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uncomfortable on 34" scale

Yvon

Yvon

Nov 2, 2000
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Montreal, Canada
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#1
I've been playing my Lecompte (35") almost exclusively for the last year, yesterday I was playing along with some motown song, so I thought I would use my P bass. I used it for about 2 minutes! I felt cramped. Maybe because it's a four string, but I felt it was the scale lenght that bodered me.
Anyone else have a hard time with 34" scale?
 
#4
I wouldn't exactly say that I'm uncomfortable with 34" scale, but I prefer 35" and 30" scale basses to 34". My 35" scale basses play great, so my 34" and 32" scale basses don't get as much playing time.

I have played a few killer 34" scale basses by Curbow that blew my mind and I may consider getting one some day.
 
#6
I've never played a 35" but I used to play 34", 32", and 30". It took maybe 30 to 60 seconds to adjust. String spacing messes me up more than scale length.

And I could pick any of them up cold and play. It was only switching that would momentarily throw me off.

I'm surprised you felt cramped, I would expect the P to have a wider string spacing than a five and actually feel too open. I know when I switch from the five to the four it feels more open.

Or by cramped did you mean less note choices? That I could understand.
 
#7
Can't believe it would be the scale... there is such a slight, slight difference in feel between 34" and 35"... small fractions of a fraction of an inch in each fret position.

There is a difference though, and I have heard of the slightly wider 35" scale causing some problems. I've never heard of it the other way around.
 
#10
seanm said:
I'm surprised you felt cramped, I would expect the P to have a wider string spacing than a five and actually feel too open. I know when I switch from the five to the four it feels more open.

Or by cramped did you mean less note choices? That I could understand.
Click to expand...

I changed the neck on the P bass a long while ago for Jazz neck. I regret it today. But the was so big! 1" 3/4

I wish I put a 1" 5/8 neck instead of the 1" 1/2

The note choice is not a problem, I don't play that much on the B string. 99% of the time I could do fine on a 4 string.

Maybe it's just the fact that I'm so used to a five string when I play on a four I just feel weird.
 
#12
Pilgrim said:
I don't have any trouble moving back and forth between 30" to 34" basses; I'd be surprised if a difference of 1" in scale would be a problem. When I play any of my 30" basses, I can use my third finger for notes that I need my fourth finger to reach on the 34". It adds a note to my reach.
Click to expand...

I notice more difference switching between my 4 string and my 5 and 6 strings . After getting used to playing 6 strings, I have found moving about the wider neck offers much more flexibility (and to me) ease of play than a 4 string.

Like you I have one bass with a 30 and many with 34" scale. I still have 2 4 strings, one of those is a 30" scale acoustic and the other is a 34" scale P Bass. I don't have any issue going from the 34 to the 30, that is I don't notice feeling more cramped.

I have noticed a very minor difference going from the 34" to the 35" scale, but barely perceptible (I had a 35" scale 6 string Rogue cheapie) requiring just a little more stretch here and there.

I suspect you may be feeling the fewer number of strings moreso than the scale... but that's just MHO.
 
#13
There's not that much dif in terms of % of scale from 34 to 35.
It's more likely that the different bodies have the neck positioned differently relative to where you are.
I move from 34 to 35 to 43 all the time.
 

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