Short-Scale Bass Pickups

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Shadoweclipse13
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Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon Sep 20, 2021 8:16 am

I'll preface this by saying that I know I need to go to my local shop and try some stuff out, and just haven't had time lately. And they might not have what I'd like to try in stock. But I'd still love to pick the OSG brain, as it were.

I've had my ears on, and a desire for, a short-scale bass for some time. I'm a short dude (5'5"), and love the idea of a bass that's more my size. I've got a Deed_Poll-made custom Jaguar bass that I LOVE. I don't have any problems with the 34" scale, so it's more a curiosity to try and have something new and different.

I love the sound of classic Mustang basses, with the rounded-edge split Mustang bass pickup, but I've heard some Mustang basses that are P-bass pickups and a PJ combo as well.

Part of my curiosity comes from the fact that my Jag bass has a MM pickup in it, wired for P and J shapes by way if switching. After hearing some demos of the Tim Commerford signature Ernie Ball MusicMan, and seeing how HNB put a MM-based active circuit from Mojotone in a recent bass build of his, I'm tempted to add the active curcuit to my Jag bass.

I usually prefer passive, and P-bass sounds. I never liked Jazz Bass sounds until I played one at an EQD open house, and fell in love with the neck pickup on it.

Anyone have a favorite pickup for a short-scale bass?
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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by JSett » Mon Sep 20, 2021 11:03 am

* Danger: negativity contained *

I bought my first SS bass this year, a late-70s Musicmaster. The stock pickup was, predictably, weedy and unbalanced (what with being just a Strat pickup under a cover and all that). I put in an old 90's Hotrail, wired in parallel with itself for a brighter and less hot output. The bridge was screwed and an aftermarket one that didnt have the correct string spacing, so I swapped that out for some fancy adjustable hi-mass one. Then put fresh 1k CTS pots in.

After all that, I can't find a sound I'm happy with in it.

I don't know what kind of music you like to play on a bass but if it involves any bite, treble or 'cut' like I like it, prepare to be disappointed. If you like tubby and warm thump, you'll love it. It IS super comfy to play though, and a nice weight. Great for smaller hands

I can't speak for the newer PJ Mustangs, but I bet the issue is less so. I am tempted to rout out and put a Jazz bass bridge pickup in - it already has extra holes in it so it's not like I'll be messing with a pristine specimen.
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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by pawnzito » Mon Sep 20, 2021 12:09 pm

I have a jmj mustang and the pickup in that is great and very versatile. I sold my jazz bass and haven’t missed it.

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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by Shadoweclipse13 » Mon Sep 20, 2021 12:24 pm

Good to know!

For tub and thump vs cut and bite, I'm not getting rid of my 34" Jaguar bass, so I figure I'd have the option between both. I like a lot of bands, but I'm recently learning that a number of bands I like play short-scale bass (like Alvvays).
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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by JSett » Mon Sep 20, 2021 12:35 pm

Shadoweclipse13 wrote:
Mon Sep 20, 2021 12:24 pm
Good to know!

For tub and thump vs cut and bite, I'm not getting rid of my 34" Jaguar bass, so I figure I'd have the option between both. I like a lot of bands, but I'm recently learning that a number of bands I like play short-scale bass (like Alvvays).
Truth be told, I'll probably end up buying a Jaguar bass. I have an old Aria Diamond bass that has the perfect clank and bite for punk/dirty/gritty alternative sounds but the neck is, frankly, garbage to hold in hand.
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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by rumfoord » Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:09 pm

I have played the Squier Mustang bass in store, and it struck me as wonderful, cute, and very fun to play. The neck felt smaller and much friendlier than the PJ MIM and American Mustang basses I've picked up (also in store).

