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24 3/4" Scale on a Tele or Strat


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I was reading @DaveH thread on a Jag scale and my wandering mind went to wondering about a Gibson Scale on a Fender. Anybody tried it? I know they make them but do they intonate? 

My hands don't stretch as well as they used to after 65 years of abuse.

Any good,bad,or ugly thoughts or experiences with doing such a thing?

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There was the Fender/Squire Toronado, which had a 24.75 scale but it had two humbuckers and four knobs. Thought it was a cool innovation at the time, and the ones I tried out seemed to be decent.

And BTW, translation of the model name = "Nothing bull"...

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They intonate just fine.  I’ve got a Musikraft Tele conversion neck - currently not on a guitar, but that will change.  I personally don’t mind, nor notice that much of an adjustment between 24”, 24.75”, 25” and 25.5”.  I regularly swap between them, but if you really like Strats and notice a difference, I’d definitely invest in a quality drop-in conversion neck.

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7 minutes ago, cmatthes said:

They intonate just fine.  I’ve got a Musikraft Tele conversion neck - currently not on a guitar, but that will change.  I personally don’t mind, nor notice that much of an adjustment between 24”, 24.75”, 25” and 25.5”.  I regularly swap between them, but if you really like Strats and notice a difference, I’d definitely invest in a quality drop-in conversion neck.

Another cool change that brings is a slight and sweet mid range bump, as well as a bit looser feel of the strings, makes for a fun Fender type. I had a couple of short scale Fenders and liked them. One I liked a LOT, back in the mid '90s I think, (wish I bought it!) was a Bonnie Raitt signature CS Strat that was made short scale. I'd never seen one before, and don't remember seeing another, most are listed at 25.5. 

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If you want to get your shred on with a 24.75 bolt package, candidates include an ESP Maverick and old school Peavey Vandenbergs and Kramer Nightswans. The latter was recently reissued (owned by Gibson now) as an affordable import.

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2 hours ago, Jeff R said:

If you want to get your shred on with a 24.75 bolt package, candidates include an ESP Maverick and old school Peavey Vandenbergs and Kramer Nightswans. The latter was recently reissued (owned by Gibson now) as an affordable import.

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BR pickin' boogers instead of guitar.

...as usual.

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Just now, gtrdaddy said:

Kramer Nightswans.

On a serious note, those were actually pretty cool guitars. They played very well, and Vivian Cambell always had freaking great looking gaudy paint jobs that I for reasons I still don't understand always lusted after. I'd probably buy one today just for nostalgia if I came a cross the right one.

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3 hours ago, cmatthes said:

They intonate just fine.  I’ve got a Musikraft Tele conversion neck - currently not on a guitar, but that will change.  I personally don’t mind, nor notice that much of an adjustment between 24”, 24.75”, 25” and 25.5”.  I regularly swap between them, but if you really like Strats and notice a difference, I’d definitely invest in a quality drop-in conversion neck.

Did you notice any difference in sound? 

I used to think that the scale length contributed to a teles "sparkle/twang etc...".  But lately I'm thinking that most of it is due to the pickups.

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I have several Warmoth conversion necks and they’re awesome. Total drop in replacements.

One is on a Gilmour Black Strat, one is on a Red Gilmour with a DG pup set, and one is on a 69 reissue Teale thinline with Joe Barden Danny Gatton pups. They’re all totally bitchin. 🤘

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1 hour ago, sonic1974 said:

Did you notice any difference in sound? 

I used to think that the scale length contributed to a teles "sparkle/twang etc...".  But lately I'm thinking that most of it is due to the pickups.

There is a difference in sound, shorter scales present a slightly compressed sound with a sweet mid bump compared to 25.5. The longer length is slightly more dynamic with more of a snap, or percussiveness due to the increased mass and higher tension of the longer string.

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37 minutes ago, Dutchman said:

So which works best 21 frets or 22 frets for fit with pickups etc.??

If it's going on a Strat or Tele, 21 frets on your conversion neck unless you want to make some alterations.

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6 hours ago, gtrdaddy said:

There is a difference in sound, shorter scales present a slightly compressed sound with a sweet mid bump compared to 25.5. The longer length is slightly more dynamic with more of a snap, or percussiveness due to the increased mass and higher tension of the longer string.

What do you think about Gretsches? They have chime and shorter scale. I don't know about snap though,  not enough experience with them. 

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1 hour ago, sonic1974 said:

What do you think about Gretsches? They have chime and shorter scale. I don't know about snap though,  not enough experience with them. 

They are way cool, great tone and fun! If you had a Gretsch in both scales with the same hardware and compared the two the differences will be the same. The short scale Gretsch will present with raised mids, a bit compressed compared to the longer scale.

All guitars should have some chime to them! If they don't, well it ain't no guitar you got, it a guiturd.

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28 minutes ago, gtrdaddy said:

They are way cool, great tone and fun! If you had a Gretsch in both scales with the same hardware and compared the two the differences will be the same. The short scale Gretsch will present with raised mids, a bit compressed compared to the longer scale.

All guitars should have some chime to them! If they don't, well it ain't no guitar you got, it a guiturd.

Thanks for the feedback. Yeah,  I agree about chime, nice humbuckers can be chimy, different vibe obviously than single  coils, but nice. My Studio has it. 

Interesting about the compression. I recently got a telecaster after a long time with only gibson scale, and it reacts different for sure. 

It's nice now to have the Studio and the tele, will make a good combo for recording. 😎

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On 3/27/2021 at 2:07 PM, sonic1974 said:

Did you notice any difference in sound? 

I used to think that the scale length contributed to a teles "sparkle/twang etc...".  But lately I'm thinking that most of it is due to the pickups.

 

On 3/27/2021 at 3:10 PM, gtrdaddy said:

There is a difference in sound, shorter scales present a slightly compressed sound with a sweet mid bump compared to 25.5. The longer length is slightly more dynamic with more of a snap, or percussiveness due to the increased mass and higher tension of the longer string.

 

I built a partscaster w/ a Warmoth 24.75" conversion neck many moons ago. HHB came to visit and was playing it thru a cleanish tube amp; I told him about the neck and he said "oh, I was wondering why it doesn't sound right", haha

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Had one on a SuperStrat build before and got a Tele on order as we speak. They work fine, no alterations necessary. I prefer 24.75, what can I say. Musikraft has temporarily stopped making them (and seem to be having production issues and lots of delays) and Warmoth is about 6-8 weeks for orders at the moment.

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2 minutes ago, bruce919 said:

That was the plan when I ordered my Maverick . It get played most every day. 

shishkov_1.jpg

WOW!@

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