The Short Scale Bass Appreciation Society!

[JohnDaBass]

10 hours ago, Owen said:

That is because you are correct and I am slapdash. 

 

OK, I have been sucked in to this world. I bought an Epiphone NEWPORT with Roto Tru Bass strings on it. SUCH FUN!!!!!!! I need a 5 string though. I just want a NEWPORT with a wider neck. And I do not want to slide in to Wilcock territory. I am sure they are very fine indeed and I do not begrudge them their price tag. But the NEWPORT is doing it for me as it is. I like the aesthetic. I am on to a complete non starter here, no? 

 

I looked at the Ibanez Talman. I am not digging the visuals like the NEWPORT. 

 

As if to prove it, here is a Wilcock which would do all I wanted. https://thebassgallery.com/collections/all/products/wilcock-mullarkey-v. But.......................................

Photos!!!!

[Obrienp]

Ibanez also do the EHB headless 5 strings (can’t remember the exact designation).One is a plain 30” with conventional frets and the other is a fan fret multiscale 30-32”. Much cheaper than the Wilcox (nice as that is). They have interesting looking tops these days too and Nordstrand pups instead of the Barts that they had on the previous iteration. Very ergonomic bodies on the EHBs as well.

 

P.S. Another advantage is that the string clamping mechanism means you can use standard scale strings and just cut off the excess. That gives you greater choice and often cheaper prices than if you are stuck using dedicated SS strings.

Edited Monday at 09:41 by Obrienp

[fretmeister]

Just now, Obrienp said:

Ibanez also do the EHB headless 5 strings (can’t remember the exact designation).One is a plain 30” with conventional frets and the other is a fan fret multiscale 30-32”. Much cheaper than the Wilcox (nice as that is). They have interesting looking tops these days too and Nordstrand pups instead of the Barts that they had on the previous iteration. Very ergonomic bodies on the EHBs as well.

 

 

I didn't know they had dropped the cheap Barts - that's a very good decision as they were bloody awful and I ended up spending loads on some Aguilars instead. I didn't get on with the fan frets in the end but I might be tempted by 30 inch, trad frets and Nordys!

[Obrienp]

1 minute ago, fretmeister said:

 

 

I didn't know they had dropped the cheap Barts - that's a very good decision as they were bloody awful and I ended up spending loads on some Aguilars instead. I didn't get on with the fan frets in the end but I might be tempted by 30 inch, trad frets and Nordys!

https://www.ibanez.com/usa/products/detail/ehb1505s_1p_01.html
 

Looks interesting.

[BassApprentice]

 

[fretmeister]

I quite like that. Different colour would be nice, but I'm not really fussed about aesthetics if an instrument plays well.

I'd probably bin the Ibby preamp as well and put something else in.

 

Headless on shorties makes so much sense - the string clamp means that just about any string can be used - on the older slant fret one I had I got TI flats to work properly with it without them coming unwound. Care is needed, but it's do-able!

[Owen]

4 hours ago, bassist_lewis said:

There is also Serek Basses, who takes not a small amount of inspiration from the NEWPORT. I have a 30" 5 string he built about 4 years ago, but he seems to only do 32" 5 strings now.

 

The Wilcock is right there tho.... 👀

I have no doubt at all that a Serek or a Wilcock would be sublime. But having a tragic history of expensive = better, the joy of the NEWPORT is that it was as cheap as chips. It is entirely functional, the finish is exemplary and the neck pickup solo'd just delivers. All for £230 on ebay. The seller had put a deeply weird custom pickguard on it which looks like something I would have designed when I was 8. That is not a compliment. But this does not matter becaue it was cheap as chips. 

[fretmeister]

My Jim Deacon shorties were as cheap as chips and they are great, and the construction is more than good enough to warrant pickup and tuner upgrades.

 

I love them! Hopefully one day I'll find the very elusive J version too.

