This is a breif summary of my experience in buying a bass for my tall, slender daughter with small hands. Her reach from her shoulder to the end of her fingertips is 28 to 29 inches. After months of research, we purchased a Jerry Jones Longhorn Four. It is 1 5/8 wide at the nut and weighs (I think) between 6 and 7 pounds (much lighter than Fender and other basses). It has a 30 inch scale with 24 frets, giving a full two octaves in the chromatic scale.It looks like a old or new Danelectro Longhorn Bass, but it is made in Nashville and is a light-weight, high-quality instrument that almost NEVER goes out of tune. (Tuned it three times since last October--twice because her bass teacher was doing some drop tuning.) We paid $695 for the bass with the ohsc and shipping/set up from a famous guitar dealer (in a western state with casinos) who really treated us right. The Jerry Jones basses and guitars I see resell on eBay retain 80 to 105% of their value based on the lowest new net prices I could find.  After seeing the quality of this instrument, I would not be afraid to purchase any used Jerry Jones product from a reputable eBayer. Find Jerry Jones guitars, basses and sitars on eBay now!

I also considered the J. Reynolds basses, which weigh 6 lbs. 14 oz. (Fender look, inexpensive, good reviews) and the Hohner B2B headless basses (1.15625 at the nut) as well as the Cort/Curbow 4, which is a light and petite bass. We also looked at Luna basses (a Dean product) and Daisy Rock basses, particularly the Elite Stardust Bass in a Crimson Burst. Another bass we consided was the very hard-to-find (in the US) Japanese Tokai Talbo, which is aluminum and weighs in between 9 and 10 pounds.

I spent quite a bit of money, but my daughter has a lightweight high quality bass that is eminently playable and will retain value. Hope this helps . . .

Best regards,

drew49