I am very pleased to find so many people and websites devoted to guitar design; particularly ergonomic guitar designs. But, despite the many new and different designs I see most guitars still have the same ‘ol standard scale lengths. I’ve been meaning to address this for a while, but I just haven’t had the time to sit down and write. Not that there is a great deal that needs to be said. This isn’t a treatise on guitar design. It is simply an argument in favor of more experimentation with differing scale lengths.
All the creative cutaways, and light weight materials in the world won’t make a 25.5″ scale guitar easier to play if you have very small hands, or arthritis. Also, if you are the kind of player who spends a great deal of time playing complex jazz chords, then the longer scale length can cause a great deal of stress on your hands. If you spend all day playing power chords or solos high up on the neck then it may not matter to you. I’m the former…not the power chord playing latter.
There aren’t many commercially available guitars with short scale lengths. Most of the ones that do exist are extremely short and poorly made childrens guitars. Then you have the Fender Jaguar, Mustang, and Jag-stang, and the Gibson Byrdland. Thats about all of the short scales that I can think of that you might (and thats a big “might”) be able to find in a guitar shop or on ebay.
The Fender models are 24″ solid-body single coil guitars. The Mustangs can occasionally be found for around $700. The Jaguar is in excess of $1,100. Jag-stangs can’t be found at all. The Gibson Byrldland is a Jazzbox with a 23.5″ scale. That is extremely hard to find and can cost several thousand dollars. Epiphone does make a “cheaper” version of the Byrland at $2,000. As you can see finding a quality short scale guitar is not easy. Being able to afford one may be even harder. And if you aren’t keen on 60’s era vintage guitar design then you are out of luck.
So, designing and making your own is a good alternative….assuming that you have a woodshop, specialty tools, and a few board feet of hardwood. Otherwise it may cost you the same to build one as it would to buy an existing design.
I’m waiting for a guitar maker to start producing a few other short scale guitars, but I think I may be waiting for a while. If it doesn’t look like a fender or a gibson or doesn’t have jumbo frets on it, then good luck finding it. Major guitar manufacturers aren’t keen on producing a guitar that may not sell so they stick tightly to the same formula that has worked for decades. Guitar players and manufacturers are by thier nature very conservative when it come to instrument design. This is another area where bass players have once again proved that they are more flexible than thier six string counterparts. Bass designs continue to evolve and luthiers and even manufacturers don’t have an issue with changing the scale length of thier bass guitars. Most new basses are getting longer scales, but a few are getting shorter. Stanley Clarke often played short scale basses. So, did Paul McCartney. The designers of short scale basses have learner how to use quality components, woods, and design elements to minimize any potential issues that would arise with shorter length instruments. Guitar designers could learn alot from them.
Check out Shortscale.org for more information about short scale guitars.
Filed under: Guitar, Jazz, Musical Gear, luthier, short scale | Tagged: byrdland, chord, ergonomics, fender, gibson, jagstang, jaguar, Jazz, mustang, short scale
hi grandweepers..
i agree with you that eventhough a lot guitars are available out there but the only differences are in terms of body design and hardware options. but finally my search for my dream guitar (24″ scale) ends when i found the SX guitar company does produce 24″ strat guitar at a very low price and good quality too. they also make short scale les paul too
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Ergonomics have created the left-handed electric guitar. An acoustic guitar is playable by both left or right handed people. The electric guitar has controls on it that needs to be place in the right place to allows smooth strumming. On the left-handed electric guitar these controls are place along the right side of the guitar.
Thanks for the comment, but I’m not sure what this has to do with Left handed v.s. right handed guitars. This is the same comment that you made on another post.
Just tune a regular guitar a half tone down, then use a capo on the first fret.
Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Johnny Copeland and Albert Collins played with a capo on most of the time.
Keef Richards can often be seen playing his ancient Telecaster with a capo on the 1st fret, and no low E string at all.
I guess if he can’t afford to get something designed for him, we’ll all have to suffer.
Well, there are lots of things that “Keef” does that I wouldn’t necessarily recommend.
If playing with a shorter scale was something that I wanted to do on an occasional basis I’d see your point. But, if it’s something that you intend to do (or have to do) on a regular basis then constantly playing a guitar with a capo and fret markers that are off may not be the most enjoyable thing. I can’t argue that it works. But, if you do it on a regular basis is that really how you want to play….all the time?