Members Freeman Keller Posted July 20, 2017 Members Share Posted July 20, 2017 Does anyone play a really short scale (24 inch or so) electric guitar? If so, how do you string (gauges) and tune it, what are your feelings about it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted July 20, 2017 Members Share Posted July 20, 2017 I played a Fender Mustang for years. When I was a teen I used to string it with 8's, thinking that I needed lighter strings for the shorter scale. Once I learned that shorter scales have less tension I switched to 11's and the guitar suddenly had some punch and tuning stability. Standard tuning for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mikeo Posted July 21, 2017 Members Share Posted July 21, 2017 I don't have any short scale electrics, but I have a coupe of GS Mini Taylors and a LIl Martin for travel. I like the GS Mini's and play them often. I keep the lil Martin in my office, but I don't care for it too much. They are really short scale at 23", the GS Mini's are 23.5" scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GAS Man Posted July 21, 2017 Members Share Posted July 21, 2017 I have a few short scale guitars, like a couple different Mustangs, Jaguars and a Duo-Sonic. So far I've left them with stock 9-42. I'm always tempted to change them to 10-46 (or possibly 11s), but when I'm playing a short scale guitar with 9s, I'm often finding that the slinky feel will have me creating more nuances of bends that just doesn't happen in my playing as expressively as with that low tension set up. Like bending multiple strings in unison or full chord bends, just becomes more accessible and allows more nuances to be affected. So I find it to be a bit of a conundrum of ease of bends vs wanting a bit less of a wispy tone. I guess since I have a large collection of guitars, I find it makes a bit more sense to have a wider spectrum rather than trying to mod all my guitars more towards a similar median. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted July 21, 2017 Members Share Posted July 21, 2017 The only think I don't like about short scales is they are harder to keep in tune. Its most likely the tuning machine ratio they use on fender tuners. If you put a set of 20:1 tuners I'd think they'd fare much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted July 21, 2017 Members Share Posted July 21, 2017 I have a Fender Jaguar ,i have 11`s on that and to be honest they feel great and feel great to bend ,i would maybe consider trying 12`s ,but i wouldn`t go any thinner than 11`s though , i used to gig it a lot and clean the strings with lemon oil and a cloth on a rosewood neck ( lol) . i never had any tuning issues either with this guitar. it is fitted with a buzzstop to stop the strings flying off the bridge mind.the frets spaces are a tad narrow up the dusty part of the neck lol and i do have man sausage fingers but seem to cope ok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Verne Andru Posted July 21, 2017 Members Share Posted July 21, 2017 For really short scale (19") I have a couple Epi Peewees. One is standard tuned, the other is tuned in what I call "double extended range tenor." I use 12's on the standard and a mix on the tenor. Nice and small, they're great for travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted July 21, 2017 Share Posted July 21, 2017 I've got three Fenders with 24" scale lengths... a Mustang, a Music Master and a Duo Sonic II. I love them - especially the DSII, which has an interesting story behind it and is one of my favorite guitars. Strings can feel a bit light on the tension with the shorter scale length, so a lot of shortscale players opt for one gauge heavier than what they'd normally play. I go back and forth between 9's and 10's on my "regular scale" guitars, but I stick with 10's on the three short scale models. Anything much shorter than 24" becomes a PITB to tune and keep in tune. I do have a Taylor GS Mini (23.5" scale) which is okay, but you have to use medium gauge (.013-.056) strings with it, which is also what Taylor recommends. Anything shorter than that (22.5" etc.) I really don't like, but I do find that the slightly shorter 24" scale length, along with a suitable neck profile / shape (read: not too fat / chunky / thick in the shoulders) makes it a lot more comfortable for me to play. I have fairly short fingers... The Duo Sonic II has Abigail Ybarra hand-wound Strat pickups in it, and sounds really good. I use standard tuning with all three of the short scale guitars. The setups are also pretty stock, although I've installed aftermarket compensated Tele-style brass saddles on the Duo Sonic II. The Mustang and Music Master have stock saddles, which is fine for the Mustang with its six stock saddles, but I'll probably put compensated saddles on the Music Master eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thatsbunk Posted July 21, 2017 Members Share Posted July 21, 2017 My main guitar right now is a Fender Blacktop Jaguar with a Bigsby & the factory tune-o-matic that came with it. I use 10-46 gauge strings & have zero issues with tuning stability even with moderate to heavy use of the vibrato. I did try 11's on it a few times & surprisingly had issues with it going out of tune with the bigsby, so went back to 10's. While I like short scales, they're not for everyone. Played a party a few weeks ago & a friend borrowed it to play a couple of songs. He said it was like playing with rubber band strings... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted July 22, 2017 Author Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 Thanks all. I am currently working on a 24 inch scale jagstang and when I asked the customer what string he wanted he said 10-46 AND tuned two semi tones below concert (D to D). I ran my tension calculator and came up with 96 pounds for concert and 76 pounds for D. Since this guitar will have a cam type tremelo I can compensate for some of the tension loss but I was worried about playability. Obviously he can experiment with both string gauges and tunings after the work is done. but I thought that if he was set on down tuning it might be time to reconsider the scale length before I rout for the trem. I'll pass this along to him and probably do a thread on the work to this guitar - its going to be an interesting project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Verne Andru Posted July 22, 2017 Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 