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One place I notice the effect of 25.5” over and above the other stuff is on my Gretsch 6119. You can hear that “pop” in notes that has an ever-so-slight “Fender edge” to it despite the fact that it has virtually nothing else in common spec-wise with a “traditional” Fender instrument. The 24.6” Gretsches do soften a touch.
Everything matters, and nothing matters...
And even more importantly there are plenty of factors which tend to be associated with the different scale lengths which are actually nothing to do with it but have a huge effect on the tone - eg 25.5" scale is usually combined with a bolt-on maple neck with a straight headstock and an ash or alder body, whereas 24.75" scale is usually combined with mahogany necks and bodies, and an angled head. All this is makes a much bigger difference.
It would be very interesting to build an exact 97% scale replica of a Strat with a 24.75" scale and every other part perfectly in proportion and see how it sounded, but as far as I know no-one ever has. I think building a Strat out of pure 'Gibson' materials with a glued neck has been done. There's a very simple experiment you can do, anyway - tune your Fender-scale guitar down to Eb and capo it at the first fret… instant 24"-scale guitar. See how different it sounds.
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best explained with a different example, the piano. Vertically strung uprights sound very weak on the bass notes. A bit like a wet fart. So overstrung pianos were invented. This allows longer bass strings to go diagonally through the piano giving much better tension and a much stronger tone. Okay, certain other elements had to change to make that work,and they will affect the tone too... but it’s clear the longer string length suits those bass notes better
Scale lengths, string gauge and tuning are all ways you can affect the tension to get the tone, and the playability you want on a guitar
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I prefer short scale, it's what I've mostly played but I've been playing some more fender scale stuff and i do like the tone so now I'm thinking of building a short scale with fender hardware and pickups to see what that's like
I've got a jazzmaster body cut now so maybe i'll try a short scale and strat trem with middle and neck but a different bridge pickup, not sure yet but it wont be traditional
I've also listened to some short scale strat you tube clips and they still sounded pretty much like a strat, definitely something I'll get round to doing just like a fender scale on a dc junior
(formerly customkits)
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https://youtu.be/GahBiXLOuGQ
To be honest below B even 25.5” sounds poor IMO. Mostly because you need a really thick string, thicker they get the less attack they have and less they sound like they’re from the same set as the other strings.
I use a .064 which is right on the edge for me, I think a .060 sounds better but has less ideal tension.
bare in mind i have 2 25-27" fanned frets and they spend most of their time in standard tuning
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