Why would anyone play a bass longer than 30" scale?

[Jeff Scott]

Do you like clubbing your lead guitarist and/or singer in the head?

In a word, YES!!!

 

[groooooove]

on really fine instruments, a longer scale can actually allow for lower action. my 35.5" basses play a lot easier than many 30" basses - but in a different way. I can dial the strings lower on the longer scale basses and have no buzzing what so ever.

a 30" bass has that low string tension and close fret distances which really is fantastic. 34" really is not a struggle, especially since i've spent years at 35.25", and 35.5".

the feel and sound is different. I agree that 30" is perfectly acceptable, but i also like to see basses longer than 35 - especially with low B strings.

 

[Artman]

Just play the bass(es) that you like and don't waste energy worrying about what anyone else prefers or why. It's the tired old strat vs lp/humbucker vs sc/fretted vs fretless/P vs J vs PJ/ windows vs mac. Some use one. Some use the other. Some use both. Ultimately, you will sound best with the instruments that feel best to you. Use them and enjoy them. Rock on.

 

[mellowinman]

I have another answer for this thread:

Because P Bass with tort and flats.

HA!

 

[ejaggers]

i have a couple great short scales and theyre fun to rip around on but i dont think of them as serious instruments. they feel like toys to me. i actually have to try harder to play them. 34" just plays itself. it is more ergonomic for me and resonates with much more authority

I'm tall and have huge hands. My basses are 34's, and have P width necks - even my J has a P width neck, because...it fits me, and is easier to play. Because...it fits me.

I built myself a 32 at one point. It felt like a toy, and was harder to play. Going from a 34 to that requured adjustment in muscle memory that wasn't worth it. I donated it.

A 34 with very light gauge strings has a twang on the lower frets of the G and D strings that you don't get on a short scale. It also has a more solid E string.

34's work for me. If something else works for you, great. But tunderstand that the way you see things is just...your opinion. There's nothing wrong with people thar see the world differently.

I have the complete opposite experience. My first two basses were short scale, a Kalamazoo KD, then a Fender Coronado II, which I played for years.
And Like the OP, I have sung lead and B/G in most bands I've been in. In fact, I rarely had the luxury of being only a bass player.

Then I got my '72 Jazz and hated it for years because it was so awkward. It took a long time before I could play w/o looking at my fingers.
Playing, looking at my fingers, and keeping my mouth close to the mic was no fun, but I can play both SS and LG now equally.

Since I played SS better, it sounded better to me tonally. Years later, I put Fralins in my J, and fell in love with it for the first time in all these years.
But lately, my go to is my SS Jaguar, with is the first bass I've ever bought online. Some TBers have posted that it felt like a toy because of the thin neck,
so I almost didn't buy it even though it was a steal, but I was pleasantly surprised that it felt like home.

Bottom line, I've always believed that it is harder to go from SS to LG, than the other way around.


057912

 

[felis]

I have another answer for this thread:

Because P Bass with tort and flats.

HA!

And carrots.

 

[lavmonga]

In my opinion, I'd ask the opposite and ask why anyone would want a bass below 34" scale.

 

[Mrb1268]

Plain and simple, I like the way a 34" scale bass looks.....nothing against all the rest thats just what I like.
Felis said, P-Bass w/tort & flats......Agree 100!

 

[Toolmybass]

Singer bassist from Type O Negative is 6'8" and dude from Nirvana was 6'7" so I'm sure 30 would feel like a mandolin to them lol

 

[Ric5]

I REALLY LIKE 30", 32", 33" AND 34" SCALE BASSES …

But I don't like 35"

 

[Chrisk-K]

The OP should ask, "why would anyone want to play bass?" when guitarists get all the spotlight.

 

[J-Mags]

Singer bassist from Type O Negative is 6'8" and dude from Nirvana was 6'7" so I'm sure 30 would feel like a mandolin to them lol

I had a strap belonging to Chris Novoselic that he tossed into the audience at a club show after Nirvana did some instrument smashing. It was this stretchy stuff with strap ends stapled to it with a staple gun and then duck taped. I'm 6'2" and it hung down below my knees when I put an instrument on it.

