22 frets vs 24 frets

Devil#20

I like my PRS guitars (I've got 3) but they are all 22 fretters). If I decided I need a 24 fret then what can I expect? Higher string tension for one and probably a brighter sounding guitar. Is it more a domain for the metal heads. I mostly play rock and blues so not sure I'd ever get that far down the dusty end and you can always bend to those notes I suppose. Who's bought a 24 (not necessarily a PRS and maybe an Ibanez, Jackson or ESP) purely on the basis of requirement. I think early Fenders were only 21 frets. I say only but most acoustics stop at 14 and all the best songs were played on acoustics mostly. Mostly by Neil Young. 
 

dazzajl

24 fret guitars are discombobulating, unnecessary and unsightly. Those last two should be made illegal. 

rolls1392

Have both a 22 and a 24. After several years I still find the 24 a bit awkward

Devil#20

dazzajl said:

24 fret guitars are discombobulating, unnecessary and unsightly. Those last two should be made illegal. 

I'm thinking the same. I think the PRS Mark Holcomb might be 24 frets and 25.5 scale length. I suspect that's only played in dropped tuning for his Djent playing. 

Stratavarious

My long term number one is a 24 fret Patrick Eggle..  gotta love that whole extra range with big bends. Opens up more keys across the whole neck.

Superb fun for soloing on a good night.   Got a couple of Ibanez 24 fretters too.   

Sassafras

I've got my work cut out with just 21 frets.

imalrightjack

Only experience is PRS, Eggle, ESP, etc. Who does 24 frets? Certainly don’t recall a Fender or Gibson. 

You need to try it, if you will ever head that way on the fretboard. If you don’t, think no more. Pointless. 

Philly_Q

Devil#20 said:

I like my PRS guitars (I've got 3) but they are all 22 fretters). If I decided I need a 24 fret then what can I expect? Higher string tension for one and probably a brighter sounding guitar. 

Why higher string tension?  It's the same scale length.

fastonebaz

I found my navigation was discombobulated when I briefly owned a 24 fretter 

xGizmo

Philly_Q said:

Devil#20 said:

I like my PRS guitars (I've got 3) but they are all 22 fretters). If I decided I need a 24 fret then what can I expect? Higher string tension for one and probably a brighter sounding guitar. 

Why higher string tension?  It's the same scale length.

This...and i also never understand the "my neck pickup sounds better on 22" so do you just play open strings and the first 2 frets then ?

Roland

Having built two similar guitars, with very similar wood types and identical pickups and wiring, I can say that I prefer 22 frets over 24. It’s partly that the 24 fret neck sticks out like an SG. Yes, I know I could fix that by changing the body shape. It’s also the pickup separation, which isn’t something that’s fixable. On a 24 fret guitar there’s less space between bridge and fretboard.

BlueStrat

I have both 24 and 22 fret PRS; it’s all a personal thing but I like the slightly smaller feel to the 22 fret, the 24 is a tiny stretch more. It’s really a small thing and barely noticeable but I noticed it. 

But then on the 24 it puts the 12 fret perfectly placed. So I’d like a 22 fret PRS with 24 frets!!!

Why did they cancel the Cu22, that’s such a great guitar

diap

Gizmo said:
This...and i also never understand the "my neck pickup sounds better on 22" so do you just play open strings and the first 2 frets then ?

As @Roland mentioned there is less space between the bridge and the fret-board on a 24 fret guitar, so the neck pick-up is further back. The further forward position available with a 22 fret neck gives a different tone, and more of a difference from the bridge position.

Philly_Q

Yes, I think PRS is a good reference point because you can (or could) get essentially the same guitar in 22 and 24 fret versions.  On the 24-fret version, the bridge is higher up the body, the pickups are closer together and more of the neck "sticks out" so the whole guitar is slightly longer.

I've never owned a Cu24 but I've owned (and still own) 22 and 24 fret Miras.  I prefer the 22, which is an S2 model.  I think it looks better with the bridge lower down the body, and I prefer having the pickups further apart.  I've always thought the original core Mira should've had a 22 fret option.

