Does scale length affect playability or tone of a guitar?

**BobD** · 09-10-2009, 02:30 PM

So my Sheraton has a scale length of 24.75. I'd like to get an Epi Emperor Regent(don't think I swing a Peerless) but the scale length is 25.5. Is that a potential problem? Does a different lenght affect playability or tone?

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 09-10-2009, 02:42 PM

The biggest difference is that string tension is a little higher on a longer string length. You probably won't even notice the length is longer.

Jazzarian · 09-10-2009, 02:46 PM

Originally Posted by BobD

So my Sheraton has a scale length of 24.75. I'd like to get an Epi Emperor Regent(don't think I swing a Peerless) but the scale length is 25.5. Is that a potential problem? Does a different lenght affect playability or tone?

25.5 on my Super V, as it is on all L5s, Super400s, Johnny Smiths and LeGrandes.

I tend to like the longer scale if all you get is 20 frets. You also get a fatter sounding bass.

**BobD** · 09-10-2009, 02:46 PM

That's good to hear cause I've read lots of good reviews of the Emperor Regent and it is very affordable.

**dh82c** · 09-10-2009, 11:38 PM

I love mine but admittedly it is my first jazzbox. Just ordered a Lollar p-90 yesterday for it

**Tom Karol** · 09-11-2009, 08:50 AM

I have relatively small hands, but I still prefer the 25.5" scale. It seems to intonate more accurately and the bottom end sounds more solid to me. Of course, I may be just imagining all of this, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

**mr. beaumont** · 09-11-2009, 09:36 AM

Originally Posted by dh82c

I love mine but admittedly it is my first jazzbox. Just ordered a Lollar p-90 yesterday for it

is jason making a floating P90 style pup or are you gonna cut the top?

as for scale length, i like complex chords on the longer scale length better. on a short scale, a chord with close intervals really blends and sounds nice, kinda like the eagles singing harmony or something...but on a long scale, you can really hear each independent voice, like the beach boys.

i like the beach boys...

**derek** · 09-11-2009, 10:08 AM

Speaking of scale length, I am saving up to commission a Soloway. Jim Soloway builds chambered and semihollow guitars on a 27" scale. He has a test drive program where you get on the list, and when your turn comes around, you get a guitar shipped to you.

Play if for a week or so, and then you are responsible to pay to have it shipped to the next guy on the list. I got one for a week this past spring, and was really amazed at the playability, and depth of tone. Very sweet guitars.

Models

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 09-11-2009, 10:27 AM

Isn't 27" the usual baritone length?

**Meggy** · 09-11-2009, 10:39 AM

Originally Posted by Tom Karol

I have relatively small hands, but I still prefer the 25.5" scale. It seems to intonate more accurately and the bottom end sounds more solid to me. Of course, I may be just imagining all of this, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

No, I think you are right, I find pretty much the same thing, and I don't have Tal Farlow hands either. It just seems to have more articulation to me somehow. I do have one 25" scale solid guitar which is quite nice, but I find I have to use a gauge heavier string set to get the tension I like, and somehow the thicker strings seem kind of woolly to me compared to the 25.5" solid I also have.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 09-11-2009, 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by Jazzarian

25.5 on my Super V, as it is on all L5s, Super400s, Johnny Smiths and LeGrandes.

I hear there's this company called Fender that also uses 25 1/2"...

**mr. beaumont** · 09-11-2009, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

I hear there's this company called Fender that also uses 25 1/2"...

yeah, but who would play jazz on one of those?

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 09-11-2009, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

yeah, but who would play jazz on one of those?

Mebbe for a comedy twangin' chorus. Like if you do a cover of the "Green Acres" theme song.

**mr. beaumont** · 09-11-2009, 01:31 PM

there's an idea...right now in my set i do the theme from M*A*S*H (suicide is painless) and i do "i love lucy" all serious style as a ballad (once folks get it, there's lots of smiles...) but i needed a show theme from the 60's...

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 09-11-2009, 01:35 PM

Isn't the Flintstone's theme just a 'rhythm changes?

**mr. beaumont** · 09-11-2009, 02:07 PM

certainly the bridge is...

i hear the beginning as (well, in my head here right now) I vi I V as opposed to I vi ii V, which would be "standard rhythm changes"--but if i remember correctly that is how mickey baker teaches 'em...

if i'm jamming and somebody calls "rhythm changes," i'm usually thinking I vi ii V for the A, but the "flintstones" i'm hearning in my head is a pretty common variant, methinks

and now for a segue since we've completely hijacked this thread...

i think "rhythm changes" sounds no better on a short or long scale instrument, but if i was doing freedie green style comping, i'd like a long scale instrument--the extra tension means more snap acoustically, IMHO.

**derek** · 09-11-2009, 02:11 PM

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLoveHandles

Isn't 27" the usual baritone length?

Maybe, but these aren't bari's.

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 09-11-2009, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

certainly the bridge is...

i hear the beginning as (well, in my head here right now) I vi I V as opposed to I vi ii V, which would be "standard rhythm changes"--but if i remember correctly that is how mickey baker teaches 'em...

if i'm jamming and somebody calls "rhythm changes," i'm usually thinking I vi ii V for the A, but the "flintstones" i'm hearning in my head is a pretty common variant, methinks

and now for a segue since we've completely hijacked this thread...

i think "rhythm changes" sounds no better on a short or long scale instrument, but if i was doing freedie green style comping, i'd like a long scale instrument--the extra tension means more snap acoustically, IMHO.

I see your point about the Flintstones.

Mr B, do you come here to debate scale length and TDPRI to discuss neck contour?

**mr. beaumont** · 09-11-2009, 05:30 PM

basically, i go there and tell all the chicken pickers that jazz is where it's at, then i tell the cats here to lighten up, forget the jazzbox, get a tele and play some twang. i love to instigate...

**BigDaddyLoveHandles** · 09-11-2009, 05:50 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

basically, i go there and tell all the chicken pickers that jazz is where it's at, then i tell the cats here to lighten up, forget the jazzbox, get a tele and play some twang. i love to instigate...

By the way, what make strings (and gauge) to do have on your Teles?

**dh82c** · 09-11-2009, 09:28 PM

[quote=mr. beaumont;47760]is jason making a floating P90 style pup or are you gonna cut the top?

quote]

Yes and no.. If you look on his website in the background of most of the pages there is a thinline archtop with a Frequensator bridge and two p-90s. If you look closely the neck pickup has non-adjust poles. I asked him and he said no one ever noticed. He made those pickups about 10 years ago. He used slugs instead of a bar magnet so he could get a P90 that was thin enough not to have to cut the top. Just a couple of mounting screws. If I want to go back (I have been playing sans-pickup since I bought the guitar) I can. A couple of small screw holes dont bother me. Should be here in a couple of weeks.