If you get into weird and experimental territory, here's two weird suggestions if they end up serving you:
  • I bought these ebay thunderbird pickups, and so far only installed the bridge pickup on a jaguar bass. But I LOVE it. I also mounted it as far away from the bridge as I could get away with. But I'm very happy with it. I haven't gotten around to it, but my plan for the neck pickup is to mount it just above the MM pickup in a SUB Ray5 (I'm thinking of just rewiring it to be passive. Honestly, mostly because I hate unplugging active basses. But I also like passive tones better, and have a different active bass.)
  • If you just want a smaller scale, but like the tone and/or feel of higher tension...I can report that you should feel free to just put crazy gauges on. It'll be fine. I had the bottom 4 of a 5-string set tuned BEAD, and tuned it up to C# and was very surprised that I loved it. Now I have two basses with weird custom sets tuned to C#-standard (with mixed constructions going sort of progressively from more roundwound to more flatwound). And this works out to about 28.5"-scale if you were to capo at the third fret (I'm using gauges 130 and 105 roundwound, and 70 and 50 flatwound—tuned C#, F#, B, E at 34" scale).

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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by beauzooka » Mon Sep 20, 2021 1:23 pm

The Serek B90 pickup is pretty great for short scale.
Serek basses are excellent too, but they have quite the wait list now.
I’ll also 2nd the JMJ Mustang bass.

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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by Gordon » Mon Sep 20, 2021 4:59 pm

For a short scale bass, I recommend... A single wide range bass pickup. With a wiring that allows the coils to be switched from series (hot) to parallel (more Pbass). It does wonders. Fender made one a few years back (the Pawnshop series) that completely flew under the radar:

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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by Embenny » Tue Sep 21, 2021 5:54 am

johnnysomersett wrote:
Mon Sep 20, 2021 11:03 am
I don't know what kind of music you like to play on a bass but if it involves any bite, treble or 'cut' like I like it, prepare to be disappointed. If you like tubby and warm thump, you'll love it.
Entirely because of the way that particular bass was built and the position of that particular pickup, along with how it was strung.

I own four shortscale basses and they can sound plenty biting with lots of cut if they're built for it and have the right pickups in the right spot.

The inexpensive and totally passive Sterling shortscale Stingray has plenty of bite depending how you set up the controls, much like its upscale sibling.

I own a Chowny SWB Pro that is plenty biting and spanky if I want it to be. It growls like nobody's business when played fingerstyle. Really effortlessly aggressive tones in every pickup position if I want them. It's actually a little hard to reign in and get classic fat, tubby shortscale tones without flats and careful tweaking of settings.

And that shouldn't be a surprise, since it's basically trying to cop an Alembic Stanley Clarke vibe. The Alembic is capable of some of the the most cutting bass tones out there. Zack Smith of Pinback/Three Mile Pilot/Systems Officer has used one for his entire career, and his bands are known for using polyphonic bass parts that are often confused with guitar parts.

Stuff like Systems Officer, Good To Sea, Clemenceau, or In The Shallows aren't exactly what I'd call "tubby" tones.

All of the basses I just posted have scale lengths from 30" to 30.75". You just need the right pickups in the right locations and you're good to go.

Shortscale basses have an undeserved reputation for being less versatile than they are. It's kind of like how a Jaguar can get just as cutting a tone as a full scale Fender, just with a slight spin on it.

Zack Smith was the player who opened my eyes to how incredible SS basses were. Seeing Pinback live, his tone smacked you in the chest like nothing I've experienced. I knew the spanky tones from the albums, but his live rig was something else. He added a bit of dirt to a lot of songs and some song were simultaneously ground-shakingly bassy, growled like Entwhistle (not a shock, since he used Alembics as well), and yet remained perfectly clear. Sadly, Alembics are like $10k so I've had to make do without one.
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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by JSett » Tue Sep 21, 2021 6:23 am

mbene085 wrote:
Tue Sep 21, 2021 5:54 am

Entirely because of the way that particular bass was built and the position of that particular pickup, along with how it was strung.

I own four shortscale basses and they can sound plenty biting with lots of cut if they're built for it and have the right pickups in the right spot.
Would you suggest sticking in a bridge pickup would help then? I do feel that is the main cause of the lack of upper harmonics I get with my MM.
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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by noisepunk » Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:31 am

Gordon wrote:
Mon Sep 20, 2021 4:59 pm
For a short scale bass, I recommend... A single wide range bass pickup. With a wiring that allows the coils to be switched from series (hot) to parallel (more Pbass). It does wonders. Fender made one a few years back (the Pawnshop series) that completely flew under the radar:

Image
these were fantastic. i typically can't deal with the feel of a short-scale bass, this somehow didn't feel as floppy as they usually do, and my god, those pickups sounded fantastic.

i was also really into the pawnshop mustang 6-string that was out around the same time, even if those pickups were a tad underwhelming.

