The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[RichT]

LaBella also do .60 - .115 short scale white nylons but that gauge is a bit heavy if you don't fancy filing out the nut just to try out a set of strings you might not like. 

 

I've successfully used the white tape LaBella set made for Hofners on several 30" short scales. They're made slightly longer (approx 32" ?) to fit the Hofner tailpiece but I've had no issues winding the extra string around the posts.  They're a lighter gauge of .50 - .100 and have fitted every bass I've tried them on fine with no adjustment to the nut. 

 

Talking of Hofner strings on other basses, I've also got a set of Thomastik Jazz Flats made for Hofners on my Sire U5 fretless. Again the Hofner gauge seems preferable - Thomastik's standard ss set is .43 / .56 / .70 / .106 whereas the Hofner set is .43 / .56 / .70 / .96.  (I think in this case both the sets are 32" scale, so no advantage in choosing the standard ss set over the Hofner set on that score.)

 

Edited Tuesday at 13:42 by RichT
additional info

[bassist_lewis]

5 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Inspired by that G&L up there ^

 

Who is using tapewounds on their shortie? What brand and gauge?

 

I've had some La Bella White Nylons in the past, on a long scale and I seem to remember liking them, but that was a very long time ago!

I Had LaBella 'Stang nylons on my JMJ for about 6 months. They were brighter than I was expecting (only did a handful of gigs with them in fairness). I changed them back to LaBella flats mainly because the bass is more sensitive to hum and it doesn't ground through the strings.

[Aidan63]

5 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Inspired by that G&L up there ^

 

Who is using tapewounds on their shortie? What brand and gauge?

 

I've had some La Bella White Nylons in the past, on a long scale and I seem to remember liking them, but that was a very long time ago!

The Fallout Tribute at the top of the page  - that's mine

 

Stock D'Addario ETB92, which they describe as Medium Gauge, 50,65,85,105 - nice tension I find, figures are on the website; they do do a s/s set, same thicknesses

 

I have tried both Status and Rotosounds previously, didn't like them, the Status were lifeless and the Rotos ring sharp on the initial attack before settling back to tune, really messed my ear up as a learner, I later found out from Scott Whitley its a known issue with some s/s strings

[Sté]

Hey short scalers ! (Especially those who play Ibanez EHB1000S)

I share a post i've made in my NBD EHB1000S topic (to not repeat it here) cause i've had an idea about neck edge inlay that could help those ones who have taken the adhesive dots road to replace the non-working-kind-of-luminlays

 

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/522029-nbd-ibanez-ehb-1000s/#findComment-5621679

 

Enjoy ! 

Edited Wednesday at 17:32 by Sté

[martthebass]

Nice to see shortscale Stingrays becoming available again in Europe but hell - not cheap at £2800.

Not sure if these are special editions as they are active unlike other shorties.

Whatever the case it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting a stablemate for my Starry Night passive version.
 

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChsSEwjVsoOphtSSAxUImVAGHVbDCdYYACICCAEQMxoCZGc&co=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1bKDqYbUkgMVCJlQBh1WwwnWEAQYGiABEgLGGfD_BwE&sig=AOD64_38pwaJ7xkdS4I4ymfMLkT_zbJJ9g&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwigrP-ohtSSAxU8W0EAHe9zCTgQwg8oAHoFCA0QtwE&adurl=

[Adee]

51 minutes ago, martthebass said:

Nice to see shortscale Stingrays becoming available again in Europe but hell - not cheap at £2800.

Not sure if these are special editions as they are active unlike other shorties.

Whatever the case it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting a stablemate for my Starry Night passive version.

Wowzer that’s £1,000 more than I paid for my Starry Night!! Looks nice but no thanks

[dmckee]

1 hour ago, martthebass said:

Nice to see shortscale Stingrays becoming available again in Europe but hell - not cheap at £2800.

Not sure if these are special editions as they are active unlike other shorties.

Whatever the case it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting a stablemate for my Starry Night passive version.
 

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChsSEwjVsoOphtSSAxUImVAGHVbDCdYYACICCAEQMxoCZGc&co=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1bKDqYbUkgMVCJlQBh1WwwnWEAQYGiABEgLGGfD_BwE&sig=AOD64_38pwaJ7xkdS4I4ymfMLkT_zbJJ9g&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwigrP-ohtSSAxU8W0EAHe9zCTgQwg8oAHoFCA0QtwE&adurl=

 Interesting too that (assuming the info there is accurate) this one has a 41.3mm nut width, so maybe a neck profile more like a full size Stingray (which would be cool). 

 

Not crazy about that finish though… 

[martthebass]

1 hour ago, Adee said:

Wowzer that’s £1,000 more than I paid for my Starry Night!! Looks nice but no thanks

The natural finish one is even more Ade.......

