Confused, scale length question

[glocke]

Maybe a dumb question, but I Was just looking at the specs for a fender jazz bass, and I noticed that it lists the scale length as being 34...My Series I is a 34 scale also.  Whats the deal ?  How can they both be 34 when a series 1. Is one measured differently than the other??  Compared to my S1, my jazz basses are like toys.

[adriaan]

The scale is actually the length of the vibrating part of the string, in other words the distance between the bridge and the nut.
 
I presume your Series I has a large body? Check out where the bridge is, compared to your belly button, when you're wearing either bass on a strap. The bridge on the Jazz is probably further to your right than the bridge on the Series. The 34 scale starts at the bridge, so on the Series the neck will stick out further.
 
IIRC, the large body Series bass was designed with a 32 scale in mind. And the Jazz body is indeed a lot smaller.

[glocke]

ok...that makes sense...thx

[bigredbass]

Series-shaped instruments seem a LOT longer alongside a typical Fender-ish shaped bass:  Look at the Jazz, the bridge is backed up to just 2 or so from the bottom rim.  On a Series, the bridge is next to the bird tailpiece which is several inches away from the point or the Omega:  In other words the 'scale' is pushed much farther out of the body than most basses.  
 
But it cuts both ways:  While the overall length is greater, SO much of the neck/fingerboard is clear of the body, it's a great bass to learn the upper half of the fingerboard, as nothing's in your way.
 
But despite the obvious difference in overall length, long scale on a Fender is the same long scale on a Series-shaped Alembic.
 
J o e y

[glocke]

yeah....I was just doing a side by side comparison of the two and did those measurements....
 
At one time I DID know this, but have forgotten somewhere along the way...man....probably time to lay off the pipe, lol....