boynamedsuse

Been here 9 months and finally got around to my first post. Playing a full scale starting at the 5th fret (as suggested) is not a great option. For starters, you are eliminating 1/4 of the instrument's range when you do this and you don't have to go very much further up the neck to reach into the guitar's sonic space. Tuning BEAD (also as suggested) is an option, but now you are dealing with heavier strings and still have the heavy instrument and limited range—not to mention that B strings often sound like they belong on a separate instrument. More relevant to the OP (long ago), the light weight of short scales is a nice plus. My Mustang RI is the lightest of my three basses by at least a pound—weighing it at only 7.5 pounds—and the semi-hollow and hollow body basses are still lighter. (I think I read 4 pounds—wow.)