[dmckee]

30 minutes ago, martthebass said:

The natural finish one is even more Ade.......

And it says nut width is 38.1mm. I wonder if it’s just a typo on the ‘Governor’ one. 

[martthebass]

47 minutes ago, dmckee said:

And it says nut width is 38.1mm. I wonder if it’s just a typo on the ‘Governor’ one. 

Not sure on the typos. I was surprised it states 18v active as the control layout looks like the passive or a least a 2EQ rather than the 3EQ on the normal Ray Special. There’s no rear picture so you can’t check for a battery box 

[Adee]

6 minutes ago, martthebass said:

Not sure on the typos. I was surprised it states 18v active as the control layout looks like the passive or a least a 2EQ rather than the 3EQ on the normal Ray Special. There’s no rear picture so you can’t check for a battery box 

Think that might be a typo too, the specs on the EBMM website are passive 

https://www.music-man.com/instruments/basses/short-scale-stingray

[martthebass]

1 hour ago, Adee said:

Think that might be a typo too, the specs on the EBMM website are passive 

https://www.music-man.com/instruments/basses/short-scale-stingray

It’d definitely be difficult to place an order without knowing what you were going to get 

[RichT]

£2959 for the natural? Jesus. 

 

I mean, I do love my 2020 vintage sunburst ss Stingray, but not almost three grand's worth of love. That's nuts. They were about £2k when they launched. That's effectively a 48% increase in just over 5 years.  

 

God knows what the justification is, I'm pretty sure other American brands haven't increased by anything like as much in that time. 

[Maude]

My Rivolta Duocato arrived today. Unfortunately I had practice tonight so I had very little time with it before I left. 

I was slightly worried ordering it as although it ticks every box for my needs, I'd never heard of Rivolta and never seen or heard anything they've made. There's no reviews as this is the first batch of twelve made. 

Well the gamble paid off, I'm a fussy bugger but it is beautiful and flawless. 

Lovely woods, aged cream bound headstock, fretboard and f hole, double bound body with checker binding to the front, slim neck, lightweight, set up nicely, even arrived in tune from the U.S.

It sounds great, although the volume control is a touch on the on/off side but that's not a big deal. 

I'll get some pictures up over the weekend. 

I'm one very happy bunny! 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 23:07 by Maude

[Obrienp]

13 hours ago, Maude said:

My Rivolta Duocato arrived today. Unfortunately I had practice tonight so I had very little time with it before I left. 

I was slightly worried ordering it as although it ticks every box for my needs, I'd never heard of Rivolta and never seen or heard anything they've made. There's no reviews as this is the first batch of twelve made. 

Well the gamble paid off, I'm a fussy bugger but it is beautiful and flawless. 

Lovely woods, aged cream bound headstock, fretboard and f hole, double bound body with checker binding to the front, slim neck, lightweight, set up nicely, even arrived in tune from the U.S.

It sounds great, although the volume control is a touch on the on/off side but that's not a big deal. 

I'll get some pictures up over the weekend. 

I'm one very happy bunny! 

 

 

Had to look that one up. A bit like a ‘51 P version of the Guild Starfire 1 but with a more interesting body shape and fixed (‘51 P style) bridge. Enjoy!

[fretmeister]

Is there any point in putting a Mustang pickup in a shortie P bass? Is there enough of a difference? 

[BassApprentice]

Can't say scientifically - but probably not enough to justify cost of routing, new pickup and new pickguard.

Of course, your bass after all. Sure it would look cool enough.

[ezbass]

12 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Is there any point in putting a Mustang pickup in a shortie P bass? Is there enough of a difference? 

I wouldn’t have thought so. However, given the smaller ‘window’ of a Mustang pickup and the narrower string spacing, there might be some string to string, volume issues.

[Osiris]

To concur with EZbabes, I don't think it's worth the time and effort. My 2 main gigging basses are a JMJ Mustang and a Sandberg Lionel with an EMG Geezer Butler pickup, one of most highly regarded Precision pickups. In terms of tone, the JMJ is way more P like, as in pretty much identical to a P albeit with a bit more of that short scale fat low end. The Sandberg is way more polite in comparison, and for tastes, doesn't come close to the classic P sound as the pickup position is around 10-15mm closer to the bridge compared to the JMJ. 

[fretmeister]

What is the bridge string spacing on a Mustang?

 

My Jim Deacon shorties are very narrow at the bridge.

[MichaelDean]

31 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

Is there any point in putting a Mustang pickup in a shortie P bass? Is there enough of a difference? 

I put one in my Squier Jag SS. Didn't like it as much as the original in my 76 Mustang but preferred it to the stock P and the Entwhistle that was too deep for the cavity.