The Official Medium Scale Bass Club

[nonohmic]

~
Thanks !

Those are both well respected factories, IIRC.

It's interesting that the Aria SB did not sell well domestically, because [later ?] there was a line of Fender MIJ medium scale basses, which I heard did.

This is a pic of my bass, Roadster Model RS721TR, taken by its last owner for the ad to which I responded :
View attachment 4115197

The best detailed photos of the 1982 Ibanez bass catalogue which I have seen so far are on their own site [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] , but I found the identical files in a post at a message board site similar to TB. - This next pic has fully legible text.
The bass on the right is my model, but as you can see, mine [above] is in the transparent red colour of the long scale bass in the middle.
View attachment 4115188
~

Birth year, med scale GAS!!

 

[RodRy]

Oops. Turns out I measured wrong and it's 30". It's tiny though, only about 10mm 3/8" longer than my XL2. Heavy too, maybe a bit more than the XL2.

Send us a pic, mate? I've got a short scale Samick too. Maybe they are kin?

 

[A9X]

Send us a pic, mate? I've got a short scale Samick too. Maybe they are kin?

Ignore the dust, it's been stored for maybe 17y. Strings are dead but seems to play fine. It's MIK from April 83.

I'll move further posts to the Short Scale Club thread. If I can ever find it again...

 

[Audumbla De Koe]

First post and happy new bassday! A beautiful and (I believe mostly) unplayed Aria Pro ii Cardinal!
And my other Matsumoku Ibanez Musician, cool bass but this one will be for sale soon I guess, small hands here and love the smaller and faster neck.

First post but already some years an enthousiast reader here! Thanks for all the info!

 

[Jeff Elkins]

View attachment 4117556
First post and happy new bassday! A beautiful and (I believe mostly) unplayed Aria Pro ii Cardinal!
And my other Matsumoku Ibanez Musician, cool bass but this one will be for sale soon I guess, small hands here and love the smaller and faster neck.

First post but already some years an enthousiast reader here! Thanks for all the info!

Welcome Audumbla! Welcome to Talkbass and the Medium Scale club!

That Aria is sweet.

 

[A9X]

View attachment 4117556
And my other Matsumoku Ibanez Musician, cool bass but this one will be for sale soon I guess

I almost wish I had the $ to make an offer. I sold mine a decade ago on ebay, and it went for about 1/2 what it was worth. But it went to a teen who was showing a lot of talent, had worked to pay for it himself and was so excited I thought he'd have a seizure. Great basses.

 

[RodRy]

Ignore the dust, it's been stored for maybe 17y. Strings are dead but seems to play fine. It's MIK from April 83.View attachment 4116020
I'll move further posts to the Short Scale Club thread. If I can ever find it again...

Aww, that's a nice looking little bass!

Mine is different, but they are at least cousins! Here's my Shorty in front of some big "brothers."


BTW, short scale club: The Official Short Scale Bass Club -- Part 4
Hope to see you there!

 

[A9X]

Aww, that's a nice looking little bass!

Thanks, she's a wee sweetie.

Mine is different, but they are at least cousins! Here's my Shorty in front of some big "brothers."

That looks closer in size to my Corsair, which is about the same as my Jag. Both Samicks together. Isn't it tiny?

BTW, short scale club: The Official Short Scale Bass Club -- Part 4
Hope to see you there!

I'd seen it before, but did a couple of searches and it never showed up. Cheers.

I'm going to move soon and need to consolidate, so I think the Corsair will go on the chopping block.

 

[RodRy]

Thanks, she's a wee sweetie.

That looks closer in size to my Corsair, which is about the same as my Jag. Both Samicks together. Isn't it tiny?
View attachment 4118090

I'd seen it before, but did a couple of searches and it never showed up. Cheers.

I'm going to move soon and need to consolidate, so I think the Corsair will go on the chopping block.

Yeah, that photo of mine is deceptive because of the rack that they are all on. I just really like the composition.

