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Dear All,

This thought struck me whilst reading another post. This question has probably been posed and answered before, on this and other forums, But I am always interested to read the posts on this forum, as I usually find them helpful.

I remember reading many years ago that the Fender Jaguar was described in some quarters as "short scale". (or am I confusing the Jaguar and the Jazzmaster?) I have never (knowingly) played a short scale guitar, so I am wondering what are the pros and cons? (without being too technical or going into great detail, if that is possible).

All I can come up with is that, depending on the size and shape of the hand and fingers that press the strings, a short scale would mean less of a stretch and make it slightly easier for a person with small hands? But is this a compromise that can have a negative effect? (like many things in life - a sort of Ying and Yang?).

Kindest regards,
Christopher

The short scale doesn't give the Fender 'twang' but is slightly easier on the hands for fingering certain chords- I find a Gibson SG type of guitar easier to play chords on than a Strat. We're only talking about 1/2 inch or so difference and so you don't really notice the difference that much, except that there's less of a stretch fingering chords.
I should add that all Gibsons are 'short scale' and all Fenders are the longer scale, (as far as I'm aware) why exactly these choices were made in the first place I don't know, but there are subtle differences in character of sound. PRS mostly uses the shorter scale although they use the longer scale for their Fender type guitars.

Tigerdaisy wrote:The short scale doesn't give the Fender 'twang' ...

My Burns Bison is also short scale, but I don't miss any twang. However, I would be interested to know if anyone has verified sonic differences between short and long scale.

Short scale models have been offered by many guitar makers for years...for young students and other people, including female players, who may have smaller hands and fingers and less strength than adult males.

Not only are the frets closer together, but for any given string gauge, the string tension is less with a short scale (simple physics). Heavier gauge strings are often usable on a short scale. The potential span for reaching notes for both forming chords and playing solos lines is also increased with short scale (some jazz players use this to advantage)

In the past, there have been many short scale guitars which are tuned higher than standard guitar concert tuning (e.g. classical short scale guitars such as the 'requinto')...these were used in bands or orchestral groups of guitars in classical, popular and traditional music styles from Latin America, Spain etc., in the same way there are violins, violas, cellos etc in most orchestras.

Some Rickenbackers (e.g. John Lennon's Ric 325 model) and early Fender student models (Music master, Duo-sonics etc) had very short scales which many people find difficult to play..as you ascend the neck, the frets are much closer together, like a mandolin or ukelele.

If you want to try playing a short scale neck, just put a capo on your guitar (1st,2nd, 3rd, 4th 5th fret..any will do) and de-tune all the strings by the difference between open strings tuned to concert pitch and fretted notes where the capo is placed...e.g. if you put the capo on the 2nd fret, de-tune all the guitar strings by a full note before fitting the capo. (i.e. de-tune from EADGBE to DGCFAD)

The difference in fret width and string tension between say Gibson and Fender neck scales is noticeable but not extreme.
The difference between say a normal Fender scale and a Rickenbacker 325 scale is much more noticeable...the difference in scale length here is about 4 inches!

My Burns Artist guitar (see my avatar) has a scale length of 23 3/8" (compared to the Strat's 25 1/2"). Combined with 24 frets (plus a zero fret) to give a complete double octave, a slender-fingered guitarist can play E in five positions. They would need to be slender-fingered because the distance between the 23rd and 24th frets is just a quarter of an inch!

Getting used to a short-scale guitar isn't really a problem. My Artist also has the slim, offset-contour neck that Jim Burns fitted to the early Artists so 'thumb-over' rather than barré chords feel easier.

Ray

As a matter of interest, the Gibson Byrdland guitar (designed for Billy Byrd and Hank Garland) has a 23 3/8 inch scale, which is the same as Ray's Burns Artist.

The benefits of a short scale are ease of stretching and playability of some chords. Also, the reduced string tension for conventional tuning meaning heavier gauge strings can be fitted thus offering improved tone.

I fit 13 - 56 on all my 23 3/8 inch scale guitars.

As a short child I found the ukulele much easier to play than a guitar. (Likewise I couldn’t manage a trombone but the bass trombone with handle was, literally, within my reach.) Now I’m a tall adult it’s all different.
Personally I don’t think the scale matters. Get an instrument you’re comfortable playing, I’d say, then you should be able to make better music.
I bet Jet Harris would have been a lot happier playing a short scale bass guitar in his Shads days.

Iain Purdon wrote: Get an instrument you’re comfortable playing, I’d say, then you should be able to make better music.
I bet Jet Harris would have been a lot happier playing a short scale bass guitar in his Shads days.

When it comes to comfortable playing on a bass guitar, other factors can be as important as scale length. These are:
How far is it from the rear strap button to the bridge?
and
How near is the forward strap button to the 12th fret?

Here's an example using my Burns Bison bass and my Revelation RPJ77 (same dimensions as a Fender Precision).

The Bison rear button is 4.5 inches from the bridge, the RPJ77 is 2.5
The Bison forward button is 2.5 inches from the 12th fret, the RPJ77 is the same as the 12th fret.

In practice this means that when standing, the Bison's first fret is about 4 inches further away from the left hand - and that's a lot.
Both basses are full 34" scale but the clever ergonomics of the Precision means that Jet probably felt quite comfortable.
Ray

RayL wrote:the clever ergonomics of the Precision means that Jet probably felt quite comfortable.
Ray

Clever stuff!
I always thought he looked somewhat dwarfed by it. But he certainly had no trouble playing it
Iain

The Fender Jaguar (standard models of it, at least) is indeed a short-scale guitar, with a scale-length of exactly 24" (subject to intonation adjustment, of course).

The Burns Bison, throughout most of its history, has been a standard scale-length instrument, with the scale-length of 24.75", the same length as is used on the Gibson ES335 and similar models, the SG, the Les Pauls, the J45, the ES175 and many other well-known guitars. I understand that at least some - and perhaps all - of the Bisons made by Burns Actualisers during the Ely period were of 25.5" scale, like the version of the Marvin they were doing at the same time.

24.75" is not "short"; it is simply the shorter of the two most popular standard scale-lengths. The 25.5" length used on most Fender professional models (such as the Strat, the Tele, the Jazzmaster, the Electric XII) and also on various Gibsons such as the L5, L7, J-200, Super 400 and Barney Kessel, is the longer of the two. There are some guitars with true long scale-lengths in excess of 26", such as the Selmer Maccaferri and various models made "in tribute" to it, which have a scale of just under 26.5".