Short scale bass to share with my kid

inverseroom · Post by **inverseroom** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:47 pm

My 11-year-old wants to learn bass but my Pbass is kinda huge for him. I've always had a jones for an SS and have been ogling that squier jaguar. (shoulda bought the fender version when it was new.) whaddya think? Better ideas?

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 6:55 pm

Well depending on your budget rondomusic.com has SX branded cheap guitars and basses. I've bought several from them and they are not bad for the money, comparable if not better than Squier/Epiphone equivalents and reasonable prices.

mrc · Post by **mrc** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:46 am

I've got a '72 I ought new in 73, love it. You might find an old Fender Musicmaster

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:23 am

Danelectro!!

Tragabigzanda · Post by **Tragabigzanda** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:40 am

+1 on the Fender Musicmaster. Would be great for your kid, and it's got a unique, gritty/post-punk sound that you might find you have a use for at times. I love mine, and use it whenever I want a little edge to the sound.

nick_a · Post by **nick_a** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 9:21 am

i love my fender mustang bass RI.

dfieldmusic · Post by **dfieldmusic** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:58 pm

A thumbs up also to the Squier Musicmaster reissues which appeared for a short time in the very early 00s - I bought a salmon pink one brand new for ?99 and use it all the time. We call it the 'stunt' bass - slides, bends and generally silliness as standard - great fun to play.

Dr Rubberfunk · Post by **Dr Rubberfunk** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 8:51 am

I've got a couple of short scale basses, the Tokai EB copy, and a Squier Bronco. Both sound great, the Bronco is easier to play, nice slim neck and low action. Bought cheap on ebay, the thing looked hardly played, so I guess I got lucky for a blind buy. Lots of them still available new online I see, so maybe a local store will have one to try out? It's fun to play, and looks a bit like a musicmaster

The Tokai sounds great, I put Trubass 88 nylon strings on mine - nice Macca thump and dubby low end - but despite some aggressive truss rod manipulation I can't get the action down as low as I'd like. Still, nice having the SG shape for a bit of variety and gives the fingers a good work out

I'm a bit into shortscales, kinda hankering after a Danelectro and some sort of violin bass copy too ...

... not that I really another with this pair to keep me busy!

Bronco Full by Dr Rubberfunk, on Flickr

Tokai SGB43 by Dr Rubberfunk, on Flickr

kickoldman · Post by **kickoldman** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 11:03 am

I bought an SX bass from Rondo Music about 2 years ago that I really like. Pretty typical J-bass sound. Despite being short scale, the hardware is the same size as standard J-bass, so adding a badass bridge or new pickups would be easy.

http://www.rondomusic.com/ursa4jrmn3ts.html

The main problem I have with it is the neck dive. It was pretty intolerable right out of the box. I added some lead weights in the control cavity to balance it out, which helps but hasn't defeated the neck dive altogether. I'm sure adding a badass bridge or lightweight tuners would take care of it, but then you are moving away from the bargain bin price....

roygbiv · Post by **roygbiv** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 1:21 pm

I don't think these are short scale, but they are smaller and lighter, might be good for a kid. Hohner made some in the 80's, and re-issued htem recently. I think the older ones are in the $250-300 range.

mjau · Post by **mjau** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 6:57 pm

There's been a couple of used Epi viola basses that have popped up in the Rochester or Binghamton Guitar Centers in the past couple of months, so might be worth seeing if they're still there. I've played one - I bet once you get the action reasonably low, it'll make for a great SS bass.

For what it's worth, the Jag bass I've played sounded pretty terrible.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 7:44 pm

roygbiv wrote:I don't think these are short scale, but they are smaller and lighter, might be good for a kid. Hohner made some in the 80's, and re-issued htem recently. I think the older ones are in the $250-300 range.

I had one of these though it was a higher end model...dual EMG active pickups, 5 string, neck thru, and I want to say it was a 32" scale. Sounded and played awesome if you can dig headless. Ultimately I traded it off because of string availability and the impracticality of a short 5 string (flabby B)...and I'm not really a bass player anyway. A 4 string though would have been a keeper.

roygbiv · Post by **roygbiv** » Thu Jun 09, 2011 9:35 pm

yeah, they had one at TradeUp here in town, and I was coveting seriously. but I already have two basses, so Nancy Knowitall in my head said NO to the purchase.

But then GearSlutGus in my head realized it would be fab for computer recording, 'cause I wouldn't keep whacking the headstock into my desk when I swung about during inspired whirl around bits.

Alas, when I returned to the store, it was gone. I yearn still.

Anyway, seems to me it would be a good size/fit for a kid, I may seek one out yet for my 6 year old daughter who it just occurred to me could be the next blond bass playing girl with Jeff Beck.

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Short scale bass to share with my kid

Short scale bass to share with my kid

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