[three]

18 hours ago, Owen said:

As if to prove it, here is a Wilcock which would do all I wanted. https://thebassgallery.com/collections/all/products/wilcock-mullarkey-v. But.......................................

Oh dear! The Wilcock I owned was just incredibly good fun to play - extremely quick if that’s your kind of thing. I only sold it as I didn’t get on with the tone - I only really use actives. I absolutely love the pink finish on the 5 and I’m pretty sure it’s a Bow job. Assurance of incredible paintwork. Active too. I could have a problem… well I do. I don’t have £3200

[bassist_lewis]

7 hours ago, Owen said:

I have no doubt at all that a Serek or a Wilcock would be sublime. But having a tragic history of expensive = better, the joy of the NEWPORT is that it was as cheap as chips. It is entirely functional, the finish is exemplary and the neck pickup solo'd just delivers. All for £230 on ebay. The seller had put a deeply weird custom pickguard on it which looks like something I would have designed when I was 8. That is not a compliment. But this does not matter becaue it was cheap as chips. 

Can't argue with that price, and if you're having fun...

[fretmeister]

I emailed La Bella to ask whether the Super Polished strings would be available in short scale, and I've just got an email saying they hope to launch by the end of the month!

 

I really like those so I am excited!

[The fasting showman]

On 16/02/2026 at 11:50, Owen said:

I have no doubt at all that a Serek or a Wilcock would be sublime. But having a tragic history of expensive = better, the joy of the NEWPORT is that it was as cheap as chips. It is entirely functional, the finish is exemplary and the neck pickup solo'd just delivers. All for £230 on ebay. The seller had put a deeply weird custom pickguard on it which looks like something I would have designed when I was 8. That is not a compliment. But this does not matter becaue it was cheap as chips. 

I owned a USA G&L Fallout a few years back with a tribute model as a backup. From a fetish the object point of view, I wish I still had the USA one with it's quarter sawn neck and fancy tuners BUT....sonically it was no better at all than the Tribute. 

 

My only basses now are 2 tribute Fallouts, one with flats one with rounds. It's a strange feeling, having played bass for 40 years; you feel there should be a justification for having a vintage fender ( those days are gone now for me) or some other bass with kudos. The brute truth is that in the band I'm in, the basses I currently own work better than anything else I've tried. At around £300 s/h each. OK I've upgraded the tuners, but for no good reason really. 

 

I think, like Danelectro guitars ( I read an interview with Lindy Fralin where he said the stock pickups in his Korean Dano where perfectly good enough), by their essence 30 inch scale basses are ' good enough ' at a lower price point than 34 inch scale. You can try and make them more ornate but perhaps the inherent lack of dead spots and the bloom of notes up the dusty end makes them great value and utility. 

 

Just my experience anyway. 

[Owen]

I must admit, the notes up the G maintaining a big fat thud is interesting. That is not my experience with longer scale basses. But this could be the Tru Bass strings I have on it. Thumpalicious. Who knew there were different flavours of fun?

 

I could quite happily try one of the Fallouts with their big fat L1000 pickups. I shall wander over the ebay. 

[Maude]

I wish Olympia flats were available in shortscale. I really like their longscale flats, not just for the price, I actually really like the tone and tension of them. 

I might try a set on my new Rivolta but I don't like winding the thick part round the posts. 

[Owen]

Nothing in the g&l cheap as chips category on ebay. But then I could get an L1000-alike pickup and whack it in to the NEWPORT. It could go between the two present pickups. The bridge one is not for me anyway. But I would have to have some sort of chrome covers. I suspect I need to get out more.  

[The fasting showman]

11 minutes ago, Owen said:

Nothing in the g&l cheap as chips category on ebay. But then I could get an L1000-alike pickup and whack it in to the NEWPORT. It could go between the two present pickups. The bridge one is not for me anyway. But I would have to have some sort of chrome covers. I suspect I need to get out more.  

I believe Colin Moulding used a Newport ( single sided headstock, short scale? ) with an added pickup on some of my favourite XTC records. Definitely on Black Sea anyway. 

