I just setup this account for my wife. (I'm a banjo hangout member.)

I am in the market for a good quality bass for my wife. She has very small hands so I've always thought along the lines of electric bass guitar. She'll be playing with our family band, which is young but improving every day. We play mainly bluegrass, gospel, traditional stuff. Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated! I'd like to be somewhere in the $500 range.

Thanks!

-Clay

Consider an Ashbory bass. It's very easy on the hands, and the sound can be very close to that of an upright. See these topics for a little more info:

basshangout.com/topic/13405
basshangout.com/topic/11727

All the sound files on my Banjo Hangout music page that have bass use the Ashbory.

Art

A Fender P Bass is always good

How about one of those electric upright basses (EUB) on Ebay? I've seen them in practice, and they work well.

I actually don't play bass- yet. I'm just a guitarist who can fake it.
I've thought about getting a short scale bass myself for recording to ease the switch from guitar.

And this is just about all of what's available in short scale,
in order of quality (IMO).

1. Fender Mustang® Bass Short-scale Bass Guitar
sweetwater.com/store/detail/MustangBsVWh/
2. Gretsch Electromatic Junior Jet
creamcitymusic.com/p-22954-gre...-blk.aspx
I remember seeing the Harmony Central reviews on this one said the sound was really good.
Conservative looks might be a plus for you, but no "comfort contours" a la Fender.
3. Epiphone EBO Bass- cool looking, but only a neck pickup-
you could possibly have someone install a second one.
zzounds.com/item--EPIEBG0
There is a Gibson version of this with two pickups, but it's WAY outta your price range.
4. Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Short-Scale $169.99 new
5. Dean-EVOXM-Short-Scale-Black amazon.com/Dean-EVOXM-Short-Sc...0018TH528
6. Daisy Rock just came out with a short scale bass- I tried one of their guitars in a shop out of curiosity, and was impressed
with the sound and quality. Available in sparkle pink and sparkle blue!
daisyrock.com/products/basses/...tite-bass
7. Hamer Slammer Short Scale Bass- I think it's discontinued, but you might be able to find it on eBay. It was available in sunburst.
8. Squier Bronco Bass- cheap and a bit homely looking. Black or red only.

Here's the deal:

Short scale basses are mostly marketed to <kids> learning to play... or to the parents of kids learning to play.
So the price point is $150 to $200. But some of the $200 basses are probably pretty good quality-
Dean, Ibanez, Daisy Rock, and Gretsch all make good stuff. The better Squiers are usually good.
Color choice may be limited... lots of black and red!

One factor in basses isn't just the scale length... it's the action of the heavy strings that can be hard to deal with.
And since bass strings' vibrations have a wide travel, and short scale basses have slacker strings, they are prone to
fret buzz, and you have to raise the action to get rid of it. And people with smaller hands have smaller fingers maybe without as much muscle on them.
I saw a Squier fretless bass- basically the economy version of the Fender Jaco Pastorius bass.
I tried it- it's full scale, but being fretless, the strings are flatwound, and the action is low because there are no
frets to buzz! And I would think being fretless, it would be easier to approximate the sound of a stand up bass,
also because of the flatwound strings. It was surprisingly easy to play (but I do have long fingers) and the sound was very nice.
IIRC you have inlaid lines instead of frets, so it's easy to just put your fingers on the lines.
And that also means that the actual place you put your fingers is to the right of where you would finger the note on a fretted bass-
so that might compensate some for it being full scale.
And it looks elegant in sunburst with no pickguard:
guitarcenter.com/Squier-Vintag...439934714

My top three picks for you would be a used Fender Mustang, a Gretsch Junior Jet, or the Squier Fretless.
All of them are a little more conservative looking which would fit in with the styles you play.
And the sound should be good- there are (or were) pro women bass players that used the Mustang,
the Gretsch got very good reviews, and the Squier Fretless got a good review from ME!!!
All are actually products of Fender Musical Instrument Corporation.

You could get BOTH of the latter two and still meet your price point, she could decide, and you could eBay the other one.

Edited by - fenderpogo on 05/29/2010 22:26:56

Whoops-
here's an idea I forgot-
a Hofner Beatle bass copy- short scale, conservative looks:
deaf-eddie.net/guitars/vb-100.html

Also, this page discusses the Beatle Bass copies including
the Rogue, the Jay Turser, and the Hofner Icon.
They are all apparently pretty similar, and are probably made in the same Chinese factory!
gretschpages.com/forum/bass-me...83/page1/

Keep in mind that a bass guitar means a bass amp to go with it, either that or a direct box (aka DI box) to a PA that can handle it.
You want something bigger than a bass practice amp, but not a huge rock amp obviously.

I have a friend who has one of the smaller Yorkville bass amps, and his brother who is a pro bass player is always wanting to borrow it!
It's probably what I would get.
Eh, the only Yorkville I can find is a 2x10- bigger and heavier-
Traynor is made by Yorkville- this is probably pretty close in size to what my friend has:
musiciansbuy.com/YORKVILLE_TBM..._AMP.html

Or was this the size???
dagexpress.com/incEngine/?name...030198879

Okay, I admit I'm not as familiar with bass amps as I am the guitars
(I'd just record it into my recording interface if and when I get one)
but names that seem to be reliable include Peavey and Hartke as well as Yorkville.

Peavey bass amps are pretty easy to find used.

Edited by - fenderpogo on 05/29/2010 22:59:23

I'd go with a shorter scale bass, like most gibson or epiphones, but it all depends on the type of music that's intended to be played.

A lady friend of mine went for a Ibanez sr 200 or 300. It's light to hold and super thin neck, She didn't like the muddy thunk of the short scale basses and thick strings.

Hello friends

A Fender P Bass is always good

This Forum is a really very nice.

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