The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[Stub Mandrel]

26 minutes ago, scrumpymike said:

This design is based on the Watkins Rapier that came out in the late '60s. My first bass was a pale blue one (also available in red) and I'd be all over one of these if the bridge wasn't so far from the bottom edge of the body. It just adds to the weight and negates the 'easy reach to the lower frets' benefit that many s-s basses offer. Even so, I'd still have a test run if I could find one locally.

 

I saw a 1960s Rapier for £700 in a Manchester music shop. Was lovely to look at and play. I nearly dropped the cash.

[Paul S]

On 01/07/2025 at 11:29, YellowLedBetterBass said:

Are there any short scale P Basses that actually sound like a P Bass out there? After Glasto this weekend and seeing so many people using them (especially Inhalers bassist who sounded fantastic with that Ampeg behind him), I really fancy a P bass.

 

Harley Benton Shorty does.  I bought one when they came out and it blew me away - I don't know how it is possible to make a bass that is so good for the price of a night out.  The tone, through my set-up, was very similar to the gorgeous woody tone of P bass in Santana's Europa.  Out of preference for a bit more bite I changed the stock pickup to a Tonerider and it is now awesome.  I have sold off most of my basses, including an MIJ Mustang, but keeping the HB Shorty for my Precision flavoured moments.

[mikebass456]

38 minutes ago, Paul S said:

Out of preference for a bit more bite I changed the stock pickup to a Tonerider

I've swapped out the pickups for Toneriders in a couple of my P basses - an immediate improvement in sound, and the cost of them makes it a complete no-brainer! 😎🤘🤘

[scrumpymike]

11 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

I saw a 1960s Rapier for £700 in a Manchester music shop. Was lovely to look at and play. I nearly dropped the cash.

There was a very nice red one up for sale on here a couple of years back. Probably should have bought it but didn't because I wanted the blue finish that I had. They were £33 new back then.

[RichT]

On 01/07/2025 at 11:29, YellowLedBetterBass said:

Are there any short scale P Basses that actually sound like a P Bass out there? 

 

I have a short scale Maruszczyk Jake 4P 30. Styled like a P with a slightly scaled down body, albeit with the pickup more in the Mustang position. It has the Haussel PB4 pickup and to my ears sounds like the kind of vintage P tones I hear on records - caveat being that I've never had a full scale P bass so can only compare with what I hear in recordings. 

 

Prices on them seem to have increased significantly recently though. I got mine only just over a year ago from Bass Direct for £1250. They have a couple in stock now and since then the prices have gone up to £1700! Honestly that seems rather steep. I'd recommend one at £1250. It's a much harder sell at £1700.

[martthebass]

On 01/07/2025 at 11:29, YellowLedBetterBass said:

Are there any short scale P Basses that actually sound like a P Bass out there? After Glasto this weekend and seeing so many people using them (especially Inhalers bassist who sounded fantastic with that Ampeg behind him), I really fancy a P bass.

There's always the Sandberg Lionel, I love mine though it's more of a modern P sound than an older school thump.  a number of users on here have swapped to EMG Geezers on their Lionels for a more vintage tone.

[Obrienp]

21 minutes ago, RichT said:

- caveat being that I've never had a full scale P bass so can only compare with what I hear in recordings. 

I’ve always found them disappointingly bright but I guess I have the James Jameson sound in my head. You might think that rolling off the tone would get there but then you can’t hear the top string at all. I always ended up throwing money at them to try to improve the tone and never got there. Shorties seem to provide that tone much more easily. However, that’s just IMO.

 

Agree about Maruszczyk prices; especially when you see what used examples sell for in the BC listings. I have an Elwood 4a 32” that I bought used and I could never afford to replace it with a new one now, if it got pinched.

 

 

[scrumpymike]

EXCITING DAY!! I've managed to buy an Aguilar J-M pickup set from Sweetwater in the US and get it shipped over with the help of a friend in California. I tried to buy one 'locally' (i.e. UK & Europe) a couple of months ago but no-one had stock and or even any deliveries scheduled. I was told it would be 'several months' at least. Anyway, the set arrived yesterday and I'm just off to see Kevin at Taunton Audio Visual to get my Sandberg upgraded (he also sells guitars). And I am definitely expecting it to be an upgrade based on the wonderful Aguilar J-J set that's standard on my Vox Starstream A2S.

 

Watch this space!!

[MichaelDean]

Looks like a potentially decent bunch of new shorties from Eastcoast. There aren't any videos about them yet that I've seen. I don't think much of the headstock personally. But a 42mm nut width is a rare thing on a shorty, so could suit some different people. 

