Worth getting used to scale length?

[Flatspotter]

Another option is to build a Partspaul. You could get a Les Paul body and a 25.5" scale neck, and you can even get it the same width, profile and radius as your Strat. You can choose fret size, get stainless if you want, and get almost any color you want. The only difference is that it would be a bolt-on. If you don't have the skills to put one together, you could pay a luthier or skilled friend to do it.

[Doctor49]

I have four guitars in four scale lengths. After a while I learned to love them all and I just use what I

[smorgdonkey]

I think the difference in feel between LPs and Strats has as much to do with the height of the strings off the body as scale length. Ultimately that's what keeps me away from les pauls.

 

I have 4 Gibson Les Pauls ranging in years from 1982 to 2006. I have had another 4 or 5 others all from the early '90s to 2008. Never have I seen a Les Paul with strings that high off of the body.

 

I marvelled at the height of the saddle in your photo...I've never seen one like that except when I assembled one and was waiting for it to get used to string tension again (essentially just 'thrown together'). So, all I can say about the guitar in the pic is that it is not typical. Not at all.

[whataracket]

What sometimes throws me off far more than scale length differences is the difference in how the guitar hangs from a strap on your body - the relative position of the nut. I play a 335 or 333 almost all the time, but occasionally switch to a strat, which places the played part of the strings about 3 inches more in front of my body rather than out to the left. When I'm singing and not looking at the neck or my hands, it's easy to blow a large position change up to the middle of the neck in the first song or two after switching to the strat. Relative to my body, a C on the E string of the 335 is in the same place as an Ab on the E string of the strat. It's enough of a problem for me that I try to use one guitar or the other for a given set. It probably wouldn't be an issue if I wasn't singing and trying to play guitar on autopilot without looking.

[rock-lobster]

 

I have 4 Gibson Les Pauls ranging in years from 1982 to 2006. I have had another 4 or 5 others all from the early '90s to 2008. Never have I seen a Les Paul with strings that high off of the body. I marvelled at the height of the saddle in your photo...I've never seen one like that except when I assembled one and was waiting for it to get used to string tension again (essentially just 'thrown together'). So, all I can say about the guitar in the pic is that it is not typical. Not at all.

 

 

Maybe, i did just google "les paul side view" so it could be a guitar with a problem or something. I've owned two LPs and I still think the combo of the Tune-o-matic and stopbar combined with the neck angle makes for strings pretty high off the body.

[Flatspotter]

I have 4 Gibson Les Pauls ranging in years from 1982 to 2006. I have had another 4 or 5 others all from the early '90s to 2008. Never have I seen a Les Paul with strings that high off of the body. I marvelled at the height of the saddle in your photo...I've never seen one like that except when I assembled one and was waiting for it to get used to string tension again (essentially just 'thrown together'). So, all I can say about the guitar in the pic is that it is not typical. Not at all.

 

That's what mine looks like. It's a 2006 Standard.

[Help!I'maRock!]

 

I have 4 Gibson Les Pauls ranging in years from 1982 to 2006. I have had another 4 or 5 others all from the early '90s to 2008. Never have I seen a Les Paul with strings that high off of the body. I marvelled at the height of the saddle in your photo...I've never seen one like that except when I assembled one and was waiting for it to get used to string tension again (essentially just 'thrown together'). So, all I can say about the guitar in the pic is that it is not typical. Not at all.

 

 

that pic right there is the result of the short tenon/rocker joint. and precisely the reason i won't buy one.

[soundcreation]

 

that pic right there is the result of the short tenon/rocker joint. and precisely the reason i won't buy one.

 

 

seriously? can you explain further?

[csm]

 

What sometimes throws me off far more than scale length differences is the difference in how the guitar hangs from a strap on your body - the relative position of the nut. I play a 335 or 333 almost all the time, but occasionally switch to a strat, which places the played part of the strings about 3 inches more in front of my body rather than out to the left. When I'm singing and not looking at the neck or my hands, it's easy to blow a large position change up to the middle of the neck in the first song or two after switching to the strat. Relative to my body, a C on the E string of the 335 is in the same place as an Ab on the E string of the strat. It's enough of a problem for me that I try to use one guitar or the other for a given set. It probably wouldn't be an issue if I wasn't singing and trying to play guitar on autopilot without looking.

 

 

There is that ...

