WaimeaBay
Joined: Jul 05, 2006
Posts: 969
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Posted on Aug 08 2015 10:07 PM
Hey dudes,
I have a female friend who wants to learn bass guitar. She is musically inclined (piano, harmonica, flute) but has wanted to learn guitar for a while. She asked me about bass guitars, which I don't know a great deal about. She is pretty petite, so I was thinking a short scale length bass would be ideal. I told her I'd do some research and let her know.
I found this RI Fender Mustang Bass advertised, but they don't seem available any longer. http://www.fender.com/basses/mustang/
Does anyone have any suggestions? Or advice I can pass along.
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Aug 08 2015 10:36 PM
Epiphone EB-3
Epiphone EB-0
You can still find the Mustang Bass easily
Bass VI is a shortscale bass
Epiphone Longhorn(yuck...)
There are Short Scale Jaguar basses(most are 34")
Squier Bronco Bass
Gretsch Electromatic Short Scale Bass
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CrashHardtop
Joined: Jun 14, 2012
Posts: 152
Meridian, Idaho
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Posted on Aug 08 2015 11:44 PM
The Hofner violin bass is also short scale. And incredibly light weight to boot.
— More cowbell?? Nah...More Reverb!!
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grayn
Joined: Apr 07, 2012
Posts: 114
East Lancashire
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Posted on Aug 08 2015 11:54 PM
I've always preferred the tone of the long scale bass but there are some great, short scale basses available, at not a lot of cash.
+1 on the Fender Mustang.
Or the Epiphone Allen Woody bass, which is really well made and very low in price.
— http://soundcloud.com/graham-pike
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Roy69
Joined: Apr 20, 2012
Posts: 57
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Posted on Aug 09 2015 03:40 AM
The Höfner violin bass, apart from being extremely light-weight, also has a pleasant sound when played unamplified. This might be worth considering for a beginner who will probably practice at home a lot, and who might not be willing to shell out for a bass, a bass amp, AND a practice amp for home use. It sounds especially nice with good flatwound strings like Thomastiks (our bassist claims they make a world of a difference).
As your friend is musically inclined and seems to have an interest in guitars generally, and not only bass guitars, she might have more fun with a Squire Bass VI. Sounds very nice when played through a Silverface Champ with a speaker that has some clean head room, BTW (for home use).
— Of course it's alive, you cannot make music with dead Muppahones! -- Marvin Suggs
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dirkkahuna
Joined: Dec 21, 2012
Posts: 77
Willow Street, PA
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Posted on Aug 09 2015 01:13 PM
As it happens, I have been giving bass lessons to a rather petite woman recently. She started out with an Epiphone EB3 but the long 34" scale made it very difficult. She then looked at the Epiphone EBO which IS short 30" scale, but headstock heavy and usually weighs in close to 7 lbs. She decided against a "Beatle" bass, as it might look out of place in a surf oriented band, but is very light. The final choice was a Danelectro Longhorn Re-issue at 6 lbs. Due to the unusual Longhorn body design, this bass is quite manageable. Danelectro has several re-issue basses that might fit the bill and the re-issue quality is far superior to any original. If looking "Surfy" is not a consideration, an economical way to try bass might be an Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Short-Scale Bass (which is on sale at Musicians Friend right now...) All this is JMO, of course. Hope it helps.
— give me 3-fingers of 1st Wave SURF
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WaimeaBay
Joined: Jul 05, 2006
Posts: 969
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Posted on Aug 09 2015 02:20 PM
Good stuff... Out of the ones I showed her she liked the look of the Mustang the best, but I did not see any on eBay at this time. I will look into the Dano's and show her those. Thanks for that info Dirk.
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dirkkahuna
Joined: Dec 21, 2012
Posts: 77
Willow Street, PA
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Posted on Aug 09 2015 02:40 PM
Your quite welcome.... I left the Re-Issue Mustang off the list mainly because it is heavier than any of the others mentioned... usually 8.5 lbs. The Body/Neck design also makes it "feel" bigger even though it is 30" scale too. If your friend is petite, 8.5 lbs. will seem like a lot.
