4030 Short Scale bass

[brianeharmonjr]

Happened to be browsing at some online retailers and came across a few of these 4030 Short Scale basses in Midnight Blue with checkerboard binding and black hardware. Anyone have any experience with these? I know there have been a couple of previous VERY limited versions of this floating around. Wilcutt has zero information posted on it and I don't see them elsewhere. Looks like the bridge is shifted forward and it has two pickups mounted in the guard, with a black-painted fingerboard, 24 frets, and some interesting pickups. It's all black hardware and the pickups almost look like toasters with a hi-gain cover? I love short-scale basses, but that is quite a plunge to take with no in-hand experience. Is this a limited model or something that will become more widely available? Any info is appreciated!

https://willcuttguitars.com/products/ri ... 89-2237768

[lumgimfong]

I’m curious if the measurement from nut to 12th fret is 30-31”.
24 frets?!?!
Those pups look strange. Like Toasters with 6 pole pieces.

[teeder]

Odd. I would have rather 21 frets and shifted the whole neck back in some.

[Uffingdon]

I vaguely remember seeing that bass on RIC’s Facebook page as a factory one off, maybe the short scale 24 fret neck was a test for the 4005XC?

[Uffingdon]

Odd. I would have rather 21 frets and shifted the whole neck back in some.

https://imgur.com/o11US1X

Like this!

[teeder]

Odd. I would have rather 21 frets and shifted the whole neck back in some.

https://imgur.com/o11US1X

Like this!

That's close!

[brianeharmonjr]

Yeah, this looks to be basically a regular 4003 body and neck with a different scale fingerboard and the bridge shifted forward. I would personally much prefer a fully scaled-down body with a slimmer neck and traditional pickup configuration (and vintage-style tuners), but still a killer bass. All of the short-scale basses I've loved (Dano longhorn, Fender Mustang, Hofners) have a smaller and lighter feel, and I'm not prepared to drop $3.5k on a short-scale bass on a long-scale bass platform. I'd have to get some more information on it prior, and don't want to make a 7+ hour round trip to the only shop that seems to have them (and is appointment only for in-store business).

[cheyenne]

I personally think these are very cool basses. I'm not into short scale, but nonetheless, they are very cool in my book.

[Dom]

Heck yeah, another lead bass! Not to knock the 4002 but with the neck shifted forward this one has that same vibe but looks a tad less awkward. HiGains with no poles? I really wonder how it sounds. I bet this one has a tighter sound than the 4005xc does with that pickup placement.

[jdogric12]

Those look like the hot toasters like on my 480XC. Which I love the sound of. I wonder how they would be on this thing. Probably good?

[teeder]

Those look like the hot toasters like on my 480XC. Which I love the sound of. I wonder how they would be on this thing. Probably good?

That would be my guess, since they are shifted towards the bridge. Would like to hear one!