DOES SCALE LENGTH MATTER

Yes it does - to me - anyways.

I like how much easier the strings are to bend on a 24.75" scale guitar. It's less tiring, especially when you have a 4 to 6 hour set.

On my only 25.5" scale guitar, i use .046 x .009" to approximate the same feel.

Tonally???

I hear no difference, really.

My Stratocaster with a custom-created-for-me 16.5k DiMarzio AlNico9 44AWG Neanderthal sounds just like my Les Pauls, so i believe the "quack" has more to do with the single coil pickups than acale, because a 25.5" scale Jackson or Charvel has no quack.
 
Last edited:
My SG and Explorer are 24.75" scale and the Tele and Strat are 25.5" scale. Never gave it much thought honestly other than Ive always had to fight a lil more on the Strat and Tele vs the Gibsons when bending. But apparently shorter scale translates to a warmer tone vs longer scale having a brighter tone.

I always assumed it was a matter of humbucker vs single coil but, then again, the Strat and Tele are stacked humbuckers and they still sound snappier than the Gibsons and being thicker sounding. So I guess scale DOES matter
 
How much scale length matters is not something I can say definitively, though I can understand how the nature of the string’s vibrations could be different given that it is under more tension in a Strat than a Les Paul.

I will also say that when I made all my mods to my Jackson years ago, at one point I put the exact same pickup combo in it that I had in my Les Paul Studio at the time. I didn’t post all the pickup changes I made around that time. As for the basic mod, some may recall that I “Les Paulized“ my Jackson, giving me identical controls and electronics as in the LP Studio. I even matched the pot and cap values that I had in the LP Studio.

I was expecting the Jackson to sound very much like the LP Studio, but it didn’t. It was snappier and wasn’t as warm and fat as the LP Studio, even with identical pickups and electronics. Again, my expectation was that they would sound the same…or at least closer than they did. Now, I know the Jackson also has a bolt-on neck, not a set neck, and it has a basswood body and a maple neck. It also has a Floyd Rose and not a stop tail. So, there are a lot of other variables. Can I single out scale length as the only meaningful variable? No…that would require a lot of testing that I do not have the means to accomplish, so I’m withholding too authoritarian of a claim. But, it is a variable that I can point to that does directly affect the string’s vibration as it deals with the tension the string is under.
 
I does not matter to me my Parker Fly Deluxe 25.5" one of the best playing My Gibson RD Standard 25.5"
PRS Custom 24 25" My Hydra 25.4" I like my Gibson Explorer Flying V SG Standard and Les Pauls
Fender Strats and Telecasters and Esquires Peavey HP2 25.5" to me it's more important how the guitar sustains
 
67plexi said:
I does not matter to me my Parker Fly Deluxe 25.5" one of the best playing My Gibson RD Standard 25.5"
PRS Custom 24 25" My Hydra 25.4" I like my Gibson Explorer Flying V SG Standard and Les Pauls
Fender Strats and Telecasters and Esquires Peavey HP2 25.5" to me it's more important how the guitar sustains
Click to expand...

When you have to perform step-and-half-bends, nightly, strong tension will become important.
 
Over the years it's started to matter more than it used to. All my guitars are now short scale and I've gotten so used to it that a long scale guitar feels weird to play. Even my Tele style builds have short scale conversion necks on them.
 
I've always floated the trems on my Strats, so they never had any more perceived tension than my Gibsons since the trem was moving during a bend. Not true of a Tele with its fixed bridge - I hate how they feel, its like they're strung with bridge cable. And since he mentions PRS I will say that one of my big problems with the PRS' that I have owned (Other than the 245) was how the scale length felt: I just could never find a set of strings that was just right for me.

Tone wise, I definitely hear a difference. There are harmonic things going on, probably due to the specific placement of the pickups under the strings, that are completely different. I'm sure there is a mathematical calculation one could do to figure it out and determine where precisely overtones/etc are happening on the string and correlate that to the position of the pickups (and that's before you attempt to account for the different pickup types) but I don't know what it is and I'm too lazy to look for it since all I play is LPs these days.
 
Last edited:
gball said:
Tone wise, I definitely hear a difference. There are harmonic things going on, probably due to the specific placement of the pickups under the strings, that are completely different.
Click to expand...

I think there is definitely more harmonic content happening in a shorter scale due, in part, to the string not being pulled as tightly, allowing more deflection of the string.

Of course, I say, "in part" because I'm also rather sure there is a lot more going on, to include the pickup placement idea you mentioned.
 
smitty_p said:
I think there is definitely more harmonic content happening in a shorter scale due, in part, to the string not being pulled as tightly, allowing more deflection of the string.

Of course, I say, "in part" because I'm also rather sure there is a lot more going on, to include the pickup placement idea you mentioned.
Click to expand...

Yeah, good point, could just be tension-related. Either way, I hear a difference and I find that the Gibsons do have more harmonic content or whatever its called.
 
gball said:
I've always floated the trems on my Strats, so they never had any more perceived tension than my Gibsons since the trem was moving during a bend. Not true of a Tele with its fixed bridge - I hate how they feel, its like they're strung with bridge cable.
Click to expand...

Tremolo...while i do enjoy the tremolo for certain things, i hate how the other strings go flat during bends, especially since i incorporate a lot of unison bends into my playing.
 
Inspector #20 said:
Read: More Ballz
Click to expand...

This is part of the reason I'm intrigued by doing a Warmoth build with a Gibson-scale conversion neck.

I don't really ~need~ another guitar, but that conversion neck idea fascinates me. My thought would be an HSS configuration with the conversion neck. If I did something like that, I may even get a body with no route for a bridge and install the old Washburn Wonderbar trem that I have.
 
smitty_p said:
This is part of the reason I'm intrigued by doing a Warmoth build with a Gibson-scale conversion neck.

I don't really ~need~ another guitar, but that conversion neck idea fascinates me. My thought would be an HSS configuration with the conversion neck. If I did something like that, I may even get a body with no route for a bridge and install the old Washburn Wonderbar trem that I have.
Click to expand...

I really wanted to do this when i got myb1-3/4" Warmoth neck, but super-wide wasn't an option (then in 2021) so i went with 25.5" scale, but the wide neck really is comfortable for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top