Eastwood guitars makes a La Baye 2X4 Bass Devo Signature Model which is a modified version of the original La Baye 2x4 guitar. It’s a 30.5" neck.
I own a Steinberger bass and guitar and can recommend both.
Yamaha’s musical instruments have a reputation for quality that borders on legendary, so I wouldn’t suggest letting that one example deter you from checking out their offerings - on their cheaper instruments, most other manufacturers cut costs on parts and labor, but Yamaha does this without sacrificing quality control. It sounds like your sister might have found the exception that proves the rule.
I picked up a used RBX170 for the price of a decent pair of dress socks, and the workmanship is first class - better than my Jazz Bass. It plays so well that I may just throw some new hardware and pickups at it, and for a total outlay of a few hundred dollars, have a giant killer of a bass that weighs all of 7 pounds.
And for short scales, another vote for Steinberger - there’s a bass you could comfortably play all day, maybe even on the subway to work.
I’ve been playing bass since I was 13. I have three bass guitars - a Fender Precision, a Fender Jazz, and a Bruce Thomas Profile Bass (which is based on a Precision-style body, but slightly modified.) The latter is my favorite of all of them and the one I spend the most time playing. I had my other Precision strung for BEAD tuning and use it as a secondary instrument because I like the Profile so much. I am also CONSTANTLY and I mean CONSTANTLY getting compliments on its color every time I play out with it anywhere. It’s the same color as the bass Bruce Thomas played for decades with Elvis Costello & the Attractions, but the average person isn’t aware of this connection - it’s just a very unique color for a bass or guitar to be, and people like it.
I don’t know where you are but prices are: UK/EU Price: £495.00 - Inc. 20% VATExport Price - USA/Australia/Worldwide: £412.50. That is a really, really, REALLY good deal for a bass this good. It plays as good or better than any American Fender P-Bass I’ve ever played and I have played a hell of a lot of them.
Oooh, I love Bruce Thomas. I wonder if I could get that along with a Steve Nieve organ.
On TalkBass, they mentioned that the neck is contoured for speed – is that a thing? I’m having problems keeping up with some fast parts (that part of Dazed and Confused, for example, some faster ska, some Bruce Thomas parts). Maybe I can blame the neck.
Plumpudding, I like that idea, but Ritter basses look too cool to me – I would look ridiculous. Ditto Steinberger basses.
The inputs on a neck are 1. the profile, or “carve”, 2. the fingerboard width, 3. the fingerboard radius, 4. the scale length.
The profile of a neck is both how thick from front to back it is and what the shape or “roundness” of the back of the neck is like. Here’s an article about neck profiles which is mostly about guitars but similar stuff applies with basses.
The width of the neck dictates how far apart the strings are and how reachable they are for your left hand, and pluckable for your right.
The radius of the fingerboard is how rounded or flat the surface of the fingerboard is. It’s measured as what a subsection of a given circle would be that intersects with the fingerboard. For example, this Fender Precision bass has a fingerboard radius of 9.5".
The scale length dictates how far the frets are apart and can make a difference (for better or worse, depends on you) for playing in that you can wander about the neck with shorter movements on a short scale bass, though the frets become very close together the closer you play to the neck/body joint. For some this may make those notes less playable if you have fat fingers.
There’s really no combination of profile+width+radius that’s “contoured for speed”. It’s whatever is most comfortable for you to play, which can vary enormously from person to person.
Yeah - that’s the reason you simply need to try several basses. I always thought my Grabber had a very “fast” neck.
Ahh! That explains it. That’s something I will never need.
Re: needing a short-scale bass to get a lightweight instrument - not exactly true.
Many standard long scale (34") basses are lightweight (in the 8 lbs. region) and can be played for hours by people with back problems. Much depends on the materials, since the woods used in basses vary widely in density. A bass with an alder body and a maple neck (one proven combo) doesn’t have much mass, whereas an ash-bodied bass is usually appreciably heavier. Worst offenders, mass-wise, use dense, tropical woods like wenge and bubinga for the necks and bodies. These can be murder to wield. All this within the standard 34" scale.
It’s true that the most lightweight bass configuration possible is a hollow-body instrument with a short scale. But these have an array of sonic issues, be as light as they are. There are solid reasons Leo Fender ended up with a long 34" scale for all Fenders, and short-scale basses have become pretty much a rarity, whereas even longer-scaled 35-inch models are common today, with their enhanced low E and B sound and clarity.
