I recently was just messing around and decided to play my Gibson Les Paul Studio and ESP Eclipse (I collect guitars). Since i had been playing nothing but 25.5 scale for the last at least a year, i was blown away by how much harder it was to play the damn things. It was really hard to bend and the pull offs suffered a great deal. I can pretty much play the same on my PRS which is 25 scale but the 24.75 takes a lot out of me haha. I am probably just gonna tough it out because nothing sounds like a LP in the neck position. I was just explaining my theory though.
Wait...the 24.75 scale length guitars have more string tension than your 25.5"-ers? That's not the guitar, that's string guage choice I think...I'm very confused.
This is exactly my thought. I usually put heavier gauge strings on my shorter scale guitars so they don't feel too loose, so maybe he hasn't changed out the strings that were on those guitars when he got them if he usually uses teh same gauge for everything.
FWIW I hate the feeling of 9s on a Les Paul, but that's just my preference.
Yeah i just figured out what it was, the action on my lp and eclipse is a good bit higher than my bolt on guitars, which explains the bends and pulloffs, haha i feel like a total moron. My bad! Well anyway lets turn this post around....which scale do you prefer?
I too was recently playing my Les Paul which I hadn't played in a long time. My experience was the opposite. There are things I don't like about the Les Paul, like the sharp, pointy bridge (could get used to it I guess) the finish on the back of the neck is kind of sticky, no locking nut, ergonomically incorrect body, etc. But I found string bending easier. I've always had trouble nailing, for instance, the bends on the low E-string with that pinch harmonic a la Zakk Wylde in Crazy Babies, and while I still couldn't really nail it to my satisfaction on the Les Paul, it certainly seemed a little easier than on my RGs. I found myself wishing I had a 24.75 inch RG, just to see what it'd be like.
I started playing on an SG (and still play one quite frequently), so I find I'm more used to, and comfortable on that scale length. It just feels right.
Shorter scales just feel wrong to me.
I fell in love with a Fender Jaguar and then I picked it up - 24" feels so wrong it's not even funny.
Not to mention that the moron who designed the bridge and thought that it would work - rattled like nothing I've heard in my life.
Sounded more like a banjo/citar amalgamation then a guitar.
The only thing that's stoping me from getting a 61 reissue SG is the scale, I play 10's and will have to go to 11's for a Gibson and 12's if I want to tune to Eb and jam with G'n R.
That's just silly.
Just an FYI, Those bridges were designed to be used with really, really thick strings. Thats the reason for the short scale length too, it was brought out for the jazz crowd.
Did you find that wwhen you play your LP after your strat or Ibanez you rested your plam on just the wrong side of the bridge??
Strage but most strat scale guitars Mojo me into 3 notes per string shapes, whereas LP scale mojos me into 2 notes per string. Shame it is not the other way around - life would be a lot more simple!!
I too was recently playing my Les Paul which I hadn't played in a long time. My experience was the opposite. There are things I don't like about the Les Paul, like the sharp, pointy bridge (could get used to it I guess) the finish on the back of the neck is kind of sticky, no locking nut, ergonomically incorrect body, etc. But I found string bending easier. I've always had trouble nailing, for instance, the bends on the low E-string with that pinch harmonic a la Zakk Wylde in Crazy Babies, and while I still couldn't really nail it to my satisfaction on the Les Paul, it certainly seemed a little easier than on my RGs. I found myself wishing I had a 24.75 inch RG, just to see what it'd be like.
i have a Stewart Oriphonic with a 24" scale length,
an Ibanez Masa sx72 with a 24.75" , and
a Crafter CT-125 with a 25.5" scale length
the Stewart is difficult to bend on because of the close proximity of the frets
the Masa is comfortable, the Crafter bends very easily but the strings are nylon and you can really only bend a 1/2 step. Because the three guitars are so different, i cant talk about string tensions, only the amount of room to work between frets.
Ok own-up time to start with, I'm a bass player, but dabble on guitar occasionally. So no surprise I like the feel of 25.5, however my (current) fav pick-up is a P90, so I've persevered with 24.75 and now get on ok with them (I'm happy chunking out a rhythm, with occasional note runs, so no high end fast finger stuff for me to worry about).
Current fav guitar is an cheep Les Paul Junior copy (double cut single P90, old enough to be Korean made I think), great rock'n'roll sound and feels very nice when I'm playing it.
One of those ironic things, that probably the cheapest guitar I own is my fav - on the surface it looks ok, but take off the pick-guard and it looks like firewood - however I've let my ears and hands decide and I like it
I have guitars in 25, 25.5, 26.5, and 27 inches that play almost everyday since they play like a dream but when it comes to the Les Paul I absolutely hate how small the neck feel.
It maybe because I'm a bassist playing on 34 and 35 inch scale necks.
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