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Switching to Short Scale - Your Experiences

#41
JimmyM said:
It's a Gibson EB-0 from 1960. Pickup was replaced with a DiMarzio Model One when I got it. I literally wore the finish off it, then I painted it black, then I accidentally smashed it and broke the body. Painted it in white Imron (my brother the boat refinisher's idea) and used it twice, loaned it to a friend for a jam, and the place it broke on the body broke again. Has sat dormant since 92. Have threatened to have it restored properly with an original pickup many times and never have. I think this year may be the year, though.
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Hi Jimmy (and TBer's)

Please forgive the indulgence and the wordiness....

Was a hurtin' lad with not many resources, except my paper route and an outrageously cool dad. I found an early '60s EB-0 cherry - literally for a song and a dance - I mean - I think I paid maybe $25 bucks for it at the time. When I got it - it was trashed - numerous stickers, chunks of wood missing, scratches, grooves, initials in the back, you name it....Sorry, but it wasn't a "cool" time to have a relic Gibson. It was realistically quite disgusting.

Dad had a body shop and he removed the stickers, soaked that sucka in lacquer thinner and stripped and sanded her naked. He filled the gaps with fiberglass and sprayed it - neck and all - a stunning glass black - I know, I know, it's gloss but this baby was glass! So glass that I swore off glossy necks forever. I skidded all over the place on that uber-shiny neck- and grew to hate it!

My good friend Craig Schertz was getting his engineering degree at IU/Purdue Fort Wayne. Craig went on to work with Showco - and mixed FOH for everyone from Genesis, ZZ Top, REO Speedwagon, Little Feat and believe it or not, the Carpenters. He also engineered all of the Genesis "live" records.

Craig had been messin' around with the EB-0's although in his band at the time - he was sportin' a clear plexiglass Dan Armstrong. We were hangin' out a bit and he asked me if I wanted to make my EB-0 killer. I said sure - what's up?

I took the bass over to Craig and he installed a capacitor (no idea which one this was) and put a momentary switch on the front of the bass - so I could cut it in and out at will - although, in retrospect I never did cut that sucka out!

He also recommended (!) This - I still think is GENIUS especially for this era - 1968 I think - that I get a Cry Baby wah pedal - engage it and keep the pedal all the way down. This gave that frikin' mudbucker a top that was undeniable and gave the boost at what felt like the perfect frequency. I could actually keep the EQ pretty flat - but with that capacitor engaged and the boost of the wah pedal - I could cut through the mix and still maintain that outrageous mudbucker growl. It was heaven. I was 16. The only adjustment I made all night was a slight adjustment to the tone control.

Here I am with it in 1968:

Rick-EBO.png


Mine was short scale, but if yours was medium....would you consider selling it?

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net
 
#43
I started playing with short scale, a borrowed EB-3. Then I bought a short scale Hagstrom H II with that amazing neck and played the heck out of it for many years. THEN I joined TalkBass with the result of the creation of all kinds of GAS. I bought my first P ('08 USA) and that started the acquisition of many long-scale basses. Over the last few years I found that my hands are slowing down and the 35 inchers were the first to go. GREAT sound, hardest to play.

Then I found Medium scale. A MIJ Squier, an Aria Pro II, etc. My latest is a new Squier Tele-bass Special - 32" scale. Much more comfortable these days. I am playing them more than my 34 inchers and the sound is great.

However, I am thinking that I am going to end up back at short scale. I am sure part of it is my long experience with the Hagstrom, but I also feel that a large part of it is simply comfort. My Hofner and Haggies are just delightful to play, and I have yet to try a Birdsong, but I am looking at these and the Mustangs.

It is hard to pass up all the wonderful long-scale basses out there, but I think that short scale is where it's going to be for the rest of my career.
 
#44
BassHappy said:
Here I am with it in 1968:

Rick-EBO.png


www.innertainment.net
Click to expand...

Great vintage picture! I've got that "Earth First" logo from your t shirt as a decal on a vintage gear case. What was the story on that logo, was it common?

As for using a wah pedal as a one-setting boost/tone colorer, I've done that too and hit upon some sick sounds! Never got much but cliches out of stepping on a wah wah, unfortunately, which is of course a failure of my creativity and not the device itself, as wah can sound pretty epic, and is great for nasty tones, too.


Interesting post, thanks!
 
#45
As for the OP, I am a Fender dude and I've got some shorties-- a Mustang and some Musicmasters -- but while they are fun to play, I find the shorties somewhat bland for tracking, as their increased fundamental makes for less nuance on "tape." I suppose better pickups might help? Anyone here track with a short scale for reasons of tonal preference? I'm sure someone here with a Stammy does...
 
#46
I started on a short scale--an EB-3 copy--and for years & years it was my bass.
But after getting used to playing bass, I've never had a problem with picking up a long scale and being able to play it.
There was a bit of an adjustment period as I was a small 14 year old when I got my EB-3 copy, and got that one due to that.

But it didn't take long to adapt to a long scale bass.

Now I have one--fretless.

I can play either and it doesn't mess me up.
Same with guitar--I have 24, 24.75 & 25.5 inch scales and adapt to them all no problem.
But throw a capo on one and I'm messed up.
 
#47
Jah Wobble Fan said:
Great vintage picture! I've got that "Earth First" logo from your t shirt as a decal on a vintage gear case. What was the story on that logo, was it common?