The body is about 80% the size of a normal P-bass. Makes the short scale work out pretty nicely. When they are all sitting side-by-side the dinky body seems more obvious.

Best of luck with the move, just make sure the Corsair does not end up AS a chopping block!

 

[HOLM]

~
Thanks !

Those are both well respected factories, IIRC.

It's interesting that the Aria SB did not sell well domestically, because [later ?] there was a line of Fender MIJ medium scale basses, which I heard did.

This is a pic of my bass, Roadster Model RS721TR, taken by its last owner for the ad to which I responded :
View attachment 4115197

The best detailed photos of the 1982 Ibanez bass catalogue which I have seen so far are on their own site [Invalid or Expired Link Removed] , but I found the identical files in a post at a message board site similar to TB. - This next pic has fully legible text.
The bass on the right is my model, but as you can see, mine [above] is in the transparent red colour of the long scale bass in the middle.
View attachment 4115188
~

I think the reason why this SB1010 did not sell well was because it was not inexpensive and Japanese love Fender style too much!

 

[canuckshort]

Nice to see the medium scales keep coming. This time from Aria.

Aria Guitars Announces the Jet-B Bass

 

[Protagonist]

Both of my medium scale projects are 'done' so I'm requesting a number. The first one centers on a Lowe custom conversion neck in roasted maple, 1.5" nut with the provided Hipshot lightweight tuners. It's built on the Squier Frankenbass I bought recently with a Fender neck and EMG Geezer Butler PJ pickups and pots. The neck is amazing, the best I've got for sure. Overall playability is great and the bass is super light, around or maybe under 7 pounds per the bathroom scale. I also changed out the pickguard for a more traditional looking tort vs the red pearl that was on it and really like it. Someday I might upgrade the body (it's agathis) but that can wait for now.

The next bass is also a conversion of sorts. I had recently built a Warmoth short scale but decided to try medium scale instead. This neck is roasted too and also nice but the Lowe neck is the clear winner. This neck arrived yesterday and I got it changed out and initially setup. So far I like the bass much more as a medium. The playing angles are much better on my wonky left shoulder but it's still short enough and light enough for overall comfort. So now I have 2 medium scales done in just a couple of weeks time (and another on the way, oops). I guess you could say I'm a conversion too.

 

[Djadja]

Both of my medium scale projects are 'done' so I'm requesting a number. The first one centers on a Lowe custom conversion neck in roasted maple, 1.5" nut with the provided Hipshot lightweight tuners. It's built on the Squier Frankenbass I bought recently with a Fender neck and EMG Geezer Butler PJ pickups and pots. The neck is amazing, the best I've got for sure. Overall playability is great and the bass is super light, around or maybe under 7 pounds per the bathroom scale. I also changed out the pickguard for a more traditional looking tort vs the red pearl that was on it and really like it. Someday I might upgrade the body (it's agathis) but that can wait for now.View attachment 4150542
The next bass is also a conversion of sorts. I had recently built a Warmoth short scale but decided to try medium scale instead. This neck is roasted too and also nice but the Lowe neck is the clear winner. This neck arrived yesterday and I got it changed out and initially setup. So far I like the bass much more as a medium. The playing angles are much better on my wonky left shoulder but it's still short enough and light enough for overall comfort. So now I have 2 medium scales done in just a couple of weeks time (and another on the way, oops). I guess you could say I'm a conversion too.

Tell us more about the Warmoth build - pickups? preamp? body wood? I've been thinking about a similar build and find myself looking at the in stock bodies and necks often.

 

[Protagonist]

Tell us more about the Warmoth build - pickups? preamp? body wood? I've been thinking about a similar build and find myself looking at the in stock bodies and necks often.

Pickups are Bartolini Classic humbuckers, preamp is a Nordstrand 3 band with passive mode and passive mode tone control, the body is a short scale G4 in roasted swamp ash with matte clear finish. If I had to do it over I'd probably just go jazz or PJ since I mostly like it in passive mode so far. I didn't have an active bass though when I placed my order back around March for the body and the original short scale neck. The Bartolinis do sound great though.

