Anyone look into extended scale solid body guitars for jazz? PRS SR 277?

[Bluedawg]

I've tried a few longer scale guitars and enjoyed the tones that come out of them, even the Buckethead Les Paul.

I missed out on getting one of Jim Soloway's 27-inch guitars when he was still building them.

Now PRS has a couple of SE guitars with longer scales, the 277 and the Marc Holcomb SVN, that are high quality and more affordable than most other extended scale guitars.

I know these are usually meant more for modern heavy metal tones, but I was thinking they would be an affordable way to see if this would work for something more jazz flavored.

Any thoughts?

[st.bede]

That sounds like a way to check out how the scale length works for you. I wonder if Warmoth makes a neck in that scale length. That might also be an option.

[Jim Soloway]

Warmoth does not.

I owned a PRS SE 277 and hated it. The extra .7 inch made it too long for complex chords for me and it really seemed like it was meant for something very different than I wanted to us it for. But here's a nice swan being sold on TGP.

FSOT - Soloway Swan Semi-Hollow 27" Scale Length | The Gear Page

[marcwhy]

Warmoth does not.

I owned a PRS SE 277 and hated it. The extra .7 inch made it too long for complex chords for me and it really seemed like it was meant for something very different than I wanted to us it for. But here's a nice swan being sold on TGP.

FSOT - Soloway Swan Semi-Hollow 27" Scale Length | The Gear Page

Yeah, that's a real pretty one, Jim!

[gitman]

I own a german-made Rainer Tausch guitar since last fall and it has a 665 mm scale - a tad more than 26". It's a hollowed out design, one-piece maple neck, tremolo with 2 humbuckers.
With the longer scale a set of 0.10 strings feel like 0.11's !
The sound is somewhere in the classic ES-335 territory, more percussive than a solidbody, with long sustain,
great note-separation and - if your fretting hand is up to it - a wonderful "Ted Greene Tribute" guitar !

[Bluedawg]

Thanks for your comments.

I played a PRS 277 and really liked it. The price and bang for the buck are great compared to the other offerings out there.

The scale was a little challenging at times.

I could see experimenting with some jazz on it, but it does seem to be tuned more for a modern metal sound.

I would love to dabble in some modern progressive heavy metal, but I barely have enough time to do the jazz things I want to do on guitar.

That's what I get for letting people know I can play bass.

[ooglybong]

Take a look at the Reverend Descent baritone. It's got a 26 3/4" scale. It might be the shortest baritone scale length on any of the more "accessible" brands out there.

I used to own a gorgeous Yairi YB70 baritone acoustic (MIJ), thinking I would initially explore the lower end in that acoustic direction... but, TBH, at 27 23/32", I found it simply to be too long a scale *for me* to get easily around on. I'd bought it thinking I would eventually adjust, but it just never happened. Not even close. So I gave it to my brother the bassist who also has several acoustics that he especially likes to explore alternative tunings on. (TBH, if you were going to use the Yairi for more "experimental" pieces in, say, DADGAD, I think it might've functioned nicely for me as a "specialty" instrument, but as it was, I think it found a much better home in my brother's hands.) Anyway, I could never satisfactorily "manage" my guitar pieces on the Yairi, and IMO, it always just seemed more like something between a guitar and a bass—and yet suitable for neither function *for my hands*. Of course, this is IMO and YMMV.

However, once I managed to acquire the Reverend (baritone try #2), I found that I could pretty much manage to play anything on it quite comfortably. No crazy finger stretches at all. Zero issues. Really, after only a couple of minutes acclimating, I actually tend to forget that it's even got a longer scale. But then again, I usually tend to acclimate to necks and strings things pretty quickly. That one inch difference made it work for me. (I'm 5'9", of medium build, and have an "average" hand size.) But again here, as always, YMMV.

Note that Reverend offers (IIRC) a few baritone designs. My Descent has a really nice Wilkinson trem, but I do believe they make hardtail designs as well.

Hope this helps.