Favorite Scale for your guitar and why

**vinlander** · 06-03-2018, 02:05 PM

Lately my 25.5 scale humbucker equipped tele and Tal had to share play time with my latest 24.75 scale 125...
The P90 seems to compensate for the looser note definition bass strings I usually experience with 24.75 scale instruments like on my Les Paul.

**ugarte** · 06-03-2018, 03:35 PM

I think with acoustic instruments there can be sonic differences but plugged-in-electric there is not much (if anything) to distinguish between 24.75, 25.5, 25, or anything in between (others will disagree). So it becomes an issue of personal preference/comfort navigating the fret board.

I have a Tele partscaster with a 24.75 conversion neck and its probably the easiest guitar to play I've ever experienced, but I also like the feel and sound of playing my full size 25.5 scale archtop strung up with 12s, but sometimes I think its like calisthenics - I like playing the archtop because afterwards the Tele feels so easy.

**D.G.** · 06-03-2018, 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by ugarte

I think with acoustic instruments there can be sonic differences but plugged-in-electric there is not much (if anything) to distinguish between 24.75, 25.5, 25, or anything in between. So it becomes an issue of personal preference/comfort navigating the fret board.

I can certainly hear and feel the difference between 24.75, 25, 25.5 on my electrics. The difference I perceive is mainly on the low E and A strings. If you want that piano-like "boing" on the low strings -- and I do -- a 25.5" scale is pretty important. This is of course with roundwounds and single-coils.

**yoichi** · 06-03-2018, 06:56 PM

wholetone is my favorite, so dreamy

**qblue** · 06-03-2018, 08:47 PM

I don't feel that much of a difference to play the 24.75" vs. the 25.5" scales. I like the 25.5" scale except when I do some stretches for certain chord shapes. I sometimes find other chord shapes too cramped on a 24.75" scale.

But today I played both scales, going from my Gibson ES-347 to the Fender Strat Ultra, and back and I survived. It's really mind over matter: if you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

**FredH** · 06-06-2018, 02:43 PM

The L5 scale is the most comfortable for me. I have a HJS and I can adjust to it easily, but when it comes to comfort and ease of playing the L5 scale is my choice.

**ThatRhythmMan** · 06-06-2018, 03:37 PM

Originally Posted by FredH

The L5 scale is the most comfortable for me. I have a HJS and I can adjust to it easily, but when it comes to comfort and ease of playing the L5 scale is my choice.

Presumably you mean the modern 25.5” L-5 scale, correct? Prior to 1937 L-5s had a 24.75” scale.

**p1p** · 02-04-2019, 07:38 AM

Originally Posted by Max405

The 25" scale length is perfect compromise. However, I still have small hands and believe it or not, the 1/4" does make a difference for me. So, when I close my eyes and pick up a guitar, the one that feels best to me, is the 24-3/4 scale guitar.
Joe D

what size is your fretting hand from tip of pinky to tip of thumb stretched out?

**Jim Soloway** · 02-04-2019, 01:42 PM

I've played everything from 22.5" to 28" and as long as they're strung lightly enough and tuned appropriately I can find a use for all of them. Length doesn't bother me nearly as much as tension.

**rpjazzguitar** · 02-04-2019, 02:21 PM

I was a 24 3/4 player for decades. I tried the L5, Strat, Tele and they all felt too big.

Then I got a 25 1/2 Yamaha Pacifica Strat copy. Very slim neck in ever dimension. The 25 1/2 didn't bother me a bit on that guitar.

**Greentone** · 02-04-2019, 04:35 PM

I played an ES-175 for so long that the 24-3/4" scale is like falling off a log for me--just completely natural. However, the sound of the shorter scale has never sounded as smooth and jazzy, to me, as the 25-1/2" scale--especially on archtops. There is just a slightly "runty," "grunty" sound on the D, A, and E strings that is absent on the 25-1/2" scale archtops, e.g., the Tal, the ES-350 (old, long-scale version), the L-5, etc.

So, even though I resisted it for years, I gradually moved to the longer scale and have never looked back. I only have a semi-acoustic and an old L-50 around now to keep my hand in on the 24-3/4" instruments.

I play upright bass, so playing considerations for moving from 24-3/4" to 25-1/2" scale guitars is filed under the category of "no big deal."

**Ozymandias** · 02-04-2019, 05:23 PM

24.75. My hands are not particularly small but very inflexible. For example my wife's hands are about 2/3 the size of mine, but the span of her finger tips from index to pinky if she stretches her hand is wider. Not because her hands are unusually flexible, but because mine are unusually stiff. I now have a touch of arthritis in my index finger, which doesn't help.

