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Why Short Scale?


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[quote name='Ceedubya' timestamp='1453376842' post='2958844']
Hi Maude,

Being of sound mind, I have gone a different route and ordered one of Scott Whitley's SS SWB basses so will put the Rockbass up for sale.

Cheers >>>>>>> Chris
[/quote]
Good move Chris! Looking forward to getting mine (passive, ash body plus flight case) in 10 days :D What have you ordered?

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....almost feel like getting myself a short scale bass after adding a certain song to our live set...but is it worth it for 1 song?

It's a song which requires a 4 fret stretch across 3 strings from the 4th fret up so it's C# (A4) up to G# up to Eb back to G# followed by (down a string) G# Eb Bb Eb played as an arpeggio but held with the strings ringing to build a chord....and my hand is too small to do it on a 34".....

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Having built quite a few shortscale basses I don't see any down side to them. The string tension issue is really a non issue now with the improvements in string design I have a custom set made up by Newtone for all the short scales. I went down to 33" scale a while back for the two basses I built for myself which is not really that much of a difference but it does feel better to me. Building shorter than that on a regular basis now and have to say I can only see that continuing.

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[quote name='skelf' timestamp='1453398940' post='2959200']
Having built quite a few shortscale basses I don't see any down side to them. The string tension issue is really a non issue now with the improvements in string design I have a custom set made up by Newtone for all the short scales. I went down to 33" scale a while back for the two basses I built for myself which is not really that much of a difference but it does feel better to me. Building shorter than that on a regular basis now and have to say I can only see that continuing.
[/quote]

I concur :)

Alan's built me a 33" five string and a 32" four string and they are both phenomenal. String tension is just as good as on a 34" scale but the scale length is just that bit better for my smaller frame :)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Like Skelf mentioned, string technology, has come a long way, as has luthier's knowledge and ability to build to a specific requirement, in my opinion.
These advances have really made almost anything possible.

I'm very lucky to own a couple of 31.5" scale ACG basses, one of which is a 6 string headless tuned B to C! The low B is tight and punchy and the upper register has a real sweetness and fuller sound that you can only get with a shorter scale. It's very easy to play, reasonably lightweight for a 6 string bass and fits in a guitar gigbag! It's the best of both worlds.
The build quality and custom string set make this kind of bass possible, and it really makes me wonder whether it's worth even persevering with the whole 34" or even 35" scale is best for bass argument.
You can hear a few sound samples of the bass in question here >> https://soundcloud.com/eudeboy/sets/acg-salace-sc-e-type-samples
I'm now currently plotting a 6 string headless fretless in 31.5" to match :)

Eude

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