Dropped hight from 2.75 at 12th down to 2mm made a nice difference. Thanks for advice pcake
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The Squier Mini Precision Bass Club
- Thread starter sabre79
- Start date
It would be cool if they made a short scale P-bass with a normal size body and headstock, kind of like the Mustang.
Maybe they did 
I just returned to bass after many years of just playing with myself. Glad to have something firm in my hands again.
Maybe they did
I just returned to bass after many years of just playing with myself. Glad to have something firm in my hands again.
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Regarding flat wound short scale bass strings....
I think that Chromes in short scale only come in 45-100 gauges, such as from here :
D'Addario ECB81S Short Scale Chromes Flat Wound Electric Bass Strings Regular Light 45-100
GHS makes Precision Flats.
Shorts in those are 45-95, but the wrapped portion is longer, at 32.75", as is the case for ALL shorts of that brand, AFAIK.
LaBella makes some shorts which are 39-96, but they caution against wrapping the wound portion around the tuner, and at 32.25" for those, it will happen on a Mini P.
I did a bunch of homework for strings earlier on for the Mini P, before learning of Fender's misinformation about the nut width broke the deal for me.
Personally, I am not fond of strings that light on a short scale bass, but other brands to consider are Tomastik, Pyramid, and RotoSound.
Of those 3 brands, you might like the RotoSound short flats on price, and their gauges of 40-90, but I do not know their wrapped length :
Rotosound RS77S Short Scale Monel Flatwound Jazz Bass Guitar Strings Standard 40-90
Chances are that in UK, there are other sellers, if I read correctly your posts about where you are located.
And again, if the wrapped part of the string goes around the tuner post, as most of these will on this bass, it is at your own risk.
Cheers!
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~It would be cool if they made a short scale P-bass with a normal size body and headstock, kind of like the Mustang.
Maybe they did
I just returned to bass after many years of just playing with myself. Glad to have something firm in my hands again.
Good One !
Such basses have been built, as you mentioned, but if you did not choose a Mustang, was it due to price ?
There are some Mustangs which Fender SAYS have a wider nut [if I can believe them anymore], and therefive would be within my specs range, but they are something like a grand in price !
I said earlier that I would not mind adding an extra hundred to the price of the Mini-P if the bass was within my specs, but what a Mustang costs far exceeds what I am willing to add for my idealism.
A Hofner Ignition series club [or violin] bass would work, weighs only about 5 pounds, and costs less than one of those Mustangs, but I already own one.
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Like THIS one :
Fender American Performer Mustang Bass - Arctic White with Rosewood Fingerboard
$1250 USD !
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Received my Mini P tonight. Everything looks god on it aside from some rough spots on the back of the neck but some 0000 steel wool will fix no problem. Slight truss adjustment was needed but all in all I am pleased with it. Very light at 6.4lbs. I mainly bought it for the neck and body and will use it as a project Bass. It was definitely worth the money for me 
Took a pic of it next to my Warmoth 32" medium scale Jazz.
Took a pic of it next to my Warmoth 32" medium scale Jazz. 
32.25" per the Rotosound website.
I only have experience with the low E from the Jazz Bass 77 short-scale (RS77S) flatwound set, and I don't recommend it: tone is OK, if deader than usual reports of (long-scale) Roto flats would lead you to expect, but the 090 shortie (BTW reportedly identical to the medium) string is too low-tension and too stiff at the same time, so it needs a lot of room for the bridge saddle to intonate, and is very wobbly-pitched upon the attack with but the lightest of touches. YMMV.
It's interesting that some of you have mentioned rough spots on the back of the neck. I have the same thing.
Exactly? I have Gotoh GB707 compact tuners. They are very nice 20:1 tuners, IMHO.
Was getting close to throwing them on the Mini. The specs say they need a 9/16" hole, which is 14.2875mm.
Anyone think they will drop in or will need some reaming?
If it needs some reaming, I'm going to pass for now.
If they will drop in, I'm probably going to do it.
Somebody school me.
Exactly? I have Gotoh GB707 compact tuners. They are very nice 20:1 tuners, IMHO.
Was getting close to throwing them on the Mini. The specs say they need a 9/16" hole, which is 14.2875mm.
