long scale-short neck bass?

[michael o'malley]

Moving a long slowly on this project. I've never tried doing a binding before. I think i could have chosen an easier body for a first effort. it came out ok, but I decided not to bind the back. It was time consuming and not fun

Somebody ought to come up with really flexible binding, "EZ-Bend" bending.

It's going to get a trans-tint sunburst

[Barry Daniels]

Plastic binding is quite flexible. What material did you use?

[michael o'malley]

Well it's getting close to done. I strung it up today "in the white" or rather "in the dye" while I wait for grafted coatings to ship me some KTM SV.

It's just what I'd hoped--It balances perfectly, it's very light. It sounds good even though I've only set it up really roughly. It's very comfortable to play and while it has some J-Bass character, it's a little softer/deeper because (I suppose) the neck pickup is closer to the nut than on a typical J-bass. Access to the higher "frets" (there's only about 15) is very confortable

I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of long scale/short neck basses now.

I'll post more pictures when after the finish is applied

[Gary Frisbie]

I'm glad to see your long scale-short neck bass project. The completed instrument (at least "completed" to the point of your last post) looks well-proportioned. It's a unique project and it sounds like it has accomplished your goals successfully.

I think it's understandable if most bass players aren't happy with the idea of limiting the number of frets. That said, the use of a long scale neck with less frets would probably be totally satisfying for a majority of the music I play.

I often mute the strings at the bridge with the palm of my hand...do you notice any difficulty using that technique on this bass?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and pics of the progress you made on this one. I hope we'll see some followup conclusions at some point!

[Dave Locher]

I really like it. To my eyes it is actually more attractive than the bass you set out to emulate. It has better proportions.
I'm a guitarist, not a bassist, but I've filled in on bass several times over the years and always wondered why they bothered putting all those high frets there. The "money" might all be in the first five frets, but that's where the tone and power are, too!
Nice job, and reminds me that nothing has to be the way it's usually done. Thank you for posting this thread.

[Beate Ritzert]

I'm a guitarist, not a bassist, but I've filled in on bass several times over the years and always wondered why they bothered putting all those high frets there. The "money" might all be in the first five frets, but that's where the tone and power are, too!

Well, it all depends on the musical context. As long as You are "just" laying the foundation, high frets are not needed. Things do change, if You - for example - try to cover "Walk On The Wild Side" (especially the part of the electric bass). They also change if You use the bass in a more solistic context. I play in a voice & bass duo - in that context the 20 frets of many of my basses are pretty often a limitation. Or look at the double bass players in Jazz: it is not a rare situation that they access registers that are above fret 24 of a bass guitar.