The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[ped]

1 minute ago, Obrienp said:

At first I thought the pickups were aligned “by eye”, rather than measurement but then I thought, was it to make the pole pieces more centred on the strings, given the narrow string spacing of the standard bridge?

 

I shouldn't think so (many early mods to cheaper basses like this are fairly poorly executed) - in any case it makes little difference if the strings are centred between the poles. Sometimes it can be because of pick guard shrinkage which pulls the pickup in one direction. For a fretless mod I'd probably put it near the bridge pickup and fill the gap with a ramp.

[Chienmortbb]

On 13/02/2025 at 18:24, MoonBassAlpha said:

That's really flippin' odd! 

Suits Wyman then.

[Obrienp]

43 minutes ago, ped said:

 

I shouldn't think so (many early mods to cheaper basses like this are fairly poorly executed) - in any case it makes little difference if the strings are centred between the poles. Sometimes it can be because of pick guard shrinkage which pulls the pickup in one direction. For a fretless mod I'd probably put it near the bridge pickup and fill the gap with a ramp.

I think I would start with one of the new Squier Broncos as the modding platform though. It seems a shame to be doing this to a genuine old Musicmaster but then, in the 70s and 80s it was probably cheap and unloved. 

Edited July 30 by Obrienp

[ped]

Just now, Obrienp said:

I think I would start with one of the new Squier Mustangs as the modding platform though. It seems a shame to be doing this to a genuine old Musicmaster but then, in the 70s and 80s it was probably cheap and unloved. 

 

The way I see it, it's already been modified so why not keep going and improve it? That's what I did with my 66 mustang which turned out to be one of the best bass decisions I ever made!

[Woodinblack]

2 hours ago, Obrienp said:

I think I would start with one of the new Squier Broncos as the modding platform though. It seems a shame to be doing this to a genuine old Musicmaster but then, in the 70s and 80s it was probably cheap and unloved. 

 

The musicmaster wasn't touched by most people. I remember seeing one in the shop in the late 70s, and it was basically the kids budget bass. Modifying basses was also very common back then, you just had one, you modified it how you wanted, there wasn't the fear of modding that there is now.

Sure couldn't pay over a grand for a musicmaster!

[bassist_lewis]

On 25/07/2025 at 11:28, fretmeister said:

Slightly changing the subject...

 

Is there a good 51 style shorty P bass? I seem to be watching a lot of ZZ Top vids and Dusty's various 51s look and sound excellent so I'm quite tempted.

Viv Wilcock makes a short scale with a 51P pickup. I believe he calls it the 51-P!

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, bassist_lewis said:

Viv Wilcock makes a short scale with a 51P pickup. I believe he calls it the 51-P!

And there’s one for sale on BC right now…

 

 

[Aidan63]

if you wanted non standard string spacing Jazz pickups it wouldn't be that expensive to have them made, and you could use closed covers to mask the fact - or in this case use them to prevent ocd triggering

[Adee]

If anyone was thinking of fitting a Hipshot Xtender onto their Sandberg Lionel you need a BT7 which is the closest match as advised by Sandberg

 

Only slight drawbacks are the ferrule hole needs enlarging very slightly and you need to drill 4 small holes. Other than that easy fit and works great!!

 

 

 

 

[ped]

If you haven’t seen it in ‘build diaries’ I’m about to turn this modified Musicmaster into a lovely fretless. 
 

 

[shoulderpet]

On 30/07/2025 at 11:38, ped said:

This could be fun. The neck pickup is a bit wonky, but that's easily sorted. If I wasn't skint I'db tempted to turn it into a fretless  (has anyone done that to a Mustang/Musicmaster btw? I couldn't see anything on Youtube)

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/376440384712

 

 

 

Not wonky just slanted for warmer D and G 🤣

[ped]

21 minutes ago, shoulderpet said:

Not wonky just slanted for warmer D and G 🤣

Unfortunately the slant is so slight that I can’t really make that argument 😂 it did cross my mind though 

[fiatcoupe432]

I'll let you know next week 

My 6 string 30 inch arriving this Friday 

Can't wait

[RichT]

NBD - Sire U5 fretless!  (ok it was actually 10 days ago, but hey.)

