 Danelectro Longhorn. The original Danelectro flats (42-83 La Bella 760FD's) are just a little too flexible to suit me. OTOH, the 39-96 760FX's work better, IMO; and, they still give me "that Dano sound"...
- '17 Warmoth Mini-Precision. Again, the #3050 GHS Precision Flats. Precision Flats are clones of the original Fender Squier Flats that all Fender basses once came from the factory with. I want that original sound, and even in 30" scale? I get it with these. I know, 'cause my '78 Fender P-Bass wears 'em, too...
- '98 Starfire Violin Bass. Violin basses usually wear "medium scale" strings, but this one - with it's 29" scale and longer-than-usual trapeze tailpiece - does not. Short scale strings, please. Basses like this can be
very picky about the strings they will work with; this one is
Extremely picky. So picky, in fact, that La Bella 760FL's (43-104) are the only ones that will even begin to work on this thing - and not all that well, either...
Okay... now for the "short scale"
basses that have to wear "medium scale"
strings:
- '90's MIK Rogue VB-100 Violin Bass. Yes, I'm a lefty like Sir Paul; and, yes my best violin bass wears 65-115 Rotosound RS88M TruBass 88 tapes, like Sir Paul's Hofner. And, yes, he is sorta my idol - ever since 1962, when I saw the Beatles play in the Cavern Club. But, like all these basses, the VB-100's picky about it's strings. When, after trying a few other strings, the Roto Tapes went on with no fuss; tuned up easily; and intonated perfectly - with no adjustments needed at all? It's never going to wear anything else; and the fact that they make the bass sound like violin basses are supposed to sound, is just sweet, sweet icing on my cake...
- '17 Hofner 500/2 Sunburst Deluxe Club Bass. It's wearing it's factory Hofner H1133B flat wounds (40-100). Hofner calls them "short scale"; technically? They're medium scale strings. When they die, I'll probably replace them with the same strings. Being a lefty, I had no choice but to pay 'till my wallet cried for the real, made-in-Germany model. I'm finding myself very reluctant to mess with this bass - at all. Fortunately, I love how the factory Hofner flats sound on this gorgeous, amazing little bass...
- '94 Gretsch G6119B Broadkaster. Although it's a 30.5" scale bass, it's so big that a lot of "long scale" strings fit it just fine - and a lot of "medium scale" strings (which it should wear) do not, 'cause they're too short. But, the longer-than-most-medium scale "short scale" TIJR 324 Jazz Rounds (42-93)
do fit - but just barely. This is my only bass that purposely wears rounds. But, these are the only strings that - after a decade of searching - make the 'Kaster sound like an actual bass, instead of a hippo fart in deep mud - or a baritone guitar. But, they're very, very nice strings - especially for rounds...
- '71 Epiphone EA-260. I was always going to convert this very nice right-handed Hollowbody bass to a lefty, but... it seemed a shame to mess with it, since good ones are getting very scarce - and pricey. So, I gave it back to it's original owner a couple of years ago. But, not before I took it apart; cleaned the bejeezus out of it; and set it up with a new replacement set of 43-104 La Bella 760FL's. The old ones still sounded... OK, but they were just too scroungy to keep. Besides, the new ones have red silks, which look much nicer on that red bass than the raggedy old black silks did...
So... as you can see, I haven't really stuck with any one gauge of short scale string. Or type, either. I really prefer strings that are stiff enough to suit my pick playing technique. Most of my shorty's have strings that do; all the others work... well enough. Mainly, though, I want my basses to sound a certain way, and I'm perfectly willing to experiment for as long as necessary to get the sound I want to hear. And, I don't particularly care about the gauge or type of string it takes to get it (although, I'm happiest if they're flats)...
I think the recess on the saddles are too wide), and despite the buzzing I like them better than the Ernie Ball Group IIIs I had on before.
