Matching Finger Size/Length with an Optimal Scale Length

[Quencho092]

This is something that occurred to me the other night while playing My Favorite Things, the Kenny Burrell version, he used many big stretches, especially on the intro that can be extremely uncomfortable on my strat with MY fingers.

I played a friend's LP and the scale felt really sweet and manageable, after getting accustomed to the LP Custom my fingers really felt great moving less of a distance as well as using less energy to get neat whole step bends and a different kind of vibrato. I hadn't played a Gibson scale in a few months, and to be honest I never play shorter scale stuff because most of my friends have strats or shredsticks. I think I've been ignoring my ideal scale length on coincidence by playing mostly fender stuff, and that I might be an LP player rather than strat, except maybe for funk stuff or twangier fusion.

Are you guys aware of your optimum scale length? Which guitars do you tend to fly on, and which ones are a bit of a battle but just as rewarding in other ways? I'm voting 24 3/4 gibson scale as my most comfortable length since I have these skinny spider fingers that can take more advantage of a nice stop tailed instrument. DAMN ANOTHER WORDY POST, I'M REALLY DIGGING MAGIC HAT ALMOST PALE ALE, 2 BEERS IN AND :arms:

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Matching Finger Size/Length with an Optimal Scale Length

Hmm, i dunno .... my thinking is that the differences between, for example, the first three frets on a Strat and a LP is pretty small, or if you measured from the nut to the first fret on both types of guitar, the difference wouldn't seem to make much difference.

However we do indeed feel some difference, but that may also be because of other variables that all combine to give the different feels .... string tesion, hardtail v's softail, neck profiles etc.

You see the videos of little kids playing full size guitars and they still somehow manage to play most things. I do understand what you mean when it comes to certain chords and shapes that have big stretches within them though, and it's probably at those times that even the smallest variations seem noticeable ... i run into that sometimes when trying to arrange certain multi-part arrangements on acoustic, and find myself wishing i had longer fingers, hehe.

I do agree about the differences between hardtail and soft tail bridges .... bends have to be bigger on a vibrato-equiped guitar like a Strat, and finger vibrato is a very different experience. Basically a hardtail is rigid and you fully control your bends and vibrato, whereas on a Strat, whenever you push or pull a string, the bridge moves up and slightly lowers the pitch, so you have to push some more, causing the bridge to move a little more, etc. If you have a very specific vibrato you want to take from a LP to a Strat it can be very difficult and sometimes basically impossible to recreate it when you're fighting the movement of the bridge, although of course the vibrato will probably still sound good, just slightly different. Probably the same effect for a Strat player taking their bends and vibrato over to a LP, the feel and response will be different.

Personally i don't know how much the scale lengths affect whatever it is that i do, i think for me it's more about the tension that leads to the 'feel' of that particular instrument, but that's just me.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Matching Finger Size/Length with an Optimal Scale Length

Being there isnt a large variety of scale lengths available for all styles of guitar i really doubt this is something many people have considered. Try finding a 24 3/4 inch strat. Im sure someone makes one but they sure arent common.

Its not something I have an issue with. Maybe it comes from originally starting as a bass player but to me the difference in size between 25.5 and 24.75 is minimal. I dont even really notice the extra length when i play my baritone.

I find the action height and to a lesser extent the fret size to be pertinant to wether or not i find a guitar difficult to play or not. But thats just me everyones different just have to find what suits you.