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CS-336 scale lenght?


shortscaleguy

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Hi all,

 

Since I have small hands, the first thing I look for in a guitar is the scale lenght. I have not yet had the opportunity to try a CS-336, and I'm VERY attracted to it, indeed. I checked the Gibson Custom website and it said that it has a comfortable scale length of "34_- inches". Now, I've interpreted that as "24 (24 inches) scale lenght... although justabout every other source I've investigated says that the CS-336 has a "24, 3/4 scale length. My question is: What is the real scale length of the CS-336?

 

My second question is: Would the custom shop build a CS-336 with a "23, 1/2 scale lenght on request? And how much would that add to the cost? Although, if the actual scale lenght of this guitar is "24, with 22 frets, I suppose that would be short enough (or at least, a good compromise).

 

You see, the guitar of my dreams is a Gibson Byrdland (which is, understandably, EXPENSIVE!!). 5 months ago, I ordered, from my local music dealer, the Epiphone Elitist Byrdland... and just the other day I got a call from the shop telling me that Epiphone had replied that they are not building that model anymore.

 

It would be lovely if Gibson re-introduced a less expensive model, like the ES-350 T, for instance, which was discontinued in 1981 and had a "23, 1/2 scale length and 22 frets like the Byrdland.

 

Thank you for any replies.

 

Rock on & Jazz on!!

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I don't actually know, so I let that one alone. But my advice would be to check in with a relatively high-volume Custom Shop dealer about the possibility -- as far as I know, the only way they'd consider it or you could get a price/time estimate would be through a dealer request. But I'm not optimistic for you, since as far as I know such a thing would be a completely hand-made one-off. Wouldn't it require custom fretboards, inlays, nut, a shorter truss rod... and more? Even though they're now sanded and finished by hand, I'm pretty sure much of the rough shaping gets done on CNC machines, with frets finished on a computerized PLEK... not so sure they'd be willing to tackle such a project... at any price. It would be a challenge for almost any custom builder too.

 

I do know that I have fairly small hands and a shorter third finger reach than most people (not to mention a thirty year-old left wrist injury that has permanently limited some of my rotation/curl over for barre chords motion). I find the small body of the 336/356/339/359 to be a good fit for me overall, and I've gotten on very well with the "60s Slim Taper" neck on my 356. Much more so than many beefier necks I've tried -- the "smaller shoulders" help me a lot. It provides easier, more natural lead fingering for me than, say, my Baby Taylor which has a 22.75" scale length. That very short scale seems too cramped for lead runs, but I do like to bang out chords on the little feller. It's definitely more effort for me on my full-sized acoustics (or my Fullerton products)... but I can make them work.

 

Good luck!

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You might also want to try and track down a vintage ES-140 or an ES-140T. The "T" version is a "thinline" body style, but the 140 has the "full" depth that might make it closer to the Byrdland of your dreams. They're hard to find, and not exactly inexpensive but it might be perfect for you. The ones I've seen are relatively cheap for a mid-century Gibson (compared to the comparable full-sized models) since few folks are looking for the short-scale.

 

Here's a beauty from 1955 that would set you back less than a custom-necked 336 I bet.

http://www.archtop.com/ac_55ES_140.html

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  • 2 weeks later...

If you want to know how much a commisioned guitar will cost from Gibson, email them or phone them, they are the only people who can give you a definate answer to your question. Alternatively find a local luthier and ask him if he can make you a replica. It can be fitted with Gibson hardware and pickups. I should also say that the Gibson Les Paul the same approximate dimensions as the 336 and 339 both of which look like a 335 only smaller. You might also consider a Partick Eggle Berlin or similar model because they are also quite small guitars. :-

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you, Clayville and Davie.

By the way, the ES-140 is a really sweet little guitar!

You're right, Clayville, the Byrdland is the guitar of my dreams... (sound-wise too!), basically it's a thinline/shortscale L5 (the most beautiful guitar in the world, in my book). Well, I've started saving money for a Byrdland and let's see what happens in the meantime... if the custom shop starts taking individual orders again (which admin said in another thread they will be soon ready to do that), I might also check if they would build me an ES-350 T (I really like the simplicity of it and the 175-style fingerboard inlays, the venetian cutaway etc.)

Cheers.

SSG

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