Whats your prefered scale length for a 6 string?

[jeremy]

i have at least one with 24", 24.75", 25", 25.5", and 27" and like them all. if i had to stick with one for the rest of my life it would be 25.5. i started on a strat so that feels like home

[GuitarDoc]

Neat post. Appreciate it, even if I disagree on a few points.

First, you are assuming that people are playing chords only. Up high, you could well be playing single-note lines (soloing), in which case the issue of chordal spacing isn't really relevant.

Actually, no. Playing chords "only" was a worst case scenario. My measurements were between frets which will affect soloing only slightly, but will have a greater affect on playing chords because the space differences are additive...your fingers have to stretch when playing a chord whereas your hand can move as needed when soloing. I tried to point out that in the upper frets there is very little difference between a Gibson and a Fender. The difference is far greater in the lower frets.

Second, you're also assuming an absolute value to difference in mm in two dissimilar cases (case 1: playing near the nut. case 2: playing above the 12th fret.). And I'm not sure about that assumption. Think about trying to push a couch through a door -- that's a case where even half an inch could make all the difference to whether you can squeeze it through. Similarly, on higher frets, that extra 0.54mm could be really noticeable, especially for players with thicker fingers.

Of course they are "dissimilar cases", they are two different scale length guitars measured in two different locations on the neck and a comparison was made between them. There is NO assumption at all! It's a fact that a 24 3/4" scale is 24 3/4" and a 25.5" scale is 25.5". I made a comparison in mm between a Gibson scale and Fender scale at the lower frets, AND I made a comparison between those two scale lengths in the upper frets. They were measured accurately in hundredths of a millimeter on each guitar...no assumptions.

Your example of a couch does not apply here because your finger does not have to completely fit between the frets...it just has to be behind the fret you are playing. Try fitting your finger between the 20th and 21st frets on either guitar. Unless you have pencil point fingers, you won't fit. But that's not the important factor. What is important is how easy it is to play relative to the fret spacing. What I tried to point out is that there is relatively no difference between a Gibson and a Fender the higher up you are on the neck. The greatest noticeable difference between those two scale lengths is at the lower frets. That's all.

I wasn't assuming you were playing solos or chords. I wasn't assuming that you had fat or skinny fingers. I wasn't assuming that you are a proficient player or not. I wasn't assuming that you had such long fingers that it doesn't matter what scale guitar you play. I wasn't assuming that you have such short fingers that there is no way you could ever manage to play a Fender. I wasn't assuming that you were sober or high when you were trying to play either guitar. I wasn't even assuming that you were holding your guitar rightside up or upside down. It was just math...you know, like 2 + 2 = 4.

Any assumptions on playability are made by each individual player.