What to get?

[TotallyNotTom]

Hi there. I'm a teenager who's been playing the bass for just over a year now. I so far been using an encore bass to learn the ropes, while it is excellent to start out on, I am looking at investing into a new bass using a combination of my birthday money and my savings.
Now, while this may sound strange for a bass player, I have really small hands. So I looked through some of the smaller necked basses such as Ibanez's. I also love the sound of the fender precision bass.
Some other bass players I know have told me that if I want to play any fender bass, that I should go with a jazz bass on account of the thinner neck and that a precision bass will be too much of a handful.
So I guess what I'm asking for is some advice on a good bass up to the £500 range, also taking into account my minuscule hands. Any help would be greatly appreciate, thanks in advance

 

[CrispyDelicious]

Are you interested in narrow string spacing, thin necks, short scale length, or a combination of the three?

 

[Spinal Tapper]

The Geddy Lee jazz has the thinnest neck you can find on a Fender bass (on most any basses I've played actually). The jazz PU's give you good tonal options, you can definitely roll back the bridge PU and max the neck PU for a Precision-like sound. They can be had VERY cheap if you buy used - almost half of the retail value they go for new nowadays.

 

[drden]

Ibanez basses = skinny necks

I had an old Ibanez from the eighties, which had the thinnest neck I've ever played.

oh how I miss it...

 

[TotallyNotTom]

Narrow string spacing and thin necks are what I'm interested in. I don't have as much preference when it comes to the scale size. Thanks for the replies and advice guys

 

[millsbass5]

Go w/the Fender J-Bass Special.Best of both worlds,Jazz neck,P and J pups.Great basses,all-around.You can pickem' up used for around $350.00 USD.Great basses,for the money.

Want more info???Go to Fender's site and check out the Duff McKagen Signature Bass.Same thing.

 

[msiner]

First some vocabulary:

thin vs thick : generally refers to the distance from the back of the neck to the fingerboard

narrow vs wide : generally refers to the width of the fingerboard, usually measured at the nut

short vs long : generally refers to the scale length of the bass, simplistically the length from the nut to the 12th fret doubled

A Jazz bass has a narrow neck, but is not always particularly thin. An Ibanez SR is known for having a thin neck.

 

[TotallyNotTom]

Thanks. I will admit I was getting a little confused. Sorry about this, I am pretty bad at remembering all the vocabulary.

 

[ggunn]

Narrow string spacing and thin necks are what I'm interested in. I don't have as much preference when it comes to the scale size. Thanks for the replies and advice guys

If your hands are really small, then you may want to consider a short(er) scale bass because the frets will be closer together.