As for using a wah pedal as a one-setting boost/tone colorer, I've done that too and hit upon some sick sounds! Never got much but cliches out of stepping on a wah wah, unfortunately, which is of course a failure of my creativity and not the device itself, as wah can sound pretty epic, and is great for nasty tones, too.


Interesting post, thanks!
Click to expand...

You know, my recollection is - at least in the midwest - was there was an "earth day" type of deal - even back then. Not sure if the date corresponds to what we call "earth day" in the modern era or not - but this was their sanctioned t-shirt.

I remember I picked up a couple of em.

BassHappy
www.innertainment.net
 
#50
Jah Wobble Fan said:
As for the OP, I am a Fender dude and I've got some shorties-- a Mustang and some Musicmasters -- but while they are fun to play, I find the shorties somewhat bland for tracking, as their increased fundamental makes for less nuance on "tape." I suppose better pickups might help? Anyone here track with a short scale for reasons of tonal preference? I'm sure someone here with a Stammy does...
Click to expand...

A stock Musicmaster Bass may lack a bit, so upgrade the bridge and pickups. My first Musicmaster Bass is fitted with a Badass bridge and two DiMarzio Model G pickups. Each pickup has a series-parallel switch. There is a pickup selector and a phase switch as well. (Bridge pickup series-parallel switch and phase switch are on push-pull pots.) The sustain is greatly enhanced and the tonal range is quite wide.

I loaned it to a friend to get his opinion of the modifications and he kept it for 23 years while he worked for Disney Studios and on Broadway!. (I finally did get it back.)
 

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#51
I made the switch when I got recruited to play bass after several years of fronting a band as a guitar player.

I went with an Epiphone Elitist '61 reissue simply because I got a good deal and liked the color (cherry red). I enjoyed the comfort on my shoulder and the playability. I've tried a few standard scale basses since, but they don't make it for me.

I give up nothing in tone with the short scale vs long scale. If anything, short scale basses sound "bassier" to me.

BTW, I'm 6'3" and short scale basses look perfectly fine on me.
 
#54
I can't for the life of me figure out why anybody would base their instrument purchase on what the other band members thought...

If you 're in a crappy band it doesn't matter what the instruments look like.........it will still be a crappy band.

If you're in a good band......people will then try to emulate your instrument choice because you sound so good.
( If you played a short scale bass in this band....they'd go " Wow! I gotta get me one of those".)

The lead guitarist doesn't like the way my bass looks ?.........suck it up, buttercup.
 
#55
I always thought just the opposite, with the shorties having a slightly richer, if somewhat muddier sound, due to the relatively larger pickup aperture. The pickups read the same amount of string, but it's a higher percentage, or wider aperture, on a shorty.
Jah Wobble Fan said:
As for the OP, I am a Fender dude and I've got some shorties-- a Mustang and some Musicmasters -- but while they are fun to play, I find the shorties somewhat bland for tracking, as their increased fundamental makes for less nuance on "tape." I suppose better pickups might help? Anyone here track with a short scale for reasons of tonal preference? I'm sure someone here with a Stammy does...
Click to expand...
 
#56
Jah Wobble Fan said:
As for the OP, I am a Fender dude and I've got some shorties-- a Mustang and some Musicmasters -- but while they are fun to play, I find the shorties somewhat bland for tracking, as their increased fundamental makes for less nuance on "tape." I suppose better pickups might help? Anyone here track with a short scale for reasons of tonal preference? I'm sure someone here with a Stammy does...
Click to expand...
I've used my shorties before because I thought they had the sound I was looking for over my long scale Fenders for particular songs. But my shorties aren't tricked out shorties like Stammies and Birdsongs. The violin basses are thud basses with not much sustain but a cool high end when you boost it a bit, and the Dano is a twang bass, although it's certainly more versatile than that.
 
#57
Malak the Mad said:
My first foray into SS-ville was on a Squier Mikey Way Mustang. The neck was quite comfortable to my hands (I prefer narrower Jazz necks) and fretting was a bit easier. However, I traded it away for two reasons; sonically speaking, it was very monochromatic…too much so, for my tastes. The other was it's ergonomics; as comfy as the neck was (as well as the overall size of the instrument), the body was incredibly ass-heavy and kept dragging to the right.

Maybe someday I'll get to try out a Squier Jaguar SS and see how it feels. Now, if only Fender/Squier made a short-scale Jazz…that'd be awesome!
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They do make Fender jazz SS in japan. It's called a smart size. I'm thinking of getting one.
 
#58
My first bass was a Kay EB-3 copy. It was terrible but it was my first bass and I thought it was the greatest thing in the world for awhile.

I built a short scale bass in high school shop class modeled after the Alembic "Brown Bass". It was not perfect :D, but it got me through 6 months of gigging after my Precision was stolen.

I didn't play a short scale bass again until last year when I finally got a Gibson SG bass. I love it! It's such a fun bass to play and it sounds great.

The only adjustment I have to make is that I have to be a bit more aware of my hand position. I tend to play without looking at my fretboard very often and so I tend to overshoot if I get a bit carried away. :D
 
#59
My main bass is a 36 inch 5 string but for over a year now have I been playing a shorter 4 string near exclusively.
I enjoy the difference in tone and feel that the 34 inch scale gives me.
 

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