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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by JSett » Tue Sep 21, 2021 10:13 am

Dug around in mine tonight properly and noticed an extra cap across the tone pot that was 'always on' :fp: clipping that brought a lot of high end back. Better, but it still hasn't got anywhere near the 'growl' I like and the low E is still a flubby mess.
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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by Embenny » Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:22 pm

johnnysomersett wrote:
Tue Sep 21, 2021 10:13 am
Dug around in mine tonight properly and noticed an extra cap across the tone pot that was 'always on' :fp: clipping that brought a lot of high end back. Better, but it still hasn't got anywhere near the 'growl' I like and the low E is still a flubby mess.
It's tough for me to say without having played your bass (or indeed any musicmaster bass).

I'd try to answer this question first: does the low E sound like a flubby mess unplugged?

The construction of the bass (woods, neck angle, bridge style and materials, strings, setup) has a lot to do with it in my experience.

I personally find that short scale basses need one gauge heavier strings than I like on a full scale to let me dig in and get a growl out of them, but too heavy and they lose that aggressive attack. They also need brighter strings to do the same. I find Elixir bass strings absolutely obnoxious and clanky on my 34" Stingray (2-band active model) but a match made in heaven for a couple of my shortscales. Stainless steel strings are even more aggressive.

But at the same time, I've had full scale basses that just resist all attempts to get attack or definition out of them, because they're simply too dead in the attack department acoustically. My brother's Precision was that way - it wants to sound like it's still the 50's and it doesn't take kindly to any suggestions otherwise.

Kinda like how a Toronado, Les Paul and ES-175 all share the same scale length but can't be totally homogenized by pickup or string choice. Sometimes they're just gonna do what they do.
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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by JSett » Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:33 pm

mbene085 wrote:
Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:22 pm
johnnysomersett wrote:
Tue Sep 21, 2021 10:13 am
Dug around in mine tonight properly and noticed an extra cap across the tone pot that was 'always on' :fp: clipping that brought a lot of high end back. Better, but it still hasn't got anywhere near the 'growl' I like and the low E is still a flubby mess.
It's tough for me to say without having played your bass (or indeed any musicmaster bass).

I'd try to answer this question first: does the low E sound like a flubby mess unplugged?

The construction of the bass (woods, neck angle, bridge style and materials, strings, setup) has a lot to do with it in my experience.

I personally find that short scale basses need one gauge heavier strings than I like on a full scale to let me dig in and get a growl out of them, but too heavy and they lose that aggressive attack. They also need brighter strings to do the same. I find Elixir bass strings absolutely obnoxious and clanky on my 34" Stingray (2-band active model) but a match made in heaven for a couple of my shortscales. Stainless steel strings are even more aggressive.

But at the same time, I've had full scale basses that just resist all attempts to get attack or definition out of them, because they're simply too dead in the attack department acoustically. My brother's Precision was that way - it wants to sound like it's still the 50's and it doesn't take kindly to any suggestions otherwise.

Kinda like how a Toronado, Les Paul and ES-175 all share the same scale length but can't be totally homogenized by pickup or string choice. Sometimes they're just gonna do what they do.
It sounds a lot better unplugged than plugged in. It's still a little flubby but has more bite and clank than amplified.

Currently using D'Addario Chromes, 100-45, Short Scale.

I guess there may be some improvement to be had going up to 105 and nickel, I must have overlooked the gauge issue
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Re: Short-Scale Bass Pickups

Post by HarlowTheFish » Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:02 pm

johnnysomersett wrote:
Tue Sep 21, 2021 12:33 pm
It sounds a lot better unplugged than plugged in. It's still a little flubby but has more bite and clank than amplified.

Currently using D'Addario Chromes, 100-45, Short Scale.

I guess there may be some improvement to be had going up to 105 and nickel, I must have overlooked the gauge issue
I use 110-50 flats on my 34" Warwick, and I'd probably be running a 115 low string on a short-scale at least.

I will say too that the Hot Rails is pretty dark and if you have 250K pots in there you might wanna swap them out for 500K-1M or just put in something a little brighter, like the Vintage Rails, Cool Rails, or one of the Dimarzio rail options.

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