Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

At the risk of sounding completely stupid, why would someone change the scale length of a bass?

My 72 EBO has a Badass bridge that is right at the end of the body, making the scale length 34 instead of 30.5. I am trying to round up all the parts to put a three point (73 but better design) Gibson bridge back on it.

Sometimes my grasp of things mechanical leaves plenty to be desired. I had always assumed that the distance between the frets varied with scale length?

What piece of info am I misunderstanding?

On a side note, It will cost me 130 bucks to get the neck reset locally. So, I'm into it for 400 bucks so far.

Changing the scale length would require changing the distance between frets. If this hasn't been done it will never play in tune...

Whew, that is what I thought. I wonder what this dude was thinking.

Gibson made a few of these 34" scale. You need to measure from the nut to the 12th fret to see what you have.

We can see the dowels that were inserted in the body when the original bridge was removed. We are gonna put it back the way it was, whatever the scale.

What effect does changing the scale have on tone, if any, everything else being equal?

Here is a shot of a short scale 72 EBO. Compared to mine, it is not 4 inches away from the old bridge position, so the proof is in the measurement of the first 12 frets.

I do know the L series EBO and EB3 is 34 but the neck is longer.

If this was originally a 30.5" and a previous owner just changed the scale length because he thought it would give "deeper" sound or look cool, can you imagine how it plays? EVERYTHING will be off; the note at the 12th fret would not be an octave but could be as much as three or four semitones off!

It will be interesting to hear what Eric has to say once he gets the neck reset! I bought a complete three point bridge assy online that I should get this week. I will have him put that on so he can give it a setup and it should be good to go.

bump to see if Ken meant the L version or something like what was done to mine?

The two point bridges aren't bad. I have both and don't really have a preference except that you have to loosen the strings on a two point to raise or lower it or else you can strip the screws.

Ken was right you would really have to measure to the 12th fret to really see whether it was a 30.4 or 34, ask someone here who has an EB-3L. Dave who moderates the Rickenbacker forum at the dudepit has one. Although seeing the dowels pretty much seals it if they are in the same place as a 30.5. I've never seen a 34 inch like that, just the L's. Dave has said the long scale doesn't really change the sound very much.
Charlie, if I were you I'd look for a good Gibson EB-3, they sound much better.

I know, but at 500 bucks total investment, this is what I was playing in 72. It's a nostalgia kind of thing. If I like it the way I remember, I will look to upgrade. I really like the tone of my cii so it's not as if I don't have the humbucker sound. And being a 72, the pup is not up against the neck. And I don't think they made a 34 scale with a short neck either, but I am not an expert.

Weird! He says it is 17 inches to the 12th fret (34 inch scale). It does not look like the neck is as long as the ones on the L, so now I am even more confused.