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Short Scale Basses. The best thing since sliced bread?
- Thread starter DChalo
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Very nice, @Bigal1369! Those Delanos look sharp...bet they sound great, too. I like that pickguard shape and the overall aesthetic.
Yes it is, I knew Felix. You're the first person I know of, that spotted that.
wowzer! When you are 17, 18, and an album is in heavy rotation as the first 3 Mountain albums were for me, you learn every phrase. It's the rhythm of that lyric with Felix's amazing tenor that brought it back. I didn't actually know how the line ended, just In a country town, where the something sounds. I loved Mountains sound. I wish there was more live Felix around to show what he did with volume and sustain. Can you do a symposium on him?
That is how the line ended. That's the entire line. Jack Bruce just left that line drift off. A great touch to it. "Theme For An Imaginary Western", was maybe one of the finest covers, along with Jimi Hendrix's cover of "All Along The Watchtower", by Bob Dylan. "Theme For An Imaginary Western", was good enough to play at Woodstock.
On Felix as a friend, I'll just say from my perspective of him, he was a complicated soul, that was limitless on his musical talents. RIP. His passing was April, 17th, 1983. 34 years ago now.
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I agree!
I used to play a regular 34" as my main for around 11 years or so, then I swapped to a 30" scale Jerry Jones Longhorn (High end quality version of the Danelectro ones), was stupid enough to sell it at a later point though between bands.
Now I play an even shorter Ibanez Mikro (28,6") on which I installed a pair of EMG Geezer Butler P/J pickups.
And it plays like no other bass I ever laid my hands on, even if the Jerry Jones comes in on a close second.
And after the pickup swap it is fully on par with some of the best sounding basses I owned, even with it's own unique character.
I am not too surprised they are not more popular though, habits and prejudices are hard to change, and short scales have an undeserved rumor for being kids or beginner instruments and not being able to deliver tone wise.
And that is even if it seems to be no concern for players like Poul McCartney, Stanley Clarke, Jack Bruce and Mike Watt.
I used to play a regular 34" as my main for around 11 years or so, then I swapped to a 30" scale Jerry Jones Longhorn (High end quality version of the Danelectro ones), was stupid enough to sell it at a later point though between bands.
Now I play an even shorter Ibanez Mikro (28,6") on which I installed a pair of EMG Geezer Butler P/J pickups.
And it plays like no other bass I ever laid my hands on, even if the Jerry Jones comes in on a close second.
And after the pickup swap it is fully on par with some of the best sounding basses I owned, even with it's own unique character.
I am not too surprised they are not more popular though, habits and prejudices are hard to change, and short scales have an undeserved rumor for being kids or beginner instruments and not being able to deliver tone wise.
And that is even if it seems to be no concern for players like Poul McCartney, Stanley Clarke, Jack Bruce and Mike Watt.
I'm in no way morally opposed to shortscale basses, and have played a number of really good ones that had great tone and feel. For me, though, the killer is that they simply don't have the tension and attack that I became used to when I was learning to play and developing my style and honing my technique. You simply can't play a shortscale the way you do a regular bass and expect favorable results.
I'm a small guy (5'9", 150), and had I known about shortscale basses when I started playing, I might have played them from day one. I'm considering building a 32" string-through bass and stringing it with a little heavier string than I'd normally use (stainless round instead of GHS Pressurewound to make up brightness), as I think that might split the difference just right for me. All in all, though, I don't hold out a great deal of hope for it. I have very specific taste, and I've grown so accustomed to the feel, taper, and 'snap' of 34" bolt-on basses that I don't know that anything else could do it for me.
Super awesome tones can be had from shortscales, though, not to mention the obvious physical advantages. If they work for you, play the hell out of them and be glad you get what you want out of them.
I'm a small guy (5'9", 150), and had I known about shortscale basses when I started playing, I might have played them from day one. I'm considering building a 32" string-through bass and stringing it with a little heavier string than I'd normally use (stainless round instead of GHS Pressurewound to make up brightness), as I think that might split the difference just right for me. All in all, though, I don't hold out a great deal of hope for it. I have very specific taste, and I've grown so accustomed to the feel, taper, and 'snap' of 34" bolt-on basses that I don't know that anything else could do it for me.
Super awesome tones can be had from shortscales, though, not to mention the obvious physical advantages. If they work for you, play the hell out of them and be glad you get what you want out of them.
