| Author |
Topic: Scale Lengths |
Cartwright Thompson
|
Posted 19 Apr 2005 3:37 am |
|
| I'm working with a luthier friend of mine who's designing a lap steel. I like Stringmasters with the 24.5" scale and Bakelite Ricks with the 22.5" scale. I'm thinking that the one we're designing should have a 23.5 scale. Anybody have any thoughts on this? What is the favorite scale length? |
|
|
 |
Bob Stone
From:
Gainesville, FL, USA
|
Posted 19 Apr 2005 9:36 am
|
|
Hello Cartwright,
If it's really a lap-steel (that is, no legs) I'd tend to favor the 22.5. Of course, the string spacing is important too. For playing with lots of slanted bar work the scale length and string spacing of a Bakelite Ric are hard to beat. |
|
|
|
Chuck Fisher
From:
Santa Cruz, California, USA * R.I.P.
|
Posted 19 Apr 2005 10:25 am
|
|
| If your gonna slant, shorter is better , and wide-spaced. Interesting things happen to the overtones of a given note at a given fret with a given guage string. Its all geeky stuff, that said, I like 22 7/8 or 22 1/2. I get nice low D out of this scale, the shortness doesnt seem to kill the fundamental. |
|
|
|
db
From:
Bethlehem, PA 18015 USA
|
Posted 19 Apr 2005 5:32 pm
|
|
My limited understanding is that . . .
Shorter scale lengths allow for easier "Bar-Slants" & higher "top-string pitches".
Between 22" & 24" are thr STD lengths.
Some "laps" go with less than 20" !
------------------
Dan Balde
U-12/8&5, S-7/D 3&1, S-6/E,A & G3
|
|
|
|
Ricky Davis
From:
Bertram, Texas USA
|
|
|
|
Harry Sheppard
From:
Kalispell, MT USA
|
Posted 19 Apr 2005 6:17 pm
|
|
Hey Cartwright,
I also prefer the 24 1/2" Stringmaster scale over the short scale and of course like the wide string spacing of the Bakelites. I just picked up a very early 7 string National New Yorker which has a 23" scale and I am hooked. It sounds great and plays as easy as any Bakelite, Frypan or Stringmaster I have played. Neck width at the nut is 2 1/4" and string spacing is just over 5/16" between strings (2 1/16" from top to bottom at the nut). Slants are very easy to play but the 23" scale feels better than both the 22 1/2" or 24 1/2" to me. 23 1/2" scale would probably also feel very good with the right string spacing.
Harry |
|
|
|
chas smith R.I.P.
From:
Encino, CA, USA
|
Posted 19 Apr 2005 6:20 pm
|
|
| I've just had a number of sessions where I've used my 12-string lap guitar. But it hasn't been traditional steel guitar music and bar slants weren't an issue. The guitar has a 25 1/2" scale which makes working above the 15th fret much easier (at one point I had to play an F#, on the 1st string, that was about 3/8" in front of the pickup. I needed to go through a tuner to find it). Also the longer scale seemed to make for a fuller tone. |
|
|
|
Mark Vinbury
From:
N. Kingstown, Rhode Island, USA
|
Posted 20 Apr 2005 6:30 am
|
|
For what it's worth-- I chose a scale length of 23" for my Dynalap kits after checking out a lot of threads here.
It seemed that a 24 " or longer scale gave good tone,but, was thought to be prone to string breakage and was tougher to slant.
The shorter 22.5" scale was thought to be less tonefull but better with respect to breakage and slanting.
I noticed a lot of high end steels were using the 22.5" scale,however,they also seemed to be incorperating "exotic" tone woods.I figured this might be to offset any potential tonal loss.
Since I was planning to use regular maple and the owners might use a variety of strings and tunings I decided to go with 23".So far, it seems to have been a good compromise.
I'd be very interested to hear from others on this.
Is optimum scale length dependent on where your interests lie.
Might a 22.5"scale be best for traditional C6th tuning on an 8+ string where you might be working with a lot of slants, etc.playing swing or jazz or harmonized melody lines.
Is a 24" scale better for blues/rock/sacred steel, E or G tuning, etc?
I originaly went with 11/32" string spacing figuring players would want this as it is a standard on modern pedal steels.Wrong!!
I opened it up to 3/8",which seems about right. [This message was edited by Mark Vinbury on 21 April 2005 at 05:55 AM.] |
|
|
|