Anyone think they will drop in or will need some reaming?
If it needs some reaming, I'm going to pass for now.
If they will drop in, I'm probably going to do it.
Somebody school me.
I think just about everyone wants to know if you’ll make pickguards for the rest of us now.
14.2875 mm is bigger than 14 mm. I would suggest to validate this highly scientific approach by some practical tests.
I have access to 2 Weeke cnc machines at work, too bad I'm the repair man not the programmer.
If I could figure the programming out, I'd make some up. Doing it by hand is way too inconsistent.
If I could figure the programming out, I'd make some up. Doing it by hand is way too inconsistent.
I don't even have one of these basses...yet. Being able to get one of those pickguards will certainly help me take the plunge!
Well, I must admit I did use a cloth tape measure, however, they should fit without issue. Changing one of them to see how it goes is what I would do. Changing the tuners out is about as hard as opening a jar of pickles. The GB350 Res-O-Lite's that I first installed needed a 9/16" hole also. 0.2875mm is almost nothing. Give it a try. Here's a clue..... they will fit just fine. Cheers.
Well, I must admit I did use a cloth tape measure, however, they should fit without issue. Changing one of them to see how it goes is what I would do. Changing the tuners out is about as hard as opening a jar of pickles. The GB350 Res-O-Lite's that I first installed needed a 9/16" hole also. 0.2875mm is almost nothing. Give it a try. Here's a clue..... they will fit just fine. Cheers.
Cool. Going for it. Yeah, I know it's easy. I just have had some Mini trauma, and was trying to avoid any more.
...
Well, that first one was so fast that I am able to still edit this post.
Gotoh GB707 Compacts are a perfect drop-in - down to the alignment of the screw on the back.
Can't finish the job because I have to run to rehearsal, but I will later today.
Will also be changing out to matching large strap pins.
Details at 11. For now, check this out:
The GB707s are smaller and lighter than the stock tuners.
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Those RotoSounds would absolutely NOT be MY choice of string for ANY short scale bass.
I only suggested them because the poster to whom I was replying wanted that gauge range.
To be clear, I do not, for a short scale bass.
What you described is nothing more nor less than what a string which has too little tension will do - it will flop around and be inconsistent in pitch, no matter how good all of the other factors about the instrument are.
For the life of me, I have no idea what drugs the engineers took, who first suggested that strings for shorter scale instruments ought to be lighter than for long scale, be it a bass or anything else.
MOST STRING MANUFACTURERS HAVE IT WRONG !
What I personally would suggest for a short scale bass is a whole step HEAVIER, in order to recover the tension lost when comparing it to a long scale bass.
So, these are the changes which might make sense :
If the G on a 34" bass was .045" in diameter, then on a 30" bass, it should be more like .051" to maintain the same tension (if the 'unit weight' remains the same, IOW, the core diameter and how the wraps are done internally).
If the D in a properly balanced set was 60 in long scale, then for short it should be 68, given the same considerations about the build of the string.
If the A in a properly balanced set was 80 in long scale, then for short it should be 91.
If the E in a properly balanced set was 106 in long scale, then for short it should be 120.
The above gauge numbers are based upon the premise that for a string of a given diameter and internal construction, the active portion of the string is 1.133 times the length on a 34" scale bass that it would be on a 30" scale bass.
If you tune it to the same pitch on the shorter scale bass without changing the gauge nor construction of the string, then the tension will be 1/1.133 of what it would be on the long scale bass.
If you want the tension not to be reduced on the short scale bass while keeping the same pitch, then you must increase (multiply) the diameter of the string by the ratio of the scale lengths of the two basses, in this instance, by 1.133, to get the required string diameters for the short scale bass.
This is what I did in the above examples.
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BTW, a good example of a set which has properly balanced tension from string to string is the GHS Balanced Nickels.
Even so, the only short scale version of those has gauges from 44 thru 106, but it is still heavier than a 40-95-ish set.
Anybody who likes roundwound bass strings [and has a 'standard 'long or a 'regular' short scale bass] ought to consider trying GHS Balanced Nickels.
Unfortunately, there are less bass string choices in general for folks who prefer flats, or anything else not roundwound, such as me.
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