12 fret er' Scale

[jerime]

And by 12 fret er' I mean a guitar where the neck and body met at the 12th fret. My question is what is the typical scale length of these guitars?

[Qengho]

Typically they're standard scale.

[OldGuitarPlayer]

Here are the specs on a Martin 12 fretter: http://www.elderly.com/new_instruments/items/1833-11228.htm

[jerime]

Thanks. One more question. How is the scale measured on a guitar? I was always under the assumption that it was just the measurement of the fret board, but I'm thinking I'm wrong.

[Qengho]

The scale is the length of the vibrating portion of the string, i.e., the distance from the nut to the saddle. A 12-fret guitar has a slightly longer body, which doesn't affect the scale.

[Freeman Keller]

This is copied from the UMGF FAQ

 

12-fret 000. All 12-fret 000s are long scale (since approximately 1924) except for the Norman Blake models, which are short scale. These models are an exception to the rule, perhaps because they combine a 12-fret neck with a 14-fret 000 size body and are thus one-of-a-kind design models.

 

Long scale, of course is 25.4 inches, short is 24.9. Other manufactures may vary. As Qengho points out, the scale lenght is the length of the string from nut to saddle without any compensation, (the slant of the saddle). The best way to measure it is nut to 12th fret times two.

 

It is also interesting that most 12 fret guitars do not have the neck "moved down" two frets into the body, but have the upper bout extended. Here is my long scale 12 fret 000 and short scale 14 fret OM12 - the lower bouts are the same size but look at the difference in the upper. Note that it is the long scale that moves the bridge into the center of the lower bout.

 

[flip333]

Goodall has a 000 12 fret model with 25.0 scale.