I certainly wouldn’t make that argument. A short scale helps absolutely (necks are heavy!), but as you say materials are important. 30" scale bass with a hardrock maple body would probably top 13 pounds, ouch.
A Steinberger isn’t a short scale bass. It’s short ergonomically because there’s no headstock and the tuners are on the body, but the scale length is 34"
Ah, I so it is. Apparently I had confused the Steinberger with the Kramer Duke bass, which had a similar look but a shorter scale.
Ignorance fought.
The difference between a 30" neck and a 34" neck is four inches of tapered wood, less than two inches wide and under one inch in thickness. Said piece of wood (typically rock maple) weighs a couple of ounces. It doesn’t make the difference between a 8# and a 13# instrument, or even between a 10# and 12# instrument. Even the chosen tuners on the bass have an equal effect on weight, and they have nothing to do with scale length.
Short-scale basses are easier to play, but the reason they are a distinctive minority among bass guitars is that typically, short-scale basses lack in tone and clarity. Because of this, very few people have used them for performing and / or recording music, since the 60’s ended. Still, they are worth it to some players.
I have played bass since I was a teenager. I have lived with back pain, up to a debilitating level. I have owned maybe 20 different basses over the years. Tremendous weight differences exist between standard long-scale basses. I have owned a dozen that are lightweight enough for my back. 8 - 15# is the weight range, without ever touching the scale length.
Let’s talk 4, 5 & 6-string basses, especially for beginners. Any comments?
Once argument for getting a 5 string bass is that the lower fifth string could make it unnecessary to re-tune all the time for non-standard tunings, like drop D or C. However, I’m not a good enough bass player to make that substitution in real time – I’m still learning the notes for the four strings in regular tuning. So, for this beginner, I would basically never use the 5th string.
How is the 6th string tuned? Lower still, or up a fourth or something?
One argument for getting a 5 string bass is that the lower fifth string could make it unnecessary to re-tune all the time for non-standard tunings, like drop D or C. However, I’m not a good enough bass player to make that substitution in real time – I’m still learning the notes for the four strings in regular tuning. So, for this beginner, I would basically never use the 5th string.
How is the 6th string tuned? Lower still, or up a fourth or something?
I think a 6 string is usually tuned BEADGC (one lower and one higer. Five strings can be BEADG or less commonly EADGC, with an extra high string.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of non-standard tunings or extra strings. I think that having to work with the normal limitations of the instrument makes for better artistry. Now that’s as a player. As a listener, I can appreciate and enjoy all kinds of variations - 5-string, 6-string, even 2-string (Chris Ballew).
I did once try a 12 string bass in a music store (four three string courses) and found it a joy to play, but I couldn’t have afforded it and it wouldn’t have fit with the kind of music my band played.
For a beginner, I’d say stick w. 4.
Max out the 4 - or figure out something you damn well NEED an extra string or 2 for - before strapping a 5 or 6 around your neck and just looking stupid while not using the extra strings.
I have seen some guys do some pretty cool things w/ extra strings. But I also know a BUNCH of oldschool guys whom I’ll never be able to approach what they did on 4.
JMO
This avoids the annoying, though useful, major 3rd interval on the guitar.
I’m thinking about picking one from the first page here:
I know nothing about Spector or Schecter, but I like the way both of them look. Any opinions on those models from those brands?
Of course, I could go the easy way with a Fender Player Jazz bass – I’ve been told (in this thread?) that the narrow neck makes it easier to play than the Precision. TBH, I don’t like the look of that pick guard. I’d rather get an equivalent-quality bass that doesn’t have that if possible.
I’m actually leaning towards the Yamaha TRBX604FM – I like the way it looks, and it seems to be well reviewed:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TRBX604FMDRB--yamaha-trbx604fm-dark-red-burst
So, talk me into or out of one of those four! Or, tell me I’m on the wrong track entirely. Or, say I should find a better one on eBay for the same price. Something! Help!
Schecter is a Korean maker. I’ve own oned of their guitars a ways back and it was well made, good fit and finish. It’s the same company as ESP for what that’s worth, and if you pull up ESP you’ll see the exact same bass in white as the seafoam green Schecter.
Um, you realize that’s a lefty guitar right? That guitar has humbucking pickups = less RF interference, and active electronics, which is prized by some players. I’ve never cottoned to an instrument where I can’t play because the battery died, but that’s me, though I guess some instruments can still function in passive mode, no idea if this one can.