Quote:
Originally Posted by Johannes Felscher
Well, I perfectly get your point - I wasn't thinking of extreme length like 44.5" and I was actually trying to discuss sound / response more than playability. I bet a bass with 41.5" scale length would be even easier to play down there if brought down to 39" - but how would that sound?
Let's put it differently: I might for whatever reason not be able to stretch my left hand very far (for whatever reason: size, injury, missing finger....) and I felt like I needed to shorten the playing length of my strings - how would it affect the tone - you know what I mean?
You might be playing lots of orchestra, I'm playing mostly in a jazz environment where a majority of parts don't contain playing octaves down on low f and f on the d string most of the time. I wasn't trying to convince anyone of any loss or gain in playing comfort, just curious about the effect the change in tension etc. might have on the instrument. I understand why you wouldn't want to play anything too long (and I was talking scale length 42-42", not 44,5"!) and I might not even recommend a student of mine playing such a bass, but still that wasn't really what I was trying to explore...
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Well, if you are asking then here is what I suggest. If the bass is between 41"-42", leave it alone. Even if it's 40", do nothing more then move the bridge up. What you might want to do is find a 1/2 sized Germanic style bass (aka 5/8ths) and leave the 41-42" bass alone. It is more valuable for re-sale that way. As a matter of fact, smaller basses run less money, way less than Orchestra sized 3/4 models.
Sound? Well as I was talking about the bass becoming more focused when shortening I was referring to LARGE bodied 44" or so basses. These are deep and often organ like in tone. Shortening them tightens up the sound and response. With smaller basses like you describe, they are already smaller chambered instruments. So, a similar difference will occur in the sound when you shorten it. For jazz, especially amplified, thinner sounding basses are often more desirable. For me, I like them thick and full sounding so don't go by me on that.
A longer string on the same bass will be deeper sounding and visa versa.