ShortScale.org

get the musicmaster. they are sexy.
http://hudebnibazar.cz/fender-musicmast ... /ID923675/
This is from the czech republic, but try to mail the guy. The bass is just rad as hell.

That's a cool bass. When will it be available?

George wrote:the new gary jarman cribs bass is 32" which is between fender's short (30") and full scale (34"), and the sleeker jazz bass style of neck with a narrower nut.

quite like the look of it myself

"late july 2016"

it's called "Squier FSR Gary Jarman The Cribs Signature Bass" or something (lol)

So not the most dynamic tonally, but I have this and really like the feel. I don't care for my chemical romance much, but also haven't let them put me off what I think is a really cool looking and nice feeling bass.

I teach bass so I have several/have encountered even more smaller size basses. Quick lowdown with automobile equivalents for some perspective:

Squier Bronco "The Jeep"
Simple, does the job, takes a great deal of violence before it breaks. Strat pickup works shockingly well. Only downside is that the tuners are of quite low quality. The hold tune like most tuners, but tend to get damaged quite easy.

Epiphone eb-0 "The Rollswagen"
Crazy plastic kit version of a classic luxury car that is kinda cool in a national lampoon kinda way. Good for some stuff, definitely not all. Bridge is crap on these for student use, multiple issues. Ive had a gibson eb-3 for years and am used to and even like the bridge model but it is not great when in a $150 bass. Pickup is a weird very lo-middy tone, nice tuners. Neck will break when dropped. Horroble sticky black nut.

Höfner Club Bass C-series "The Alfa Romeo"
Sleek looks, nice finish, great sounds, but it really likes the shop better than your garage. This will explode to a million pieces when dropped. Tuners are from a classical guitar. A fender p-bass user will be scared to break stuff all the time. On the other hand it sounds amazing for a $300 piece of plywood. Also worth its price for the great pick tones alone. Not for the student, though.

Gretsch Junior Jet "The Ford Mustang"
It ain't a Ferrari for sure, but reliable family car technology with a big engine is kinda awesome too. This is basically a single pickup Höfner Club with a solid body and bolt-on hardware. P bass bridge, small schaller style tuners. Nice pickup and electronics. It's got its own thing going on, still not a mental own thing like eb-0. Kinda posh looking compared to the Bronco but just as, or even more sturdy.

Theres a few. Emphasis on classroom use, as that is where I mostly use these. I have one each, Höfner for personal use and the rest in schools. For reliability, I would choose the Gretsch. For cool pick sounds and gadget-factor Höfner. For Gibson bass sounds, a Gibson. Strapped of cash the Bronco.

In an ideal world daphne blue Musicmasters for students and a really well worn LPB Mustang Bass for myself.

Wow, great reviews. And the car analogy works for me. I've actually heard lots of good things about the Gretsch Jets, both the one-and-two-pickup versions.

I noodled around a bit on a Hofner Beatle bass a bit today. It was super light and had nice tone. Tuners seemed cheap.

I also played a Squier Jaguar SS, and it was surprisingly heavy. Didn't seem short scale, unlike the Bronco, which was like playing a guitar with four strings.

You might also want to check out Vox.

damn that was a great read. I like the analogies

See below

Nick wrote:Epiphone EB-0/EB-3.

The Epiphone EB-3 is actually 34" scale like the old Gibson EB-3L, I wish it was short as the bolt-on EB-0 (which is indeed 30.5") appeals to me infinitely less sound-wise with its lone mudbucker. The more recent "Gibson SG Bass" was a 30.5" EB-3.

paul_ wrote:

Nick wrote:Epiphone EB-0/EB-3.

The Epiphone EB-3 is actually 34" scale like the old Gibson EB-3L, I wish it was short as the bolt-on EB-0 (which is indeed 30.5") appeals to me infinitely less sound-wise with its lone mudbucker. The more recent "Gibson SG Bass" was a 30.5" EB-3.

Epiphone used to make a Elitist model EB-3 that was the shorter scale one.

I love Squiers, but a nice 1970s Musicmaster bass would be ideal. Here's my 1978 model (unfortunately sold):