(Basses with modified) scale length

[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...