I have 25.5" scale guitars but use them less and less. As well as my Gibsons I have a Tom Anderson Short Classic so that I have a Gibson scale "Strat" and would like to pick up a short T at some point. I don't hear any tonal sacrifice for the shorter scale.

**Michael Keller** · 02-04-2019, 08:21 PM

24.75

Although I have guitars with 25.5 and like it just fine, the 24.75 feels better, and I think it's got a warmer sound.

**Jabberwocky** · 02-05-2019, 03:15 AM

I voted 25.5" but writing today, it is 25".

**cosmic gumbo** · 02-05-2019, 04:56 AM

I like the tonal clarity and definition of 25.5, but like the lower string tension of 24.75, usually allowing heavier gauge strings. Regardless, I regularly play both.

**JCat** · 02-05-2019, 05:02 AM

I play 24.75 as well as 25.5. For Jazz as well as other styles. I don't really have a favorite. I appreciate the difference, but there are other design decisions that usually are of more importance to me. I think one has to view scale length in a wider context taking those other design decisions into account.

**John A.** · 02-08-2019, 04:43 PM

This is my favorite scale, for both guitars and cold cuts:

John

**candido** · 02-09-2019, 12:25 PM

On acoustics I prefer the 24.75 - seems much easier to play and I like the little bit of warmth it adds. On electrics it really is guitar dependent - for a jazz box I prefer the shorter scale though, because it is a little easier to bend with the typically heavier strings. Plus it is also a little warmer I suppose.

My favorite notation scale is the chromatic - I use it constantly because it has all the notes, so I never play a bad one!

**Robertkoa** · 02-11-2019, 07:25 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

I've played everything from 22.5" to 28" and as long as they're strung lightly enough and tuned appropriately I can find a use for all of them. Length doesn't bother me nearly as much as tension.

What about sound ?

I like the separation on close voiced chords from 25.5 " scale but I think it may be harder to get that dark deep sound from the neck Humbucker on 25.5" .

25" inch and 25.25" might be a good compromize but with coil cuts or parallel switches - it may not be a huge difference.

You have built Guitars in many scale lengths - do you find better note separation on chords in the slightly longer scales ?

I think a great Jazz Tele could be done with a thick Mahogany or Blackwood Body but with only 19 frets and maybe get the fatter tones from the 25.5" scale that way -
but I notice on the Heritage 20 fret models there is a subtle difference but not as much as I thought.

**coolvinny** · 02-11-2019, 11:52 PM

Hard to say for sure, but definitely no longer than 25" for me. Not a fan of 25.5".

Neck dimensions and width also make a big difference so it's hard to exactly compare apples and apples between 24.75, 24 7/8, 24.9 and 25.0...I have one of each by sheer coincidence.

**orri** · 02-13-2019, 05:59 AM

To be honest I have never really given much thought that my guitars (or guitars in general) have different scale lengths.
These days I go back and forth between a strat and an ES175 which I just looked up the scale lenghts of, and learnt that they have different scale lengths.

**jzucker** · 02-13-2019, 07:09 AM

super locrian

But seriously, i have no favorite scale. I have guitars ranging from 24.6 to 25.5 and have no issue going between them. It's just not an issue for me....

**vinlander** · 02-13-2019, 07:11 AM

So far the results seem to show 25.5 as the most popular scale length, not exactly scientific but interesting

**zcostilla** · 02-13-2019, 12:43 PM

I used to play only 25.5" guitars, but then I eventually got a Seagull S6 Folk acoustic with a 24.84 scale length, and it was so much easier to play. I have BIG hands, but still prefer a short scale with a slightly wider nut, and I can play a greater combination of chords up the neck this way. The Seagull is long gone (sold it to buy a Kala U-Bass) but now my Godin 5th Avenue uses that same length and I love it! Right now, only my flamenco guitar is the only long-scale instrument I have at 650 mm.

**Robertkoa** · 08-06-2019, 08:44 AM

I like 25.5" but haven't owned a 24.75" in a while .

The reason I like the longer scale is I feel like the big voicings and closed voicings I use sound a bit more piano like and even .

Not sure if 25" makes a bit of difference too .

I guess with most Guitars we lose a little fatness on neck for 25.5" unless it's a 20 fret neck ( rare on 25.5" - right ) so ...

Like a Jazz Tele ( I have a Strat Body but sounds like a super dark thick Tele even unplugged might sound if it was chambered Mahogany ).

As I have said I like these ideas:

So if I really like a Guitar's sound, resonance, intonation etc etc don't care much about scale...

Slight preference for 25.5 "sonically for chords - I have small hands but actually true ...

My left (fretting hand) is almost 1/2" longer than my right from playing stretched chords over a long time ( another thing some forum members will have trouble believing lol).

So I still use 5 and 6 fret stretches all the time on 25.5" scale.