Scale Length and playability

[Tod Gilding]

Hi all, I had the pleasure of playing one of our members guitars yesterday arfternoon,which was a beautifull instrument with tone to die for, however I noticed that I was not fretting accurately and my thoughts were that I need to spend less time in the workshop and more time with a guitar in my hands,I now realise that this guitar had a scale lenghth of 24.4" whilst I'm more used to a 25.5" scale length and also the fretboard was a little wider at the 14th fret (only 2mm),which brings me to my question, does anyone else notice this difference,that is very small and what do you think are the pro cons of scale length and fretboard width,Whilst the shorter length has less string tension at standard tune I didnt seem to notice this difference,and the longer scale length has a little more room between frets this is so small I would'nt have thought it would make much difference also, but my fingers seem to notice,or was I right in the first place and just need to spend more time playing rather than making ?... I ask because I'm building an OM guitar and at the stage where I need to decide on the scale length and seems most players in Australia would be used to the 25.5" scale as is used for this style of guitar by Maton< cole Clark. I think I'm just looking for opinions on the difference scale lengths to help me decide which way to go with my build.

[Bob Connor]

OM style guitars have a 25.43" scale length.

If you build 24.9 scale length instrument it'll be a triple O or OOO.

I build all of mine as 24.9" inch and if you understand that there is less tension on the top you'll be able to build a little lighter and get a similar response as the longer scale.

I've got a couple of good players playing my instruments and they have never mentioned finding the shorter scale uncomfortable even though their other guitars are all 25.43". In fact one bloke has never asked what scale length his is.

I find the shorter scale length will make a set of medium strings feel more like a medium-light set. So it would probably suit an electric player wanting an acoustic.

The longer scale would probably suit a player who beats the bejaysus out of the instrument.

There are lots of different reasons to use differing scale lengths and most of the answers will lie with the guitarist who wants it and how he plays. Our job is to build something suitable.

My advice would be to build one of each and then you'll know from first hand experience.

[Tod Gilding]

Thanks Bob, Words of wisdom that I appreciate.

"The longer scale would probably suit a player who beats the bejaysus out of the instrument."

That's Me

And this guitar is for me .......to sit on a stand in my longe room for me too go off with.

So you have me leaning towards the 25.5" 648mm scale length.

Thankyou .

[Nick]

My personal preference for building & playing is 25". It just 'feels' right for my paw & a few of my customers also as when I've asked "what scale would you like it built to?" they've given me the luxury of building to what I want. It has a little of the longer scale bite & clear articulation on individual note runs with a bit of the more mellower shorter scale which gives nice rhythm feel, thrown in the mix as well .
As for fingerboard width I've always thought the narrower (standard steel string) to be better until my last two guitars. I thought I'd experiment somewhat & made them classical width & after that initial "this feels funny" moment & after a bit of playing I actually came to enjoy playing it! I've always had problems with my fingers muting neighbouring strings (self taught so poor technique i reckon ) and just having the extra space between the strings helped. The customer who bought the second one (before he'd seen it) did look dubious when I was telling him about the classical width but once he'd played the first one I got finished a few weeks before his he also liked the feel, mind you he had hands on him he could've used as tennis racquets!

[charangohabsburg]

I'd say that scale length is a matter of taste and ability of the performer to stretch his/her fingers:



I have "played" many short scale instruments (ukuleles and charangos) with different fingerboard widths an width tapers. for me, the wider the fingerboard is at the 12 - 14 fret position is, the better. This is really an issue with charangos (5 courses, 10 strings). I an not say how this translates to a guitar, but it may be worth a thought or two. Maybe it turns out to be not significant for you or someone else (on a guitar).

[Bruce McC]

Hi Markus

Did you Photoshop the clip before posting it

[charangohabsburg]

Hi Bruce.
No Photoshop here. It's a picture of Ida Presti. She was an incredible player. You are not the first who couldn't believe this photo is real.

Link

[kiwigeo]

If youre into short scale lengths then a lute is the instrument for you. The scale length on my current build is 611mm

[willcall]

[quote="charangohabsburg"]I'd say that scale length is a matter of taste and ability of the performer to stretch his/her fingers:



Looks like she is/was double jointed. My wife is the same, her hands are half the size of mine but can stretch pretty far on a fretboard.


Will

[Clancy]

The last 2 OM's I did were identical scale length, but one had a wider than standard fingerboard.
The guy it was going to has xtra large hands so I thought this might be more comfortable for him.
The difference was a mere 2.5mm
Turns out, everyone who tried them both really liked the feel of the wider fingerboard.
Go figure