— give me 3-fingers of 1st Wave SURF
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revmike
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 3806
North Atlantic
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Posted on Aug 09 2015 02:52 PM
I really like my Danelectro Longhorn Bass.
Rev
— Canadian Surf
http://www.urbansurfkings.com/
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WaimeaBay
Joined: Jul 05, 2006
Posts: 969
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Posted on Aug 09 2015 03:03 PM
Its mostly her hands are small. On piano she just barely stretches an octave on her left hand. Here is a picture of her playing my Les Paul. But she is definitely more interested in bass over regular guitar.
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xc105
Joined: Aug 05, 2015
Posts: 6
Puerto Rico
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Posted on Aug 09 2015 04:52 PM
i had a friends 76 fender music master, which is pretty much the same body as a mustang bass but short scale neck. fantastic, you can get em in eBay for bout $1000 but its a starter bass i think its bit too much ahhah
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crumble
Joined: Sep 09, 2008
Posts: 3158
Guildford England
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Posted on Aug 09 2015 04:53 PM
I've been eyeing the Squier Jaguar Special Short Scale. Black, Red or Silver over this side of the pond and very nice for the money too.
Last edited: Aug 09, 2015 16:55:25
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Badger
Joined: Nov 16, 2013
Posts: 4536
Wisconsin
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Posted on Aug 09 2015 05:41 PM
WaimeaBay wrote:
But she is definitely more interested in bass over regular guitar.
Cool. The world needs that essential chemical element.
Thread tagged. I've given thought periodically to acquiring just such a thing only because trying to "fake it" on a guitar for the sake of recording a little cover piece (even with the option of dropping the pitch with the software) sounds like krap.
I would suggest, just from one duffer's opinion, that you can browse online perhaps but it would be good to "put the thing on" so to speak. Cool appearances can mask something really light actually feeling like it's heavier due to the balance.
Good luck to you both in the search. 
And thanks for the responses including Jake's list.
— Wes
SoCal ex-pat with a snow shovel
DISCLAIMER: The above is opinion/suggestion only & should not be used for mission planning/navigation, tweaking of instruments, beverage selection, or wardrobe choices.
Last edited: Aug 09, 2015 17:42:15
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Frelonvert
Joined: Sep 21, 2009
Posts: 275
Toulouse
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Posted on Aug 09 2015 06:02 PM
That is funny because I was searching for this kind of bass too. I bought to my wife a squier vintage vibe jazz bass 4 years ago. It takes time but now she is hooked and playing everyday. As she is petite too, she is struggling with it and I was checking for a bass more easy for her to play.
But I red, may be here or on an other forum, that Shortscale bass were not that easier to play because there is more tension in the strings. So it is kind of hard for the beginers too... any opinion on that?
— http://noskons.bandcamp.com/
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synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4450
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
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Posted on Aug 10 2015 03:42 PM
IMHO:
The vintage style Mustang is a great little instrument. I have one in Fiesta Red and it sounds great. The sound is, somewhat, a P-bass Jr. to my ear. Definitely not a toy.
The Squier Jaguar bass in short scale is very nice for the money. I bought one as a gift some time back and was quite surprised by how well it played and how good it sounded. It's a hella-good bargain.
I have a MIJ Bass VI and love it. The string spacing is ultra close, but with LaBella flats it sounds great as a bass.
A 30" scale, IMO, is sort of a trade off of advantages and disadvantages as compared to a 34" scale. For a given gauge of strings there will be less string tension, by approximately 13%, as compared to a 34" scale. That's probably not what you are going to want if you are playing Funk, but it's not such a bad thing for some other types of music. I actually prefer the short (30") scale for many things because the attack of the notes reminds me of a double bass.
