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Old 10-11-2007, 11:45 AM
The_Rev The_Rev is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Waupun, WI
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Joost Assink View Post
Aside from the effect on tone, does scale lenght affect playability? Well, obviously a short scale (say 24.8 inch) is easier to play than a long(er) scale like 25.7 inch, when played side by side, but don't your hands get used to the scale length after a while?
Doesn't the short scale difference disappear when all you play is short scale? I'd assume your hands get 'lazy'. A case of 'use it or lose it'.

I used to play electric guitar and thought fretting could be difficult sometimes. Now I play 25.7 inch in standard tuning and I got used to that too. I picked up my strat after years and years recently and played it for a few minutes. It felt like it was strung with rubber bands...

What are your thoughts on this, assuming all your guitars have the same scale length and string gauge?
Scale length does have an affect on the playability of a guitar. Take a standard Martin dreadnought at 25.4 vs. your guitar of 25.7. Although the difference is very minor, you will be notice the difference in that the 25.4 will be easier to "reach" for certain chords or notes on the fretboard, and the tension on the strings will be less therefore it will be easier to bend strings and to a small extent, chord. Because there will be less tension, the tone will be slightly different (given duplicate guitars with the only difference being the scale lengths) - keep in mind the tonal difference is slight. One up side to the longer scale length is voicing in alternate tunings. Guitars with longer scale lengths tend to be able to handle alt tunings better than shorter scale length guitars. Personally, since I 95% of the time play in standard tuning, a guitar with a scale length of 25.4 fits me perfectly.

Shalom!
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