I must not have guarded it with the solemnity it deserved, because I have no idea what happened to it.

 

[pbass2]

Because pbasses are 34". I do play shorties too though, about 40% of the time. They sound different. It's all about the sound I'm after, has never been about comfort, etc.--I find them both comfortable.
I will say I once had a bass that was simply too LONG for me to comfortably play--had a Dingwall and as a fairly small dude, I just could not get comfy on the extended 37" scale of the low end of that beast.

 

[lermgalieu]

I have mostly 34" scale basses, but I do have a Mustang. The Mustang is great, a little less meat at the very bottom, but not enough for me to consider it "the" reason to pick one or the other. I think taken as a whole, the reason I like 34" scale basses is they feel good to my hands. Might be related to also playing double bass, but it's not like I am avoiding something that's easier just for pride's sake. I LIKE long scale. That really should be a good enough reason. Liking a longer scale doesn't mean I have some kind of mental issue or am trying to prove my manhood or something. Doesn't hurt, and it gives my freedom and space. Mustang is a little cramped in comparison. I will say that it's much easier for me to sing and play with the Mustang. Then again I don't sing very often or very well anyway, so that's not a big factor for me.

 

[aprod]

A 34 inch scale bass is comfortable and sounds great. Shorter scale basses feel like toys and usually sound muddy and weak unless you spend 10K for a Stanley Clarke Alembic.

 

[walking Bass]

When I traded my Fender Jazzmaster for a bass in 1964, the Fender basses had terrible sustain with the felt pads they used to dampen harmonics and sounded pretty dull and un-musical. The Gibson EB-2 had a much better tone and the semi-hollow body seemed more musical the the EB-0. It was more expensive, but prettier.

When I wanted a fretless, I got a 34 inch Rob Allen MB-2, because it sounded best. My 5-string is a Ken Smith with 34 inch. Each were chosen because they sounded best to me.

I now play the above basses and a recent vintage Gibson SG and Taylor Mini. Different tools for different jobs.

 

[Spirit of Ox]

Wait...MakoMan, you've only been playing for 6 years and you sing lead and played over 200 shows? Did you switch from guitar to bass? I could see that being a reason to favor shortscale.

Also, Mike Watt plays 30" because he's "less young", and developed arthritis. He has an easier time with shortscale. Don't forget, this guy was wailing on Thunderbirds and Telecaster basses back in the day.

 

[MotorCityMinion]

Folks who like short scale often define the sound as, wooly, well rounded, silky.
Folks who who hate short scales define the sound muddy, clanky, undefined.

All my basses are 34", I like the tension for snaps, pull offs, hammer ons, chords, any time I want piano like clarity, they just seem to respond better.

I do have gas for a semi hollow 32 or 30. In a rock band, wooly is not for me but in the bedroom or with guys that tame the volume and I don't need those upper notes, it sounds appealing.

 

[lossfizzle]

I really want to like short scale basses. I think they look totally great and, in theory, they should be easier for me to play as someone who grew up mostly a guitarist and only ever played bass in home-recording necessity situations. Now that I'm playing way more bass, I keep trying short scales - a wide variety of them, too - because I *do* think they are cool.

But in general, I also keep on not liking them as well as my 34"+ basses. The longer-scale instruments seem to be much more timbrally / stylistically flexible (better sustain and more interesting harmonic content opens far more sonic doors) and, often, easier to play somehow for my small-to-average-size hands as well.

I still keep on looking; there are a few 30"s I've played and really liked as their own kinda thing, but never bought. I would also still love to try a few short- or "medium-" scale 5ers out of curiosity more than anything, but those really are rare birds.

 

[Npunk42]

Longer strings sound better to me. The 35" scale gets me there. More comfortable than shorter basses?, no, but I dont play for comfort, I play for the sound whatever it takes.