Rick Questions

[jack1953]

I don't want to violate protocol by staying off topic, but since we had a couple of folks chime in on the benefit of the thread so far, I just wanted to pass on an interesting thing that happened to me while at the local GC. I went there to try out a Fender Jazz Bass to see how the 34" neck would feel to play, to see if it was worth pursuing a regular scale Rick. I picked one up and started playing it and thought that I had mistakenly picked up a medium scale because it didn't feel uncomfortable at all. I checked and it was a 34" scale bass!
This is what I'm thinking must have happened, over time. I've been playing guitars for 40 years which are 26" scale. When I got the challenge to try bass for the band, I practiced with my friend's 34" Ibanez. It felt like I was reaching across the room to get to the first fret.
After that, I started playing nothing but short scale. Maybe after playing the 30" for so long, it makes the reach on the 34" seem not so long anymore? I don't know. Does that make sense?
Jack

[kiramdear]

Scale is not a big obstacle for me. I play mandolin, guitars in three different scale lengths, a 30' baritone, and two lengths of bass. For me it's just a matter of getting used to a particular instrument, kinda like riding a bike - once I'm accustomed there's no forgetting the feeling. I'm much more picky about neck size and just don't get on with clubby necks. My P bass has a special neck that feels more like a Jazz, so that's why I took it. My Beatle bass is not a real Hofner but it's slender enough for me. I think the jazz bass necks spread out more toward the bridge than a Hofner, though. Again, it's just a matter of getting used to a particular instrument that I take a liking to. Always gotta try before I buy, except with one or two Ricks that I bought untested because I was told what to expect with the necks on them.

[Peacefrog35]

Jack, sorry to took so long for me to reply to your quesitons. It's been a crazy work day to say the least. I like you haven't been playing bass all that long so my technical jargon my be off,but as far as going from the Hofner to the Ric, yeah I can tell a difference maining in the tension of the strings and the string spacing themselves,but the Ric...WOW. The neck feels fast and less chunky than you'd expect. I actually just got mine back today from being set up by a Luthier. This guy does amazing work and was cheap to boot... The Ric feels really good for some reason and I can't explain it,but it feels like it was made for me and I have small hands. If anything, I have a harder time going from the Rick to the Hofner instead of the Hofner to the Rick if that makes any sense. With such a beauty of a bass, it doesn't bother me at all and it sounds sooo good even for a bass beginner like me!

Here's what she looked like the day I got her,but now she shines like new money and has the bridge cover back on...the fretboard looks like a pice of glass now and sounds like a dream!

[antipodean]

Traditionally, long scale basses have a been said to have more sustain than short scale basses of similar construction...The best sustain I have ever heard from a bass was a short-scale Hamer.

In my opinion short scale basses will always sustain more because there is less energy wasted on neck flexion. The longer the neck, as a function of scale, the more material there is to transduce mechanical vibrations and waste string energy. My dad's Japanese Hofner copy sustains longer than anything else I can think of, even though its tone is thuddy garbage. Just my two cents.

I agree with your logic up to a point Josh. There are a lot of factors at work here however - string length, neck mass and neck length - that don't all work in the same direction with regard to sustain. Once you throw construction issues into the mix (materials, neck/body design, hardware mass etc) this gets very complex. I also would note that scale and neck length aren't necessarily correlated. Some short scale basses such as Mosrites and Danelectro Longhorns have necks of similar length to P-bass - it's all very confusing!!

[berth]

Outside of having the obvious advantage of having more notes,
Jack

More notes?



(this btw. is my Hopf Studio bass. Lemmy used a Hopf Studio on early Hawkwind records.)