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Travel Bass: 30” or a Bass Uke?

Which for Overseas Travel?

  • Short Scale Stingray

    Votes: 17 28.3%

  • Bass Uke

    Votes: 26 43.3%

  • Cheapo Short Scale Bass (SX?)

    Votes: 19 31.7%
  • Total voters
    60
Dr. Cheese

Dr. Cheese

Supporting Member
Mar 3, 2004
57,348
120,759
Metro St. Louis
#1
My daughter may be going to South Africa for study abroad this fall. This would give me an excuse to visit for a week myself. I haven’t been there since 2006. In all of my trips Africa, I never took a bass. If I go this time, I will take something, either a short scale Stingray or a Bass Uke. In terms of what I like most, I definitely prefer the Stingray. That said Bass Ukes are so small and international travel tends be really strict about weight.







https://youtu.be/2pErq0RJDXw
 
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#3
Maybe take one of those tiny amps they have now in your luggage and buy an Ibanez Micro (or equivalent) when you get there, and give it away to a deserving kid when you leave????

I tried my first "bass uke" at a GC this past weekend. It was not cheap (over $500), and I could not even hear it over the general background din typical of GC on a weekend. Plus, I don't think I could ever get used to those strings. If you are willing to spend that kind of money, I would just get the GS mini bass (comes with an excellent travel case that fits in an overhead bin) or something similar. It's too bad Yamaha has not done a mini acoustic bass. Their CSF parlor guitars are an excellent alternative to the Taylor GS mini and can be had for a much better price.
 
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#5
Dr. Cheese said:
My daughter may be going to South Africa for study abroad this fall. This would give me an excuse to visit for a week myself. I haven’t been there since 2006. In all of my trips Africa, I never took a bass. If I go this time, I will take something, either a short scale Stingray or a Bass Uke. In terms of what I like most, I definitely prefer the Stingray. That said Bass Ukes are so small and international travel tends be really strict about weight.






https://youtu.be/2pErq0RJDXw
Click to expand...

I have a cheap Hadean solid body Uke I use for travel. I disconnect the neck and can then fit it in my backpack or carry on
 
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#6
Dr. Cheese said:
My daughter may be going to South Africa for study abroad this fall. This would give me an excuse to visit for a week myself. I haven’t been there since 2006. In all of my trips Africa, I never took a bass. If I go this time, I will take something, either a short scale Stingray or a Bass Uke. In terms of what I like most, I definitely prefer the Stingray. That said Bass Ukes are so small and international travel tends be really strict about weight.






Click to expand...

Make sure it has absolutely nothing on it that even slightly resembles rosewood
 
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#8
Honestly, how many play time would you get, when visiting a country on the other side of the planet? In one week? One hour? Two?

I think you are just trying to justify buying another bass.

What's the difference between taking a 30" or a 34" bass on a plain? None.



Sorry, but being witness to your constant struggle against gas, led to be so direct.
 
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#9
J_Bass said:
Honestly, how many play time would you get, when visiting a country on the other side of the planet? In one week? One hour? Two?

I think you are just trying to justify buying another bass.

What's the difference between taking a 30" or a 34" bass on a plain? None.



Sorry, but being witness to your constant struggle against gas, led to be so direct.
Click to expand...
Big difference if trying to take it as carry on.
 
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#11
J_Bass said:
Honestly, how many play time would you get, when visiting a country on the other side of the planet? In one week? One hour? Two?

I think you are just trying to justify buying another bass.

What's the difference between taking a 30" or a 34" bass on a plain? None.



Sorry, but being witness to your constant struggle against gas, led to be so direct.
Click to expand...

Hopefully, I will take an additional trip after this fall before I retire in a few years. My wife want to go to Hawaii in a the near future, and I would like to do an extended car tour of Canada also. I will likely get some good use out of a travel size bass. I idea is to get bass I would enjoy playing if I weren’t traveling too. That said, you are right, I do talk about my GAS struggles and I appreciate your concern.:)
 
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#12
Dr. Cheese said:
Hopefully, I will an additional trip after this fall before I retire in a few years. My wife want to go to Hawaii in a the near future, and I would like to do an extended car tour of Canada also. I will likely get some good use out of a travel size bass. I idea is to get bass I would enjoy playing if I weren’t traveling too. That said, you are right, I do talk about my GAS struggles and I appreciate your concern.:)
Click to expand...

Don't take my post wrong.

It's just that I read your numerous threads about gas, and I see it as a struggle not to buy more basses. You say it yourself in those threads.

If it wasn't the case I wouldn't have said anything, of course.
 
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#14
J_Bass said:
I bet it's less than the cost of a new bass, bought to play on vacation abroad, for one week.
Click to expand...
Probably, but if it goes in with the rest of the luggage there’s a good chance it’ll be kindling.

Scott Devine has given some tips like using a gig bag and strapping it to your back upside down so it looks much less obtrusive to the flight attendants who may snag you when you board your flight.
 
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#15
J_Bass said:
Don't take my post wrong.

It's just that I read your numerous threads about gas, and I see it as a struggle not to buy more basses. You say it yourself in those threads.

If it wasn't the case I wouldn't have said anything, of course.
Click to expand...
I honestly appreciate your concern. I have actually downsized a lot. I just sold a bigger cabinet I wasn’t using this week.
 
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#18
People are free to spend their time and money as they like, and honestly I don’t know much about South Africa but having been to Hawaii…I can’t think of a second I would have spent playing bass there. You can go from a rainforest to a frigid, rocky mountaintop to a lunar surface-esque lava field all in the same day. I’d say it’s like another planet but it is more like several other planets.

Then again I did manage to warm up my friend’s Rickenbacker when we visited his place in Oahu, but that was totally accidental I swear!
 
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#19
My .02: headless 34" scale of your choice. In my experience, arriving somewhere and trying to practice/play on anything that feels alien to me yields more frustration than pleasure, so unless a shorty or uke bass is something you "want to get into" even at home, it risks becoming an expense with only marginal usefulness. My Kiesel 34" 5er fits in an overhead bin and has travelled all over our crazy, communal, flying rock :). That said-there's merit to takin' a break from bass and spending the money on great experiences with your daughter.
 
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#20
Dr. Cheese said:
I honestly appreciate your concern. I have actually downsized a lot. I just sold a bigger cabinet I wasn’t using this week.
Click to expand...
I'm in the downsizing stage, too.

Sold three basses in the past months, just the acoustic is not worth the trouble of selling, it's an entry level Fender 60.

I'm now down to three. My first bass, that I won't ever sell for sentimental reasons, and my 2 Yamaha basses, that are the basses that I actually use. 2 basses is pretty sober, in my opinion. I rarely play my first bass, and the acoustic just isn't worth the trouble of selling, to get like 100€. It's a decorative piece that I can also play, if I want.
 
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