short scale guitars

[bfloyd6969]

Hello all. I'm just curious as to what others here think about shorter scale guitars. I just happened to pick up my kid's Squier Strat Mini and was surprised by how comfortable the 22.75" scale neck was. I mean, very comfortable. Sure the guitar has some low end parts (though the pups were pretty impressive), but I've reads reviews on harmony Central where many people have swapped out this and that for better stuff. So, I started a little researching and found that there are quite a few Fenders that used these shorter scales like the Duo-Sonic and the Music Master, to name a couple. I also see that Squier is making the Jagmaster and Duo-Sonic reissue in a 24" scale. What do you all think about short scale guitars?

[Danno]

I've never tried one, but you've gotten me curious. If I see one this weekend I'll check it out.

[lefty]

Hello all. I'm just curious as to what others here think about shorter scale guitars. I just happened to pick up my kid's Squier Strat Mini and was surprised by how comfortable the 22.75" scale neck was. I mean, very comfortable. Sure the guitar has some low end parts (though the pups were pretty impressive), but I've reads reviews on harmony Central where many people have swapped out this and that for better stuff. So, I started a little researching and found that there are quite a few Fenders that used these shorter scales like the Duo-Sonic and the Music Master, to name a couple. I also see that Squier is making the Jagmaster and Duo-Sonic reissue in a 24" scale. What do you all think about short scale guitars?

I use a MIJ Jagmaster from the original run quite a bit. Puts US-built Fenders
of the time to shame. It's a great guitar, esp. after adding locking tuners and
a better PUP. the short scale doesn't cause me much trouble, and it allows
me to string the gtr with a .11-.48 string set for a nicer tone nad still able to
bend strings easily. I like it a lot...

[surfreak]

Well, short scale guitars are fun and easy to play, but their tone just doesn't work for me.
Scale length, albeit often overlooked, is one of the main tone factors in a guitar, that is also why 25.5 long scale guitars sounds so much different from Gibson-type (24.75?) scales.

So in order to sound good, I'd have to tune a short scale guitar at least a third up.

[slayer]

I prefer short scale guitars. 24.75 or shorter and preferably with 22 frets. I like my strings very slinky and find the tone to my liking also.

Jack

[markD]

i don't care either way...i just can't play them back to back live. i have an iceman that is 24.75, my prs' are 25.00, and my jackson's are 25.50 - live i HAVE to use one scale length or i am missing notes by a half or quarter step during leads....it affects my muscle memory BIG time!!! i usually don't look at the guitar when i am playing....

[shreddermon]

I definitely prefer 25.5". Very strong preference. I guess that - despite my best efforts - I'm pretty set in my ways about some things, after playing all of these years. Scale length seems to be one of them. And that disappoints me because I really like to have variety in my guitars - body styles, woods, PUs, bridges, etc - and have also wanted to add a Les Paul to the stable for some time.

I've found that I just really struggle with liking Gibby scale length (24.75) guitars or shorter. I can't put my finger on it (...no pun intended ), but there's something about them that I just can't seem to get used to. Despite my efforts, I just can't seem to enjoy playing them for any length of time. And I strongly agree with surfreak's post above about scale length being a big contribution to tone. IMHO, it's a very big factor in the uniquely cool tone of a Les Paul.

Strangely, I have no problem with the 25" scale length on my Carvin or PRSs. Weird, huh? That's 50% closer to Gibby length than my preferred 25.5. ...And yet, one I have no problem with, the other I do. I don't get it myself. :dunno:

[necrotechno]

I've got one of those ugly Fernandes things and it's 24". It's strange how I don't seem to notice the shorter scale when I play it, but I do notice the longer scale when I play something else afterwards. I've been wanting a Jaguar for quite some time, but I can't find one with a Floyd (no, seriously). Warmoth's Jaguar body is only 1.5" thick and won't accomodate the Floyd rout.

Rondo has stocked up for the holidays with a bunch of 24" scale Strats and Teles. Under a hundred bucks apiece, too.

[Bri]

i don't care either way...i just can't play them back to back live.

Would it make any difference if certain songs were always with a certain scale length?

I have a 25.5 KE2 and a 24.75 Bich so I was hoping this would work. I figured I'd set the Bich up for drop D and use the kelly for everything else.

[straycat]

I love the PRS 25 scale length it just fits me.I love my Jackson fusion and its 24.75.
I have no trouble switching back and forth as far as 25 1/2 back to shorter scale guitars go.
I had an old harmony strat copy that had (19 I think it was) frets and it felt good too.

[Model 88]

I like the feel of 25.5 guitar as far as string tension goes . But I have a hard time playing one for long periods of time. I have smaller hands and it gets painful to play . I found playing a 24.75 stopped the pain . It does not seem like 3/4 of inch would make that much of a difference but it does for me. I just end up stringing my 24.75s with 11-52s to keep the tension up. So for me 24.75 FTW

[Bengal65]

I like the 24" on my AVRI Jaguar. A nice feel. Also, the shorter than heck Strat Junior.