Ibanez GSRM25-BK

Our band's bassist is a short girl with smaller hands and so she's always played short-scale basses. We have some songs where a 5 string would be handy but have never found anything other than super-expensive custom models that would be short enough for her to play. She has an upgraded Ibanex GSRM20 (the 4 string model) so when we spotted this, it was a great addition to the line-up.

As you might expect, this is not going to be the absolute best option for a 5 string sound. The 28.7" scale is not going to offer a great deal of tension for long scale 5 strings and as expected the heavy B string is a little loose and needs quite a bit of set up with the saddles to even handle a note without flopping out of the grooves. Still with some time and patience and some changes to the action and set up, you can get a decent low end bloom out of this. As with the other Ibanez basses and most lower-end basses, you can get a monumental improvement with some new pickups and a few hardware upgrades.

So if you're expecting it to rival a full-size 5 string bass from an expensive range - forget it - but if you are a small player, with smaller hands, or just like playing fast, guitar like runs on bass, this is one of the only realistic options out there. I'd recommend changing the strings immediately, and a pickup and bridge upgrade make a big difference to everything. Even after that it's still cheaper than a custom made short-scale 5 string.

Highly recommended and like most Ibanez guitars and basses - far better than you'd expect for the low price.

It's unbelievable you can get a 5 string short scale bass of this quality at this price.

It's fit and finish is great as you expect even from budget ibanez. It's a simple bass, but as a bass player it's my belief you can get away with very basic sounds and sculpt a lot of it through signal processing if you want. This is perfect to dabble into 5 string and try short scale at the same time.

The neck is so playable. I have small hands and this is just a dream... Used to have a multiscale 5 string redsub, this is much more comfortable and shocking how the B string holds plenty of tension, better than that multi scale. This means action can be lower as there's less flop on that low string.

It's my go-to practice bass at home now, and I'm hoping to transplant the neck onto my modded Ibanez SR which is full scale ATM and just 4 strings. Then I'll have my perfect gig bass.

Look after your hands! Everyone is different. It's not being weak or giving up if playing standard scale actually hurts or limits what you can grab on the fretboard. I've caused myself damage by not listening to my body and I'm paying for it now, if you think a short scale bass will help you, it probably will - so don't delay. Just buy it