Re: Scale Length Question


"alcarruth" <alcarruth@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:646369c0-f528-40cd-9990-ae08fcd8fad7@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I built a steel string guitar a few years back with a 20" scale to use
with standard tuning. It actually sounded pretty good, once I learned
to tune it and play it. The person who ordered it is short, and was
having hand, arm, and shoulder problems after years of playing Dreads.
I used a 14 fret neck on that one, simply because a 12-fretter looked
like Thor's hammer. The body was 'wedged' and based on a classical
(00) size, but chopped off a bit at the upper end.

Recently, I went the other way, making a guitar that had a scale
that's two frets longer, for Ken Bonfield. The original plan was to
tune it D-D, but he's using it at C-C these days, and has had it as
low as B-B. Ken gets a good sound out of it, but he gets a good sound
out of anything!

One way to predict string 'feel' is the ratio of tension over length.
Two strings with the same T/L ratio will tend to feel the same, no
matter what the lenght is. On that long scale of Ken's (it's 710mm, or
just under 28") tuned D-D I designed for strings that were just a
little heavier than he normally used, and it worked out pretty well.
On the lower tuning he went to slightly heavier strings again, to get
the feel back.

I would think it would be no problem to make a normal sized guitar
with a scale that's two frets shorter, and a 14 fret neck. I'd suggest
something in a 000 or 00 size range, and if it were me i'd make a few
'tweaks' to get it to sound balanced in the higher range. This could
be a LOUD guitar, but still have a nice sweet tone if you did it
right.

Alan Carruth / Luthier
http://www.alcarruthluthier.com

If they'd just sell me that winning lottery ticket....



.

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