 

Playing a Firebird as opposed to either a Strat/Tele or Les Paul/335 creates the illusion that everything is two or three frets 'further away' than I expect ... but then I've never had one strapped on for more than a mnute or two at a time, so it might not take too long to adapt over the course of a gig/rehearsal ...

[Minnie The Moocher]

Never had a problem with scale switching (from ukulele to bass and everything in between ). But, coming from the strat world, the first switch to a Gibson has been really hard (I was thirty back then, more than 10 years after my beginning), not because of the scale but 'cause of the tune-o-matic bridge and right hand palm-muting habits. Now I don't even notice, but it wasn't easy at all then.

[s1120]

I think the difference in feel between LPs and Strats has as much to do with the height of the strings off the body as scale length. Ultimately that's what keeps me away from les pauls.

 

OK, granted, thats a LOT higher then my Epi LP... but frankly its the raised strings that drew me to the LP's. It just feels more natral to me then the flat to the body stringing of a Strat. As for scale length? Well I play my LP, and also a 25.5"accustic about eavenly split 50/50..doesnt effect me much [granted... im not a great player...] I feel the neck width, radius, and profile much harder to swap between then the lenght.

[=JL=]

I can't see how scale length would make any difference unless you always play the same patterns in the same key.

What if you're playing a song in the key of B and the singer asks you to move it up to C? Would you have to swap to a different guitar, or just flat out refuse?

[bluesguitar65]

 

While I've always played Strats and the like, I've also wanted to get along with Les Paul's. But whenever I've tried one, in a store or borrowing my friends for a day, I hated the scale length. Now I've got the itch to get a Les Paul again, and I am wondering if it's realistic to get comfortable with both scale lengths. Do any of you guys play both? Anyone here made the transition from Strat-scale to Gibson-scale?

 

 

I play both, but I'm much comfortable playing the other. Can you tell which one?

 

[video=youtube;kPrm-UKQHEU]

[bluesguitar65]

I can't see how scale length would make any difference unless you always play the same patterns in the same key. What if you're playing a song in the key of B and the singer asks you to move it up to C? Would you have to swap to a different guitar, or just flat out refuse?

To me, the difference in the scale is more apparent in how the guitar plays and how it response to your playing technique. Just like different model cars drive differently. You will find that one scale seem to work well with your playing and thus your playing would be much more expressive and smooth without thinking about the guitar and sounding, playing sterile.

[smorgdonkey]

 

Maybe, i did just google "les paul side view" so it could be a guitar with a problem or something. I've owned two LPs and I still think the combo of the Tune-o-matic and stopbar combined with the neck angle makes for strings pretty high off the body.

 

 

My first thought was "there's something wrong with that particular guitar" because the action doesn't seem to be set high judging by the string height at the fingerboard but to look at the bridge studs and (as another reference point) how far the pickup is above the rear pickup ring...to me, that is out of whack. When I look at the string height at the fingerboard and then look at the rest of it, I just think the neck/body angle is off.

 

I don't say that from the perspective of a builder though, just from my 'something is not right' perspective.

 

For your particular tastes and preferences, perhaps having them a couple of mm lower than that pic wouldn't be enough of a difference to make it feel right for you, so in relative terms, yes - in the design, the strings are high off of the body in contrast to Strat or Tele designs. I didn't mean to seem like I was arguing against the point that you made...it was all about that photo!

 

After looking at the photo a few more times, it does seem that the action may be a bit high and the bridge could be brought down a little but it is difficult to tell just from a photo. A couple mm might put it back in the area of normal.

[Notes_Norton]

What I find more awkward is two guitars that have different widths at the bridge. If I'm not used to the guitar, it takes a while until my pick learns were the strings are

[=JL=]

 

To me, the difference in the scale is more apparent in how the guitar plays and how it response to your playing technique. Just like different model cars drive differently. You will find that one scale seem to work well with your playing and thus your playing would be much more expressive and smooth without thinking about the guitar and sounding, playing sterile.

 

 

I agree that there is a difference in feel, I just embrace it, rather than see it as a problem.

I always think that players who say "I can play this neck, but I can't play that one" must be playing right on the edge of their ability all the time. I wouldn't want to find myself onstage attempting to play something where the difference between Gibson and Fender scale lengths prevented me from playing it well.

It's music, it ain't the Olympics.