"Name That Size" aka "Size Matters"

[Ken Smith]

The topic of Bass size has been discussed over and over but with one consistent result. 'Confusion'!

This thread is intended for the topic and sharing of what 'might' make a Bass a particular size. My alternate title 'Size Matters' for those of you not sure implies 'matters concerning the size of various Basses' in case you were confused..lol

The biggest issue to date has been 'what is a 4/4 size Bass'? Another issue to consider which has been discussed much less is what is a 3/4, 5/8 or 1/2 sized Bass.

The sizes I want to cover here are the ones most commonly called 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8, 4/4 and 5/4. There are some smaller ones out there with most of the modern ones being children's sizes and also a few Giants as well that have only the descriptive title of HUGE etc.

I don't' want to copy the text discussed in the past over at TB but I will re-post a few thought I have stated being that they are my own words. Others are welcomed to re-post here anything of merit within the discussion that they may have posted over there.

Here are two quotes from posts I made in the past concerning size. I have edited them a bit to take out replies I made within.

While newer Basses may have some level of standard measurements, older Basses were made before the rule books were written and do not necessarily fall into any one size category.

On the term 'Full Size' have any of you guys rented a Car lately? I think 'Full Size' today can refer more to the average Orchestral Bass used today which is not considered to be a smaller sized Bass. These are usually large 3/4s and 7/8ths size Basses. My previously owned Prescott and Morelli Basses were huge and were probably in their day considered to be a Full Sized Bass in that period. I have a huge Bass (Mystery Bass of early English or French origin) in restoration now that is the biggest I have ever owned and still it is considered to be a large 7/8ths. Many many older larger Basses have been cut down to be made usable. My Bass will have some surgery in that department as well. It will loose about 1" at the Neck/Top shoulder area and the neck will be set lower and with a slightly smaller neck heel to get the Bass down to 42" string length or slightly less from it's original 44" size.

There is really no standard that I know of. If the Bass seems to be a regular size, we call it a 3/4. If it seems bigger, we call it a 7/8ths. To this day, the Basses I own can be 3/4 or 7/8 on some, and 7/8 or 4/4 on others depending on who is measuring them.

I refer to the bigger 3/4 sizes as 'full' 3/4 or small 7/8ths sometimes. In Europe they jump right to 4/4 or even 5/4 when it’s bigger then the average 3/4 size.

This thread will also serve as a question and answer section for those needing information on what size a particular Bass might be.

See my next Post.....