How do you feel about 26.5" scale??

[NickCormier]

I am trying to decide afew things about scale lengths, Dont think Its posssible for me to find any 7 strings in my city that would have the scale lengths I wanna check out.. Only 25.5 (already have that anyways)

Anyways, I do enjoy 25.5" but when tuned in A (D standard on a 6) I do find the low A to be pretty sloppy, to the point where it doesnt sound good to me, If it was a normal 6 string guitar I would be fine.. Anyways, so that means I gotta push the scale up to either 26.5" or 27" and im not sure which.

My buddy has a Schecter Loomis sig and its 26.5" and he says its great scale cause its not too different from 25.5 but still gives you the definition and clarity you need for the low B.. I hope to try it out if we ever have the same days off work, but I would like to know some opinions on what you guys think.

Another fear of mine is that most neck builders will not make 26.5" scales.. Usually only 25.5, and if you can squeeze out a 27" sometimes but that takes alot of pestering as well, 26.5 is gonna be really hard to find someone who will do it lol

Any Schecter owners who played 27" ones, What do you think?

[eelblack2]

I have a lot of 25.5 7's, and I also have a Loomis 26.5, and a 1077XL 27.0. The 26.5 is somewhat noticeable as a longer scale but not dramatic. The 27.0 is dramatic as a different scale feel. On both guitars the dead giveaway that there are different scales at work are whole step bends.

[NickCormier]

Would 26.5 give me the extra length needed to properly clarify the low B string, along with keeping a similar feel of 25.5?

And as a whole, is 26.5 a well-balanced scale length? Its obviously not too common, which makes me curious as to why it isnt as common as 25.5 or 27

[eelblack2]

I would say that 26.5 is long enough to give you enchanced tightness on the B string without altering the overall feel of the guitar dramatically. 27" is gonna feel like a different instrument all together. In my mind and hands that extra .5 inch (26.5 vs 27) just alters the feel. Dont get me wrong, I love my 1077XL and will be keeping it indefinitely, but I would not want 27 as my everyday practice guitar.

[Drew]

26.5" isn't THAT different from 25.5" and it's not like I can't pull anything off on the longer scale that I can on the shorter, but you DO feel it. Your hand gets acclaimated quickly enough, but I wouldn't recommend buying one without trying it first.

[MF_Kitten]

i´d say for an A on a 25,5 scale, try a .60 string... if it still doesen´t work, then longer scales would be a plus indeed... i´ve always wanted a longer scale guitar or two... it´s just right for me... except i don´t have any, and can´t ever afford any either :P

[NickCormier]

I will try 26.5" cause my friends loomis can be used as a model for my routes (in terms of pickup location, etc) and I dont think I wanna make the jump to 27", as the last time I played one many moons ago, it was kinda discomforting.. but that low B is too floppy as 25.5 so I need to go up some at least.

[NickCormier]

Surprisingly there isnt many discussions on 26.5 scale lengths, tried many searchs on google/ss.org/etc and not much came up, just people saying like "what does a longer scale length mean" but nothing about the effectiveness of 26.5 comparitive to 27"

[Drew]

It's a half inch, dude - it's not going to make a night and day difference. I'm sure if you sat down with a good calculator and a string tension guage thingie you could work out the exact increase in tension going to a longer guage would yield, but you're probably going to see less than a pound difference betwen 26.5" and 27", most likely quite a bit less.

If you want to tighten up your B, well, what string guage do you use?

[NickCormier]

Theres actually another reason I want it longer scale than 25.5, fret spacing is suppose to be larger, so will help for fingering near the high end, and I am going to attempt the staying tuned to A, but capo-ing the 2nd fret to switch into E for certain songs live, rather than switch guitars between songs, so the fretlength of 2 to the bridge on a normal 25.5" scale would be like.. 22.5"?? Something rediculiously small, so 26.5" should give it another inch or so, which will help with that idea (I am not going to go 28.75" scale or whatever is most common for this idea, due to being overkill. I can live with 23.5" scale or whichever it is for afew songs)

I figured someone who has owned close to every 7 string available, You would understand the importance of such details, even if they are so minute, in working out the perfect guitar for your personal needs.. Well 27" isnt exactly a personal favorite to me, esp with switching back to my 25.5" guitars often (acoustic/6 string/backup 7)

Of course, you can use the whole "blahh you should be able to play everything on any guitar, weither it be a Daisy rock or a gibson or a 8string Ibanez" but I am talking about OPTIMAL conditions (which is what you should try to accomplish when making a guitar, isnt it?), not really a necessity.

[eelblack2]

If you try the Loomis at 26.5 scale, you'll find it an easy transition because the frets are enormous and bends are that much easier.

I can feel the difference in my 24.75, 25.0, 25.5, 26.5, and 27.0 scale guitars so I know what you meet about comfort. I actually use graduating stringe gauge sets (bigger size) as I go down in scale to keep the feel a little more consistant.

[Drew]

Originally Posted by NickCormier

Theres actually another reason I want it longer scale than 25.5, fret spacing is suppose to be larger, so will help for fingering near the high end, and I am going to attempt the staying tuned to A, but capo-ing the 2nd fret to switch into E for certain songs live, rather than switch guitars between songs, so the fretlength of 2 to the bridge on a normal 25.5" scale would be like.. 22.5"?? Something rediculiously small, so 26.5" should give it another inch or so, which will help with that idea (I am not going to go 28.75" scale or whatever is most common for this idea, due to being overkill. I can live with 23.5" scale or whichever it is for afew songs)

Why not go the Vai route, then, and do a 27-fret neck, with the distance from the 2nd fret to the bridge at 25.5" and the first two frets spaced out proportionately?

Either way, have you tried this yet on an existing gutiar? I always get thrown when I try to play scale patterns anywhere but open-position on a guitar with a capo, because the orientation of strings to fret-markets to pitches and everything is all off. I'd be very hesitant to invest in a custom guitar designed like this until you know you're comfortable playing like this - honestly, a custom "main" guitar and a beater backup for your alternate tunings strikes me as a much better answer.

[NickCormier]

im taking off the 9th, 12th and 15th fretmarkers for that exact reason, along with making the inlay fitting for it. So it shouldnt be too confusing, and if it is, I can just use it as a normal guitar and the inlays wont be too different

Anyways, I'll work something out. Unfortunately tho, Neck builders are pretty stacked at this time so it might take awhile to get the neck made. But 26.5" scale is what im going for.

[Roland]

"25.5 can handle a low A easily. It depends on your pickattack, but anything from .060 to .068 works. I've used a .068 for the low A for a bit now, but it got muddy rather quick once the initial brightness of the string wore off - I've ordered a shipment of .064's now, I'll report back on that one somewhere.

As far as scales go - the "26.5 is noticably longer than the "25.5; in feel however, NOT in strain. Though that might be my stretching hands, I haven't got big hands, but even "28-scales are easy to play for me with four notes per string and four-fret chords.

[Drew]

Roland - where you been, dude? I haven't seen you over at sevenstring.org in forever.