# Frets to body & Scale Length

[Huckleberry]

I'm a believe that scale length does have a significant effect on tone. There's a good article by Ralph Novak here http://www.novaxguitars.com/info/technical.html.

Two of the most important statements are:

...the harmonic content of the final tone produced by the instrument begins with the string. Factors such as structure and materials can only act as "filters" to tone; they can't add anything, they only modify input...

and

The tone of an instrument originates with the string, and the primary factor that controls string tone (except for defective strings) is scale length. And since scale length affects tension and structural stresses, it may control other factors of our design, such as dimension and material choices.

While I don't believe it's easily possible to compare two otherwise-identical acoustics with different scale lengths (it's not an option on factory built guitars and there are usually too many other variables between two handbuilts), it is much easier in the electric guitar world. PRS make two otherwise identical versions of their singlecut with 25" and 24.5" scale lengths. You can hear and feel the difference.

[Kent Chasson]

Originally Posted by ncognito1

Jeff, and everyone else--

The 12 fretters I've tried have all been short scale. Do standard (25.5") scale length 12 fretters exist?.....

I've built several. Here's one. http://mandoweb.com/Item.aspx?ItemID=2114

Originally Posted by ncognito1

.... I would speculate that if there is such a thing, it would, because of the greater string tension, be able to handle lower tunings better. If there is such a beast, do you lose that "sweet spot" tone that 12 fretters are known for, with the longer scale?

DAVE

It may be that longer scales handle dropped tunings a bit better, depending on your playing, but it's not a huge difference between 25.4" and 24.9". I recently built a 24" scale that was great in DADGAD with lights! I was surprised by how well it worked. With mediums, it would have been even better.

In my experience, longer scale lengths tend to give me more punch, more and quicker peak, and more fundamental. With shorter scales, the notes seem to peak a bit slower (and give you the impression that the decay is slower). There is more overtone content.

As for generalizations about all guitars, I agree with Huckleberry. I'm not convinced you can go very far with that when talking about scale length or frets to the body. In factory guitars, I bet there's as much variation between any two guitars of the same model as there is between a 14 fret and 12 fret version of the same guitar. Same with scale length.

With hand built guitars, generalizations are even less meaningful. Things like "punch" and "sweetness" can be effected my many other factors.