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Too-Short Short-Scale strings - taper over the nut... thoughts?

vibroverbus

vibroverbus

Mar 20, 2018
203
299
#1
OK so sorta long story.

In addition to my 'proper' instrument I have 2 short scalers, a vintage Mosrite Ventures and a minty clean funky 70's Japanese Epiphone ET-280. (Motto: "I don't always play short scale, but when I do its an oddball kitschy hipster instrument")

When I quit a band years back (classic 'band angst' scenario...) out of good will I loaned the Mosrite back to the band as they tried to get a guy play well enough to gig while trying to find a better player. In the end I think that idea (duh) failed spectacularly (related to the other thread going on now it was obviously predicated on the idea "hell, ANYBODY can play bass!").

I got it back after a while and stuffed it in the closet.... Well turns out seems that I didn't really look at the thing for years.

Seems they restrung it BITD with new short scale strings, but, too short for the scale of the instrument, and they cross the nut before / around the taper winds.

I'm about to restore that bass, but the strings are actually nice - some kind of half-rounds that have a nice tone on the short scale. Any reason I shouldn't toss them on the Epi instead?
The thing was probably hardly played at all with them, and strings LOOK perfectly fine (no sign of separation or unraveling or anything).
 
#2
Nah; those strings are old. I would replace them as a matter of course, if it were me. And, if they don't really fit the Mosrite, how sure are you that they'll fit the Epi? String companies have a little guilty secret; all long, medium or short scales are not really the same length. The speaking part of the string is pretty much the same on all short scales, for example, but the overall length can vary a lot. And the speaking length can vary some, too - as you've discovered. Bass Strings Online's String Length Guide is posted in a sticky at the top of this forum. Measure the distance from the nut to...where ever the ball end of the string goes, and then just have fun seeing which strings will fit your basses... And don't be shocked when you see how much difference in them there is...:thumbsup:
 
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#3
Oh yeah of course I have to measure - just haven't gotten around to doing that, just thought i'd ask if there's any 'known damage' from having been strung up that way once already. I have several sets of 'short scale' and indeed - seems like its a moving target, thanks for confirmation that its not just me. I don't really want to spring for string dough on the Epi (tho gotta admit I'd forgotten how decent it sounds until I played it last few days... surprising for such a weirdo instrument... gee I guess that's why i gigged with it a buncha times BITD... )
 
#4
vibroverbus said:
Oh yeah of course I have to measure - just haven't gotten around to doing that, just thought i'd ask if there's any 'known damage' from having been strung up that way once already. I have several sets of 'short scale' and indeed - seems like its a moving target, thanks for confirmation that its not just me. I don't really want to spring for string dough on the Epi (tho gotta admit I'd forgotten how decent it sounds until I played it last few days... surprising for such a weirdo instrument... gee I guess that's why i gigged with it a buncha times BITD... )
Click to expand...

Trio 1.JPG I love my old Japanese Epiphones... I doubt those strings have hurt anything; just might make tuning/intonating a little difficult. I recently put a set of GHS Pressure Wounds on my short scale Eastwood Flying V bass. I'm a flats/tapes fanatic, but those Pressure Wounds are very, very nice...:cool:
 
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#5
Groovy. This bass isn't as nearly cool as that archtop jobber you got there, but it is in the exact same "Any color you want as long as it's Japanese Epi Red". Supposedly it was the bottom of the line... Well OK there apparently was a single PU model so this would be 2nd to last.

Here's an ancient crap pic of it...
guitars%20%281%29.jpg


I've read on the web about the pickups being "loosely constructed" and falling apart inside, I need to lift the pickguard to clean the pots and tweak the input jack a little and I'm a little worried about them falling apart when I do. I'm sure I'll be able to manage getting them back in order if that happens, but they work great now and aren't loose or rattley (which is reported to happen) so hoping I can keep them that way. This guy is minty mint more or less aside from oddly having lost a tuner bushing at some point before my ownership (somebody must have knocked it around for a while with no strings on it?) but I was able to find and slice a piece of metal tubing that was close enough to an exact fit to make that not a problem. Hardware can be a PITA on the Asian instruments when you find parts that look exactly like USA copies, but is all made to metric specifications, so LOOKS exactly the same size and proportions as the real USA stuff but is actually a 'converted' metric dimension. BTDT w an amazingly great Hondo Tele I have.

Wrong subforum for this post really. But there ya go.
 

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