 

https://www.andertons.co.uk/browse/bass-dept/bass-guitars/short-scale-bass-guitars/?cio_brand=EastCoast+Guitars

 

[mikebass456]

They look nice - not too enamoured about the headstock shape either, but worth a punt I reckon.....😎👍

[Lozz196]

A good carpenter could de-fugly that quite easily.

[mikebass456]

28 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

A good carpenter could de-fugly that quite easily.

At that price, i'd be perfectly prepared to have a go.....😎👍

[JJMotown]

1 hour ago, MichaelDean said:

But a 42mm nut width is a rare thing on a shorty

HB shorty is 42mm.

[MoonBassAlpha]

2 hours ago, mikebass456 said:

They look nice - not too enamoured about the headstock shape either, but worth a punt I reckon.....😎👍

I dunno,   think it has a touch of Sadowski about it!

[YellowLedBetterBass]

Actual rosewood fretboard too I think. They're going to be hard to resist at that sort of money.

[JJMotown]

Nice to see the fiesta red looks to be an aged fiesta red, more subtle red. Brass saddles and a set of flats. Make a very cool little bass.

[scrumpymike]

On 09/07/2025 at 11:30, scrumpymike said:

EXCITING DAY!! I've managed to buy an Aguilar J-M pickup set from Sweetwater in the US and get it shipped over with the help of a friend in California. I tried to buy one 'locally' (i.e. UK & Europe) a couple of months ago but no-one had stock and or even any deliveries scheduled. I was told it would be 'several months' at least. Anyway, the set arrived yesterday and I'm just off to see Kevin at Taunton Audio Visual to get my Sandberg upgraded (he also sells guitars). And I am definitely expecting it to be an upgrade based on the wonderful Aguilar J-J set that's standard on my Vox Starstream A2S.

 

Watch this space!!

Got the Sandy back yesterday with the AG 4M/J-HC set fitted. Based on a quick noodle at home, definitely worth all the cost and hassle. Will post the full story after tonight's gig.

[scrumpymike]

On 12/07/2025 at 11:15, scrumpymike said:

Got the Sandy back yesterday with the AG 4M/J-HC set fitted. Based on a quick noodle at home, definitely worth all the cost and hassle. Will post the full story after tonight's gig.

Gigged my Aguilar-equipped s-s Sandi Cali ll TM bass on Saturday. Relieved to report a big improvement on the OE pickups. Much enhanced presence in the mix thanks to extra heft compared to OE pups.

 

So I'm well pleased with the mod but getting hold of the Aguilar AG 4M/J-HC set was a saga of marathon proportions. My starting point was the decision to get the Aguilars based on how good the J-J set is on my Vox Starstream. My online search proved fruitless as none of the UK or EU retailers were showing any stock. Next step was to call round to Taunton Audio Visual Services for a chat with Kevin, who would be doing the pup change-over. He found the set listed in his Barnes & Mullins catalogue at £285 and gave them a ring to place an order. All B&M could offer was that they had none in stock and delivery would be 'several months'.

 

Plan B was to find a set in the USA, preferably before any UK government response to Trump's trade war doubled the price. Sweetwater were listing the set at USD259.99 but temporarily out of stock. With the weak Dollar that price converted to around £210 although I knew there'd be import taxes and charges to add on. Sweetwater assured me that Aguilar could ship to them 'within a week' so I placed my order after checking with my friend in California that she was happy to take delivery of my order and forward ship it to me.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

 

The first problem was the shipping quote she got from her local Post Office for a USPS delivery was a staggering USD150 for a fully insured 2 to 3-week delivery service. WTF?! So plan B was on pause.

 

Thankfully I remembered someone on here (forgotten who) mentioned that lots of Talkbass members were recommending a service called Pirate Ship.

 

Next stop the Pirate Ship website, where I discovered that they are effectively a shipping broker offering USPS deliveries at massively discounted rates. I won't extend my already lengthy post by going into too much  detail. The bottom line is that I got the Aguilars in 3 weeks fully insured for a staggeringly low price of USD29.99. I did have to collect them from the Post Office sorting office in town and pay the £53 import charges though.

 

The final all-in cost of the pups came to £280. Inly a fiver less than the UK RRP but I'm betting that, when/if they finally re-appear in the UK and Europe the price will have increased. Most important of all, I've got mine NOW 🙂 and this is how they sounded on a mobile phone recording at Saturday night's gig.

 

Sandberg s-s Cali ll TM with AguilarAG 4M/J-HC set

Edited 4 hours ago by scrumpymike