[RichT]

On 16/02/2026 at 09:41, fretmeister said:

 

 

I didn't know they had dropped the cheap Barts - that's a very good decision as they were bloody awful and I ended up spending loads on some Aguilars instead. I didn't get on with the fan frets in the end but I might be tempted by 30 inch, trad frets and Nordys!

 

I dream of replacing the Nordstrands in my EHB with Aguilars! For all the praise the Nords get I find them far too toppy, as in clicky-clacky. I have to consciously alter the way I play to stop them picking up the noise of my fingers making contact with the strings just as much as the notes I'm playing. Ghost notes get ridiculously exaggerated. Never had this with other pickups. If I try to remedy it by turning down the treble, it goes almost directly from clicky-clacky to getting lost in the mix.* 

 

Whereas my experience with Aguilars (AG 4M, 4J-70, Super Doubles) has been the direct opposite, everything just sounds great without having to think about it, and the range of tones available with the EQ are just that - a range of great tones, not a fight to pinpoint the one nanometre of treble setting between clicky-clacky and muffle! Never played a set of the DCB's though, and at approaching £300 a set they aren't cheap to take a gamble on. 

 

 

*Many other opinions are available. I seem to be the only person in the world who preferred the tone of Bart BH2's (in my SR500e) to the Nord Big Splits. 

[Owen]

I am all for beautiful American big name pickups - I have a set of Fralins which are sublime. But I suspect that any of the myriad UK winders could do something which would be easily as good for significantly less. It is just wire and magnets. https://www.catswhiskerpickups.co.uk/ pickups always deliver for me. He listens to what I need and there it is. 

[fretmeister]

2 hours ago, RichT said:

 

I dream of replacing the Nordstrands in my EHB with Aguilars! For all the praise the Nords get I find them far too toppy, as in clicky-clacky. I have to consciously alter the way I play to stop them picking up the noise of my fingers making contact with the strings just as much as the notes I'm playing. Ghost notes get ridiculously exaggerated. Never had this with other pickups. If I try to remedy it by turning down the treble, it goes almost directly from clicky-clacky to getting lost in the mix.* 

 

Whereas my experience with Aguilars (AG 4M, 4J-70, Super Doubles) has been the direct opposite, everything just sounds great without having to think about it, and the range of tones available with the EQ are just that - a range of great tones, not a fight to pinpoint the one nanometre of treble setting between clicky-clacky and muffle! Never played a set of the DCB's though, and at approaching £300 a set they aren't cheap to take a gamble on. 

 

 

*Many other opinions are available. I seem to be the only person in the world who preferred the tone of Bart BH2's (in my SR500e) to the Nord Big Splits. 

 

I don't think the stock preamp helps TBH. Ibby obviously assumed that they would sell more to the metal crowd who want a load of top end and when that is combined with hi-fi pickups like the Nords it's an excessively bright combination.

 

You might have better luck removing the preamp completely and sticking in a passive loom. As they are still humbuckers I'd be tempted to try 500K pots rather than 250K but I'd put a 0.1uF capacitor in there so it can roll off loads of the top and and go super deep. All my passive basses have 0.1uF caps in them now for that reason. As long as you use a good tone pot that doesn't get in the way when it's at 100% there will still be plenty of brightness but with a little roll down it should work very nicely to tame that top end.

 

It would be quite a bit cheaper than swapping pickups or the preamp too.

 

I always follow the Duck Dunn school of tone settings. Back off the bass tone by about a third and then set the amp. Then I've got somewhere to go in both directions without having to tweak the amp mid-gig.

[scrumpymike]

2 hours ago, RichT said:

... my experience with Aguilars (AG 4M, 4J-70, Super Doubles) has been the direct opposite, everything just sounds great without having to think about it...

 

I'm a massive fan of Aguilar pickups, especially the '70s JJs that were OE on my Vox Starstream Artist.