Peavy T-40 bass vs. Tiny hands

[k_espana]

Hey guys. First time poster.
I'm a bassist about to purchase a Peavy T-40 bass.
My current bass is a Fender Jaguar shortscale.
Reason for shortscale is I have pretty small hands, and rather short arms.
I'm wondering what kind of nightmare this is gonna be jumping from a short-scale to the Peavy t-40. especially since my limbs & digits are smaller than the average adult male.
Any thoughts/insight would be very appreciated.

About my playing/rig:
I play in a doomy/noisy 3pc metal band.
I function as bassist/rhythm guitarist.
I've only every played my squier jag short scale. It's set up nicely for drop d. Swapped the stock pickups for lollar fat p's. Strings are Bass Boomers. Have an octave pedal, fuzz, od, into a Sunn Beta Bass & Emperor 4x12 cab. I get some huge sounds and people are shocked that it comes thru a short scale. Problem is, without all the pedals & tweaking, the low D string has a cold, thuddy plink sound to it-curse of the short scale. I need heavier, but I can't really afford a Rickenbacker 4001 (33" scale) or an old Telecaster bass (32" scale). And japanese medium scale Aerodyne's are hard to come by and not cheap when they do pop up.
The peavy t-40 is affordable and seems to do what I'll need it to. Seems...

 

[garp]

If you like how the Peavey sounds, I think you'll adapt fine to a 34"-scale instrument. Whether or not you will like the T-40's added heft (it's well-known 'round these parts as a bit of a boat anchor) remains to be determined. And if for some reason the T-40 doesn't work for you, you should be able to flip it without incurring a loss – at least here in the U.S., anyway.

 

[southgabass]

I don't see the scale of the instrument being the issue. I see the new weight change being the adjustment you'll have to get used to. Those things have a pretty surly heft to them. Great instruments, love them even, but light-weight it's not.

 

[Joedog]

You shouldn't have a problem. I'm just a tad over 5'7", w/fairly small hands, and I can handle a 35" scale 5 string w/o difficulty.

 

[southgabass]

As it should be! In essence by the time you divide 1-2 inches over 20+ frets, its really a minor change. The issue most have with the change is an overall neck shape change, which with a little practice can be overcome easily.

 

[k_espana]

Thanks so much, dudes.
This is all very encouraging and I just placed a bid on one as a result of all this feedback.
My only other concern is the t-40's playability vs my "unique" (lol) playing style.
I'm not a traditional bassist. I use a .73 guitar pick & play way more chords than I do single notes.
With the drop D tuning, most of the chords are the top three strings with my pointer, middle, & ring fingers each on a string vertically.
They're not strong enough to bar a 3 string bass chord. And my action is ridiculously high so that the notes/chords cut through & sustain and so that the bass stays in tune.
I've basically perverted proper playing style in order to achieve the effect my band needs.
The jag works great for this. I've tried this with an gibson eb3 shortscale and it was a floppy, muddy disaster.

 

[southgabass]

Good luck with the bid! Playing with a pick doing a lot of chords should be good to do as well. I'm trying to picture the left hand though, maybe with proper set-up, lower action can be achieved with sustain not being an issue, to keep from having to play in that manner. But to each their own, if it works for you play it up!!!