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Topic: 25" or 26" scale length? |
Brian Evans
From:
Nova Scotia, Canada
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Posted 15 May 2023 4:57 am |
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I'm actually cutting wood this morning for a lap steel, it's only been a couple of years since I dreamed this up. Live edge curly spalted maple... Anyway I digress.
I play two lap steels - a 23" scale National Dynamic and a 25" scale Dobro. I find the 23" scale to be a bit fiddly, I need to be more precise (and I'm not precise at all), and I find the 25" scale length to be comfy and a bit warmer. I was browsing through the back pages of the forum and found a reference to the quite early Fenders with 26" scale length. I play mostly slack tunings, EGDGBD low to high, or Dmaj7 lately. I wondered if anyone had any thoughts about the pro's and cons of going to the 26" scale length might be? |
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Allan Revich
From:
Victoria, BC
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Posted 15 May 2023 7:56 am Re: 25
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| Brian Evans wrote: |
I'm actually cutting wood this morning for a lap steel, it's only been a couple of years since I dreamed this up. Live edge curly spalted maple... Anyway I digress.
I play two lap steels - a 23" scale National Dynamic and a 25" scale Dobro. I find the 23" scale to be a bit fiddly, I need to be more precise (and I'm not precise at all), and I find the 25" scale length to be comfy and a bit warmer. I was browsing through the back pages of the forum and found a reference to the quite early Fenders with 26" scale length. I play mostly slack tunings, EGDGBD low to high, or Dmaj7 lately. I wondered if anyone had any thoughts about the pro's and cons of going to the 26" scale length might be? |
Longer scale lengths lend themselves to lower tunings. I’m not sure how noticeable the difference will be between 25” and 26” but both of your preferred tunings are low bass tunings that should work very well on the longer scale lengths.
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Current Tunings:
6 String | G – G B D G B D
7 String | G6 – e G B D G B D (re-entrant)
https://papadafoe.com/lap-steel-tuning-database
Last edited by Allan Revich on 15 May 2023 8:57 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Lee Gauthier
From:
Göteborg, Sweden
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Posted 15 May 2023 2:33 pm
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I play a 25.5" scale in a D tuning mainly. One disadvantage is that if you don't adjust the string gauge the string tension can get too tight to play comfortably. Also probably subjectively I think when the tension is too tight your tone and expression suffers. A lighter tension feels more lose and slide-y to me for lack of a better description.
I just used the string joy tension calculator and built a set for my tuning that was around 30-32lbs of tension on each string and that is feeling good to me. |
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Brian Evans
From:
Nova Scotia, Canada
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Posted 16 May 2023 2:58 am
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| I normally go a little less tension than that, just under 30 lbs is a target. But I also don't really fuss about it. I think I'm going to go with my original idea of matching the Dobro at 25". Thanks for the input! |
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