 

[RodRy]

Both of my medium scale projects are 'done' so I'm requesting a number. The first one centers on a Lowe custom conversion neck in roasted maple, 1.5" nut with the provided Hipshot lightweight tuners. It's built on the Squier Frankenbass I bought recently with a Fender neck and EMG Geezer Butler PJ pickups and pots. The neck is amazing, the best I've got for sure. Overall playability is great and the bass is super light, around or maybe under 7 pounds per the bathroom scale. I also changed out the pickguard for a more traditional looking tort vs the red pearl that was on it and really like it. Someday I might upgrade the body (it's agathis) but that can wait for now.View attachment 4150542
The next bass is also a conversion of sorts. I had recently built a Warmoth short scale but decided to try medium scale instead. This neck is roasted too and also nice but the Lowe neck is the clear winner. This neck arrived yesterday and I got it changed out and initially setup. So far I like the bass much more as a medium. The playing angles are much better on my wonky left shoulder but it's still short enough and light enough for overall comfort. So now I have 2 medium scales done in just a couple of weeks time (and another on the way, oops). I guess you could say I'm a conversion too.

Very nice! I dig the blue with tort combo on your Frankenbass. Mr. Lowe seems to be a good guy to work with too. I really like the clean look of your Warmoth build. I also notice both have maple fretboards...

 

[Protagonist]

Very nice! I dig the blue with tort combo on your Frankenbass. Mr. Lowe seems to be a good guy to work with too. I really like the clean look of your Warmoth build. I also notice both have maple fretboards...

Yep, I'm a fan of maple fretboards! The one I hinted at being on the way has rosewood though. I'll have to live with it I guess
Edit: attached a sneak peak of the rosewood on the neck. Looks pretty good to me.

Now I just need to recoup some of the money by moving on some previous purchases to their next home.

 

[BTL]

Both of my medium scale projects are 'done' so I'm requesting a number. The first one centers on a Lowe custom conversion neck in roasted maple, 1.5" nut with the provided Hipshot lightweight tuners. It's built on the Squier Frankenbass I bought recently with a Fender neck and EMG Geezer Butler PJ pickups and pots. The neck is amazing, the best I've got for sure. Overall playability is great and the bass is super light, around or maybe under 7 pounds per the bathroom scale. I also changed out the pickguard for a more traditional looking tort vs the red pearl that was on it and really like it. Someday I might upgrade the body (it's agathis) but that can wait for now.

The next bass is also a conversion of sorts. I had recently built a Warmoth short scale but decided to try medium scale instead. This neck is roasted too and also nice but the Lowe neck is the clear winner. This neck arrived yesterday and I got it changed out and initially setup. So far I like the bass much more as a medium. The playing angles are much better on my wonky left shoulder but it's still short enough and light enough for overall comfort. So now I have 2 medium scales done in just a couple of weeks time (and another on the way, oops). I guess you could say I'm a conversion too.

That Frankenbass turned out great! Nice work and thanks for the kind words. The Warmoth is nice as well.

 

[Protagonist]

To anyone that likes GHS Pressurewounds and is sad they don't make medium scales anymore...I decided to turn off the part of my brain that keeps me from trying stuff for which I don't see a clear route to success and I messaged GHS. I asked if there's a number that would be worth it to them to make a run of medium scale PWs. I'll let you know if they respond.

 

[John Luka]

I have GHS pressurewounds on my medium scale SX Ursa bass. Works fine so far.

 

[GwenOnBass]

To anyone that likes GHS Pressurewounds and is sad they don't make medium scales anymore...I decided to turn off the part of my brain that keeps me from trying stuff for which I don't see a clear route to success and I messaged GHS. I asked if there's a number that would be worth it to them to make a run of medium scale PWs. I'll let you know if they respond.

My word. I've an unopened, and soon-to-be-installed package of medium scale PWs in reserve right now. I've heard they last a long time, but a long time =/= FlatwoundForever. I'd rather not have to be a string hoarder.