10's on a 24 dropped a full tone will be floppy as all heck me thinks. Phil: my 19" Peewee stays in tune great but it took locking high ratio machines, a new adjustable bridge and 12's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bucksstudent Posted July 22, 2017 Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 I use .10 gauge on all of my guitars, including my Mustang. It's difficult to keep in tune at first, but as my playing and the strings adjust, it gets better as I go along. I sometimes wonder what would change if I put a longer scaled neck on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted July 22, 2017 Share Posted July 22, 2017 I sometimes wonder what would change if I put a longer scaled neck on. You can't just bolt on a 25.5" neck to a Mustang and expect it to work properly - the bridge isn't in the right spot. You can however, go from one with a 22.5" neck to a 24" neck, or vise-versa, since both of those necks were designed for use on that guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted July 22, 2017 Share Posted July 22, 2017 Thanks all. I am currently working on a 24 inch scale jagstang and when I asked the customer what string he wanted he said 10-46 AND tuned two semi tones below concert (D to D). And to him I say... good luck with that! Those strings are going to be so low in tension that they'll be flopping all over the place. If I was going to downtune, I'd want 11's as a minimum - maybe even 12's. I'll pass this along to him and probably do a thread on the work to this guitar - its going to be an interesting project. Looking forward to seeing it Freeman! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bucksstudent Posted July 22, 2017 Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 You can't just bolt on a 25.5" neck to a Mustang and expect it to work properly - the bridge isn't in the right spot. You can however, go from one with a 22.5" neck to a 24" neck, or vise-versa, since both of those necks were designed for use on that guitar. Well, 24 is longer than 22.5, and I never said 25.5. I just said longer. I'm not fond of 25.5, which is one of the things I disliked about my Jazzmaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted July 22, 2017 Author Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 I'm in the position on mine that the bridge cavity has not been routed. I've made the template, it's clamped to the top but no holes have been made (yet). I happen to have a 25.5 neck that would fit. He has a pickguard with the pups installed - the neck pickup would be fine, the bridge pup would move relative to the bridge (farther away). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted July 22, 2017 Author Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 He is coming over in a few minutes and we are going to play some games with my 24.5 parlor guitar. Its normally strung with acoustic 12's, I'm going to down tune it to D and C# to give him an idea of what his will feel like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted July 22, 2017 Author Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 You can't change scale length at all without moving the bridge. That's sort of the definition..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted July 22, 2017 Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 Thanks all. I am currently working on a 24 inch scale jagstang and when I asked the customer what string he wanted he said 10-46 AND tuned two semi tones below concert (D to D). I ran my tension calculator and came up with 96 pounds for concert and 76 pounds for D. Since this guitar will have a cam type tremelo I can compensate for some of the tension loss but I was worried about playability. Obviously he can experiment with both string gauges and tunings after the work is done. but I thought that if he was set on down tuning it might be time to reconsider the scale length before I rout for the trem. I'll pass this along to him and probably do a thread on the work to this guitar - its going to be an interesting project. it would be easier to to change the gauge of string to a heavier gauge rather than put on a longer neck, beside if he is into jagstangs he probs likes kurt cobain and i don`t think he`d appreciate a longer scale neck it just wouldn`t be a jag anymore ,maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Verne Andru Posted July 22, 2017 Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 Freeman Keller commented 07-22-2017, 03:43 PM You can't change scale length at all without moving the bridge. That's sort of the definition..... And that is why I love Danelectro's. Designed like tinker-toys, swapping necks around is as easy as pie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted July 22, 2017 Author Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 He was just here and that's exactly what we decided. And yes, he is a Cobain fan. ps - wait 'till you see the pickups he wants to use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bucksstudent Posted July 22, 2017 Members Share Posted July 22, 2017 Well, forgive me for thinking out loud. I don't know as much about guitar build as you or Phil. *shrug* I won't that mistake again, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted July 23, 2017 Members Share Posted July 23, 2017 i ended up taking the metal shielding that looks like sharks teeth off my jag pickups because they caused micro-phonic type squeeling feedback when using distortion, it was kent armstrong who discovered this for me . I sent him the bridge pickup to increase the ohms to 8k and told him about the feedback and if he had any ideas on how to fix it,he sent the pickup back with the shark teeth shield detached, that was his answer I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members catscurlyear Posted July 23, 2017 Members Share Posted July 23, 2017 i`ve got rid of any hum on the jag while using the single coils with a dummy pickup situated under the scratch plate works a treat and i can turn it on or off Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted July 23, 2017 Share Posted July 23, 2017 You can indeed go from a 22.5" Mustang neck to a 24" Mustang neck - they have different numbers of frets (21 vs 22) and are both designed to work on those bodies... but in general, you can't just swap a neck for one of a different scale length. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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