5/8 size
 

Good day all

This is my first post on this forum glad to be here to learn, and now my story.

i (stand 5.4ft) currently play a 3/4 size ply wood bass fairly old i think but no clue as to its origin. string length of about 41 and 3/4" and its killing me.

i have lowered the strings to nearly inaudible heights tried different gauges. but still my left hand and wrist are in pain.

mainly due to the fact that i had an accident as a teenager where my hand was " separated " from my forearm , ouch the wrist was never properly set in surgery but hey what can you do.

now i have been thinking a smaller size bass may help my problem. but i am worried about a few things.
1. will i sacrifice volume and tone with a smaller shorter scale.
2. will the string tension be to floppy.
3 and most important will i have to sell a kidney to afford a small bass of decent enough quality to survive the rigors of coffee shop trio gigs.

thank in advance for your advice
greetings from sunny South Africa

5/8?
 

What exactly is a 5/8 size bass? A full size car today is smaller than a full size car 40 years ago. Body size coupled with string length is what you should look for. It might be called a 3/4, a 5/8 or even a 1/2 size depending on who you ask and what you compare it to. I think that 41 3/4 is a full 3/4 or as we call it here today a 7/8 size but this depends on the overall size. These sizes used today are mostly used to refer to new factory basses made for school students. NO old basses follow these guidelines as they come first before the ruler.

Size of a bass in sound is not exactly a comparison verses volume. It can mean more depth on a bigger or deeper bass but louder can be or mean more audible.

I just compared to basses here for an acoustic gig I have coming up in two weeks, Pno/Ba duo. The bigger of the two basses as fuller sounding but the smaller one was louder. It is not a small bass, just small-ER. One is a full 3/4-7/8 and the other is a true 4/4 size. The string length is about the same on both basses.

Do you play with an Amp or only acoustic?

I suggest due to your hand injury (and sorry to hear about that) you would consider a small amp and not kill yourself. There is no shame in it.

We have a member here involved with several basses that is from your neck of the woods or is it called 'around the horn'?

Smaller basses well set-up should be easier to play. Left hand technique coupled with good right hand should present little or no strenuous effort at all unless trying to drown out the drums. Evan a Mic on the bass in the sound system would help.

Let's see what else unfolds here to answer your question.

Hi James, I'm also from SA, but am now living in Europe and travelling to Canada whenever I can to see family. Firstly, I know what you're going through. It certainly isn't a great feeling when you find out that the instrument you love so much may be too big for you. I don't stand much taller than yourself at 5'6" but I've also had to really try and figure out what it is that makes a bass "easier" to play for me and what I need to avoid.

Generally for 95 percent of us out there, a string length of between 41-42" should work fine but there are of course people who simply need a smaller scale so there are old and new basses that have string lengths of around 40" that sound pretty good if not great.

You have to ask yourself what you want out of your bass and what kind of playing you're doing. If you said you want to become a professional bassist and one day play in the MET, a -40" scale bass and technique would not be a good idea for your career or sound

For you I think the most important thing is making sure the bass is set up really well. For me it was getting the strings placed fairly close together at the nut so I didn't have to reach too much for octaves and also making sure that the string height is not above 1 business card between the string and fingerboard, maybe even less if you can get away with it. You mentioned that you have the strings really low but what kind of strings are you using? If you do a lot of jazz (I know I'm going to get in trouble for suggesting this) but plain gut string at least on your top two strings will be much easier on the hand than steel. Really, it's like night and day if you tension issues in your hands.

I've played on tiny basses and big ones and right now I'm happy (after a lot of modifications, a lot of money spent and a lot of complaining).

The instrument I currently use has a 42" scale and it works really well for me. The ribs are very thin near the neck so it's easy for me to "get over" and also the upper bouts are fairly small (19") which help a lot if you aren't the biggest person around.

So, I think that sticking with 41-42" is a good idea and that you should try and address the set-up of your bass as well as look at your own playing. Do you have a teacher or someone you can play so they can give you feedback?

Can you send us a photo? That would really be helpful.

Cheers


Calvin

I'll chime in with Ken and Calvin and suggest a good setup and possibly a teacher to help with technique. I started out playing a normal sized plywood bass (if memory serves, it was a Kay) when I was 12 or 13 years old, and probably under 5'4" tall. Junior High School Orchestra.

a Revision
 

Hi , and thank you for your input

having read your replies i have gone back to the bass and spent some time trying to figure out where it may be uncomfortable.

having measured the bass it does seem to be a full "3/4" and actually seems fairly well suited (maybe a little big)to my proportions.

so i have narrowed down some things that may be causing my pain.

firstly the neck stop seems to be quite big and i have some difficulty getting around that area. i have attached a pic.

and then the overstand is about 21mm i think this causes me some problems in thumb position ? or i might just have a dodgy wrist.

i do use an amp and it helps alot.

sorry not the prettiest bass you will see in these forums!!

It seems to me like the overstand is definitely on the short side, which is something I find quite unpleasant in a bass. If this is the case, I would speculate that the rest of the setup on this bass is less than ideal, and could be altered to make playing more comfortable. In my opinion, string length is not the key to an instrument being harder or easier to play; rather, I find that in some ways a longer length is easier to play assuming the setup is decent. I think "string length" often becomes a scapegoat for "poor setup".

Also, since you say that part of the problem seems to be a neck that is too big, might I suggest finding a teacher who uses a more modern or "alternative" technique, as compared to some of the more traditional approaches? I find that adopting a playing style that incorporates the left hand working with the whole body's weight and movement above the instrument, bearing down into the fingerboard, rather than using a rigid system of "positions" and pressure between the thumb and fingers, not only facilitates better intonation and tone production but allows me to address the aspects of bass-playing that don't agree with the mid/upper back problems I deal with. I think also contacting a body worker might help, or participating in some kind of martial arts; both things I keep meaning to try.

Good luck - I know how difficult it is to play this instrument with not only our basic anatomy, but additional limitations on top of it!

Hi James, I'm in Johannesburg (Sandton) for the next two weeks. If you want a lesson to address posture and such contact me via e-mail.

calvinmarks@gmail.com

Best,

Calvin