The Steel Guitar Forum

Your choice? Which would it be and your (short answer) reason for it.
Thanks in advance. I like short scale myself.

Most of my favorite-sounding steels are in the 22-23" area, but longer scales make it easier to get the intonation sounding right. I also find it easier to slant on longer scales because I'm less likely to overshoot.

I definitely prefer short scale as the ease of slants on lower frets is appreciable.
It can be the difference between being able to play and not being able to play a chord cleanly.
For that reason, I also prefer 24" and 24.75" scale on armpit guitars.

Supposedly 24.5" and 26" scales have better harmonics, sustain, and bass string capabilities.
That may be true, but I don't notice a difference large enough to change over.
And its hard to ascribe differences in sound to the scale length vs. different pickups, woods, etc...

Finally, my favorite instruments, 7/8 string Rickenbackers and Fender trapezoid models are almost exclusively short scale.

I have never played greater than 24.5" scale. I have always been curious about the long scale 26" MK1 Stringmasters.

I used to play short scale, but really fell in love with long scale guitars.

My guitars are around 24.5". I think they sound a lot more in tune especially when performing live.

I do have a short scale Rickenbacker DW-16 that I can't seem to let go of. It sounds so good, I make an exception. I do think it would sound better if it was a longer scale though

I have 24" Stringmaster and several 22 1/2" Supros. I play them both, but for me, the shorter scale is more comfortable, especially for slanting.

Hey, thank you for your replies gentleman. I surely appreciate the great comments.

D Schubert wrote:I have 24" Stringmaster and several 22 1/2" Supros. I play them both, but for me, the shorter scale is more comfortable, especially for slanting.

Actually, the medium scale Stringmaster is 24.5"

Here's how I group scale length:

Super Short Scale: 21.0" - Rogue, etc

Short Scale: 22.5 & 23.0 - Lots, Rickenbacker, Recording King, Stringmaster, etc.

Medium scale: 24.5" - Stringmaster etc.

Long scale: 26" & longer: Stringmaster MK1 etc.

PSG Scale: 24.0"

Spanish Guitar 24.75" & 25.5"

I prefer 24.5 medium scale and I like the 26" long scale for lower tones with fatter strings. I am building a 26" six string baritone. I need to spend more time with my short scale steel guitars.

I partly accidentally standardized on "medium" scale (sometimes called long scale) of about 24.5". My stringmaster, magnatone, SX, and Clinesmith all in that ballpark. A nice thing about it is that my acoustics (dobro and tricone) also match that scale. So its a nice standard for me. I don't think I would mind the semi-short scale (22.5, 23")...the difference is pretty small, but standardizing across my instruments at least means they will all feel similar in terms of scale (although with string spacing variances, slant angles will vary slightly). I do know that I mind the 20" scale of my first guitar, a Morrell. At least, it never sounded very good and I attributed at least some of that to its extremely short scale.

My 3 steels are in the 22.5 - 23” range, and they work for me. I haven’t played a longer scale steel, but my reso is 25”. They all work about the same for me. I’m more conscious of string spacing, so I have them all the same.

Realistically, none of this helps my playing.

My 22.5” scale Stringmaster sounds better than the 24.5” Stringmaster I used to play. The sound is much richer.