 

Sorry for the long post. TL;DR - £380 short scale fretless bass is surprisingly decent if not without a couple of flaws. 

 

Been planning on getting one of these for a while, being the only really viable affordable shortie fretless on the market. Thomann is literally the only place that sells them, so knowing that Sires have a reputation for being weighty, and my shoulder being incredibly sensitive to my 7.5lb limit, I eventually ordered it expecting it may well have to go back, but thought screw it lets have a go. Also ordered a set of Gotoh GB528 Res-o-lites at the same time from https://tonetechluthiersupplies.co.uk while they had them in stock. 

 

First the good - it's a smart looking little bass, scaled down aerodyne jazz shaped body, burst flame maple top with binding, and the weight isn't too bad at all - about 7lb 10oz, brought down to 7lb 5oz after fitting the GB528's which are drop-in replacements. The jazz width satin neck is very playable, I love that the fret lines curve around the side of the neck so I can see them while playing (see photo). The PJ config pickups are definitely noiseless, bridge is decent enough and the finishing is generally very good. 

 

It sounds *fine*. Not amazing, but certainly very usable, but this is the first budget level bass I've bought in a while and I think I may have just been spoiled with better quality pickups now. If I intended to use it more I'd certainly think about swapping them out. The passive VVT controls work well, feel pretty solid with a good range of usable tones. My preferred tone is J up full with P between 75% to 100% depending on how tubby/burpy I want things. The P on is own is nice and full bodied, but has to be said the J on its own is pretty thin and unpleasant. 

 

The two negatives that do stand out to me though, are the nut which had 3 of the 4 slots cut too wide for the stock D'Addario Chromes causing them to rattle when played open, and the lack of forearm contour on the body. The former I worked around by wedging tiny blobs of silicone in the nut slots to take up space and also improved after switching the strings to EB Cobalt flats. The hard corner on the body is just a playing technique thing. The body is pretty slim (tried to show the body width and offending corner in photo), so as far as sharp awkward corners go it's certainly not the worst offender out of basses I own (looking at you Hofner Club), but it's still a pain and something they should have designed better on a modern bass. If it costs more to produce a forearm contour I'd really rather have paid the extra to have one. 

 

Anyway, it may not be perfect but at the end of the day I'm really very happy with what I got for the amount I paid for it - £380ish for the bass, plus another £100 for the Res-o-lites. It's easily worth the asking price, and it's achieved the main goal of giving me a lightweight short scale fretless I can comfortably play for hours at a time. Given the lack of any competition in the price bracket, I'm grateful that Sire is making something this good. 

 

 

 

Edited 2 hours ago by RichT

[Obrienp]

I’ve been very happy with mine and I haven’t found the forearm thing too bad. There is a bit of a contour at the back edge but not enough. I have found stick on foam edging works on other basses with edge binding. The sort of stuff made to make furniture edges safe for toddlers. It would mess up the look of the Sire but might be worth a try, if you find the binding too uncomfortable.

[casapete]

27 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

I’ve been very happy with mine and I haven’t found the forearm thing too bad. There is a bit of a contour at the back edge but not enough. I have found stick on foam edging works on other basses with edge binding. The sort of stuff made to make furniture edges safe for toddlers. It would mess up the look of the Sire but might be worth a try, if you find the binding too uncomfortable.

I’m the same with my U5, not a problem for me. My issue now is that I have two 30” scale basses 

- the U5 and a Squier Jaguar a mate has recently given me - and only really need one, but which needs to

be moved on? Both have their good points, and are almost identical weight wise. Going to take them

 on gigs over the next few weeks to try and decide.