Scale length

[TBman]

According to the Savage Classical Guitar website, my 8 3/8" span left hand should allow me to play a 628 mm guitar comfortably. My C5 is 650. I listened to a few different guitars and the few I listened to that were under 640 I didn't really care for. 640 I could live with, but the dealer didn't play the same thing with every guitar so it was tough to compare.

Is this written in stone. Does the 10mm from 650 to 640 make that much of a difference?

[rick-slo]

For example assuming frets accurately placed and "rule of 18" (17.817)


Distance between 2nd and 5th fret distance is 1.41mm greater on a 650 scale versus 640 scale.

Distance between the 5th fret and 9th fret is 1.55mm greater on a 650 scale versus a 640 scale.


That's not much (about 0.06" average)

Of course string tension would be a little higher in the longer scale.

[TBman]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

For example assuming frets accurately placed and "rule of 18" (17.817)


Distance between 2nd and 5th fret distance is 1.41mm greater on a 650 scale versus 640 scale.

Distance between the 5th fret and 9th fret is 1.55mm greater on a 650 scale versus a 640 scale.


That's not much (about 0.06" average)

Of course string tension would be a little higher in the longer scale.

Ok, thanks Derek.

[waterboy]

I tried out a 640 and for me it made a significant positive difference over 650. I plan to get one when I upgrade my classical, but just now I have gone in a different musical direction.
628 was too short for me. These shorter scale guitars often come with a slightly narrower nut, which may be part of the magic.
I liked the Pavan series from Tom Prisloe - worth talking a look at.

[ceciltguitar]

A few thoughts:

Here’s an interesting article on short scale guitars:

https://www.thisisclassicalguitar.co...scale-guitars/

There are plenty of guitars with a 615 - 630 mm scale length that have a nut width of 2” (51-52) mm. I know that there are at least 2 companies that make 580 mm scale length that have 2” nut width. I’m sorry, I can’t find them now.

Kenny Hill makes great guitars with scale length 615 - 628 mm. Here’s one of his:

https://marfioneguitars.com/kenny-hi...-spruce-p628s/

I owned one of these for a year or two about 6-9 years ago. It was a fine guitar.

There are luthiers who make models and / or will custom build whatever you ask for - as long as it is practical. I recently received an outstanding custom Alegra model guitar from Christian Stoll in Germany that has a 580 mm scale length with a 51 mm nut width. It is VERY comfortable for me to play! (I’m 5’6”. My pinkie-to-thumb distance is a hair width less than 9 mm, but my fingers are considerably shorter than those of Segovia, Parkening, Paco deLucia, Chet Atkins, David Russell, John Williams etc)

https://www.stollguitars.de/en/

I’m going to go play it right now.

For now, I’ve decided not to buy any guitar with a scale length over 630 mm. (Really I probably shouldn’t buy any more guitars at all, and I need to sell some of the guitars that I have - I’ve been experimenting with different guitars over the past 2 decades. Now I know what I want, and I pretty much have it)

I encourage you to try a 615-630 mm scale length to decide whether or not it suits you.

[rick-slo]

Just depends on the individual. My main guitar for decades was a 665mm scale length Ramirez 1a guitar. I don't remember reach being an issue though the string height string tension was a little up.