Bill, I share your opinion. The longer I play bass, the more I incline to short scale, and I've found that they serve very well for me. I don't look negatively on anyone's preference in instruments, as it's a highly individual thing. I think that I also may not be as attuned to very fine nuances of things like "complexity," and differences in sound based on wood and bridges (don't hear a thing that's different), but I'm OK muddling along without that.