DiscoStu

It makes no difference how many frets you have if the scale length is the same, the nut isn't any further away from the bridge. The fretboard does obviously come further in to the body though.

One difference between the two which is often overlooked is that there is a harmonic located at the 24 fret position, and with 22 fret guitars the neck pickup probably sits under this harmonic and with a 24 fret it doesn't. The argument is that the neck pickup on a 22 fret sounds sweeter due to the harmonic and also slightly bassier due to being further away from the bridge.

DiscoStu

Philly_Q said:

Yes, I think PRS is a good reference point because you can (or could) get essentially the same guitar in 22 and 24 fret versions.  On the 24-fret version, the bridge is higher up the body, the pickups are closer together and more of the neck "sticks out" so the whole guitar is slightly longer.

I've never owned a Cu24 but I've owned (and still own) 22 and 24 fret Miras.  I prefer the 22, which is an S2 model.  I think it looks better with the bridge lower down the body, and I prefer having the pickups further apart.  I've always thought the original core Mira should've had a 22 fret option.

Ok I'll give you that the bridge position changes on those and one gives you a longer overall guitar, so the way it hangs on the strap might make the 24 feel like a stretch for some folk. Scale length is still the same though.

Bigsby

DiscoStu said:

It makes no difference how many frets you have if the scale length is the same, the nut isn't any further away from the bridge. The fretboard does obviously come further in to the body though.

One difference between the two which is often overlooked is that there is a harmonic located at the 24 fret position, and with 22 fret guitars the neck pickup probably sits under this harmonic and with a 24 fret it doesn't. The argument is that the neck pickup on a 22 fret sounds sweeter due to the harmonic and also slightly bassier due to being further away from the bridge.

I've never understood this argument - surely the location of the 24th fret harmonic relative to the neck pickup is only relevant when playing open strings? 

Bigsby

imalrightjack said:

Only experience is PRS, Eggle, ESP, etc. Who does 24 frets? Certainly don’t recall a Fender or Gibson. 

You need to try it, if you will ever head that way on the fretboard. If you don’t, think no more. Pointless. 

Gibson have used 24 frets on a few SG models over the years, instead of the plastic tenon cover that otherwise sits between the neck and neck pickup. Frankly, I'd rather have two more frets than a bit of plastic, and I also think SGs look better with the longer fretboard. Doesn't matter if you don't use them, you don't 'use' the bit of plastic either! But I guess it's not 'historic' enough for many Gibson customers.

FWIW, my Guild from '78 came with 24 frets.

axisus

I find 24 frets confusing. It's unnatural to go up the dusty end and find extra metal. A proliferation of wrong notage thus abounds.

22 or 21 for me. Ideally 22.

DiscoStu

Bigsby said:

DiscoStu said:

It makes no difference how many frets you have if the scale length is the same, the nut isn't any further away from the bridge. The fretboard does obviously come further in to the body though.

One difference between the two which is often overlooked is that there is a harmonic located at the 24 fret position, and with 22 fret guitars the neck pickup probably sits under this harmonic and with a 24 fret it doesn't. The argument is that the neck pickup on a 22 fret sounds sweeter due to the harmonic and also slightly bassier due to being further away from the bridge.

I've never understood this argument - surely the location of the 24th fret harmonic relative to the neck pickup is only relevant when playing open strings? 

Tbh, I don't pay much attention to the 'rights' and 'wrongs' of guitar arguments, if it looks nice and it plays nice then I like it and I have bought many guitars without even finding out what the scale length is or what the neck profile/board radius is!
The harmonic node at the 24th only works for open strings. Fret the string and the node moves. I just remember when I started building guitars that several sources mentioned the pickup position being better under the 24th harmonic so I've kinda always had that in the back of my mind.

I have 21, 22, and 24 fret guitars of different scales lengths and I can play them all no problem. None of them feel a stretch to me.

jca74

21 is plenty...

More frets = closer pickups = less tonal variation between pickups...

But I play bluesy stuff and spend most of my life using the neck pickup which is pushed closer towards the bridge when you have more frets.