Playing bass is actually one of my favorite things. I used to own a J-Bass, a fretless Warwick Corvette and a P-Bass Special with both P & J pickups. Then, quite suddenly, I found that playing a 34" scale bass was painful. I had surgery to relieve nerve impingement in my left shoulder and that helped, but the problem never completely went away, so I transitioned to short scale basses, and have had no problems since. I currently have a MIJ Mustang bass, a MIJ Bass VI (2013 model) and a Warwick Custom Shop Corvette fretless in short scale. Occasionally I find that I miss the extra string tension of the 34" scale, but for the most part I like these basses just as much as any other bass I've owned or played. Amazingly, since putting the LaBella flats on the Bass VI, I find that it is very responsive, very trebly and actually pretty good for funkier sounds. A lot of people think of the Bass VI is terms of a baritone guitar, but IMO they are quite capable as a bass.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
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MelWaldorf
Joined: Mar 03, 2006
Posts: 648
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Posted on Aug 10 2015 04:58 PM
Also consider super short scale - Mosrite made the Celebrity bass with a 24.5" scale. That's right, exactly like a guitar. I played one in a music store last week and it's stupidly easy to play and at least acoustically sounds appropriately bassy. Here's a picture of one with some guitars for scale (get it, get it?)
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JakeDobner
Joined: Feb 26, 2006
Posts: 12159
Seattle
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Posted on Aug 10 2015 05:29 PM
Just a Mosrite Celebrity bass with $8K of background.
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Pokerstar
Joined: May 31, 2015
Posts: 12
Twin Cities, Mn
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Posted on Aug 10 2015 08:51 PM
I recently purchased a Fender Jazz Bass, that is Short Scale, and has a P-Bass pickup in the neck pickup. It's Made in China, and available in 2 colors, dark red (crimson) and Blonde (translucent). I grabbed a blonde. The bridge looks like a copy of a Bad-Ass bridge with Fender stamped on it. I found it at Guitar Center, list price is $399!!! Possibly the least expensive blonde I've ever taken home (insert rim shot here)
I will post pictures shortly.
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JObeast
Joined: Jul 24, 2012
Posts: 2762
Finknabad, Squinkistan
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Posted on Aug 10 2015 11:50 PM
- 1 ! Longhorn= FUN!
(cheap too, and bitchin')
revhank wrote:
I really like my Danelectro Longhorn Bass.
Rev
— Squink Out!
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MrBackwards
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 86
On the Island of Hawaii
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Posted on Aug 11 2015 05:20 PM
Aloha All,
In my surf band I usually play rhythm electric guitar.
But, I am also a Bassist.
For Surf, I have a Mexican Precision Bass, it's huge and weighs in
like a small tug-boat. I love it.
For other styles of music, I have a "Steinberger Style" Hohner Headless Electric Bass, very light, and maneuverable. I love it.
Nowadays, for everything that needs my bass, I bring a relatively new type of bass instrument, a Fretless Bass Ukulele. I love it.
I highly recommend this as a nice all round bass.
When played through a small bass amp, it sounds like a really nice upright bass. It is very lightweight, and a really fine instrument.
I can play this baby all night long, without fatigue...
The strings are big and fat and made from neoprene, like skateboard wheels. It's fretless, you sprinkle a little bit of Talcum Baby Powder on the strings, and they play beautifully!
I was lucky, David Gomes, the guy who designed the first Ukulele Bass, built this one for me. (Based on the concept of a Tiny British Electric Bass called The Ashbory Bass. They were not on the market for very many years, and scoffed at by most Bassists. They went out of business in the nineties.)
Now, there are a lot of bass ukulele's on the market.
Here's an article about this Bass Ukulele from 2003.
http://www.largesound.com/ashboryarticle/concept/ukulele/
— "To do, is to be" Aristotle ~ "To be, is to do" Socrates ~ "Doobie, doobie- doo" Sinatra
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