“I love my Sport Bass. It does NOT sound like a toy - it sounds like an electric bass should sound. Switching back and forth from guitar to bass will be so much smoother. Thank you for this little beauty!” ~Stan

“A COMPLETE winner—this powerful little bass! Impressive, big sound in a very small body! And so cool to look at!”
~ Renee, gigs every weekend with her Sport bass!

“I certainly love mine! Thanks Scott for a bass that exceeded my expectations.” ~ Ed

“I've played bass longer today than I have in months! What do I love most about this little 25 1/2" scale bass? It sounds just like my 31" Birdsong bass. The huge sound from this little guy is almost uncanny. Very cool looking, incredibly comfortable.” ~S. in TX

“In a world of basses hard to pick up, may mine be the one you can’t put down.” ~Scott B.


OWNER INFO:

Strings
Suggested strings are D’Addario short scale sets #EXL 170 S (nickel wound) or #ECB 81 S (flatwounds). The E string goes through-the-body beginning with the front and around and up through. This affects the behavior of such a low string for such a short scale and helps a lot. Designed and first used on the B string of 5-string 31” scale Birdsongs, DST (“Double String Through” - no fancy hype name on the patent, LOL) has been used on the E of all the 25.5” scale basses we offered and I now offer. When stringing, you want 3 to 5 wraps around the tuner shaft. cut the E at just past headstock end, insert end into tuner shaft hole, gently bend over and wrap for 3. A, cut a couple of inches past the headstock end and do the same for around 4. D, same. G, go about an inch past the headstock and you’ll get about 5. This’ll simply give you consistent angling behind the nut. However you do it will likely work, but this is how I it was done on my workbench.

Tuning
If the lively E drives your tuner crazy, hit the 12th fret harmonic and tune to that. These are designed to work in standard EADG tuning, though up a few frets will work too (you may need to adjust the truss rod, 5mm single action). They also restring as octave or piccolo fantastically well, though a differently cut nut and setup may be needed. Or explore any combinations of strings and tuning upward of bass low E into high-strung guitar range and create your own unique music. It’s a bass right up until you decide it’s something else and then it’s a 4-string instrument for you to define.

Tone shaping
My basses are voiced to be very full range with good, woody midrange to sit well in a mix without turning up overpoweringly loud. I suggest starting with your amp set flat and the bass’ volume and tone up full. If that’s a little aggressive or bright for you, dial back the volume knob a little and the tone to half; this will mellow it out nicely. Then see what the room needs and add or subtract a little of the lows mids and highs on your amp to shape it. These are surprisingly loud and lively little basses, especially for classic passive instruments (no battery and pre-amp) and some of that is just that there’s nothing inherently missing in the basic tone. No big sonic scoop-outs or dead spots. So they seem louder because it’s all showing up to the gig with you! That is by design and attention to detail.

Some FAQ

Does the wood make a difference in the tone?
Based on my experience, yes. I’ve seen it mostly in neck wood. The tonal influence of just the change in body wood will be difficult to describe; it's small, but it's there. More of a seasoning. If your hands and overall EQ and room and ears emphasize that bit where it is, it'll be big; if they scoop or negate that, it'll be nothing audible to you. Also it depends on the piece; I'd say similar most density/weight pieces will be very close despite species, but some woods can be found harder & heavier and others can be found lighter weight. Denser woods I'd give a little nod to for sustain and lows, but very slight - moving the amp to a different room is more than all of this. Some woods, like mesquite, at times defy this and do impart their own flavor; and I’ve found mahogany does to the mids (a slight bump) what it does no matter what density. It just does other things too if it’s more dense. My experience after 25 years and 1000+ instruments out.

More Q to come!

More happy players of Scott’s work:

“Scott, thanks again for the incredible bass! I received Shortbass 14-0619 on 9/24/14 and have played it exclusively on my last 278 gigs. It’s the only bass I’ll play now until I can get you to build me another one.” ~ Kenny T.

“You’ve made many of my bass dreams come true, but this was above and beyond.” ~ Ben W.

“Just wanted to pop in and say how surprised I am at the sound of that tiny bass. Never expected it to have so much clarity. Much more versatile bass than one might suspect just by looking at it. Yea man. Can’t recall ever being that surprised by an instrument before.”