About a Strat.

[Andre S]

The acoustic guitar I have has a 25.5" scale, and honestly, I think its a real pain to play at times and sometimes I wonder if thats why I don't play much acoustic....because its not fun to wrestle with it to produce clear sounds.

 

But do you think I would have the same problem with a Strat with the scale length as well? Or would it be easier to play because it is an electric?

 

I'm going to try out one if I can find it locally this week, but the one place that I know stocks Highway One Strats keeps them in bad condition and I don't want to sign off strats because one didn't feel right.

[FirstMeasure]

Try a Strat and find out. Your trouble with that acoustic may have nothing to do with scale length.

[The RandyMan]

Just my opinion, but the reason I have the Strats that I have, is because it was so comfortable and easy to play. Maybe I got lucky with the ones that I got, but after playing Gibsons mostly (and always considering those to be easy to play, I sat down at a local store and picked up a Strat for the first time and was so impressed with the feel of the neck and playability of it, I ended up taking it home with me.

[NeoConMan]

Your trouble with that acoustic may have nothing to do with scale length.

I can assure you it does not.

 

Acoustics are usually strung with mich heavier strings - 12 or better.

Strats will be 9 or 10.

 

American/Mexican Strat will have a much better neck than any cheaper acoustics.

 

There's nothing to fear in a Strat, because there's NOTHING that cannot be easily fixed.

The tuning stability may be less than you like if the trem is used much.

 

Go for the American Standard if you can, it's worth the extra money.

Even the American Special and Highway One leave too much out of the equation for my tastes.

 

I challenge any player to pick up some third brand of unknown origin blindfolded and tell me the scale length by feel.

[Andre S]

I can assure you it does not.

 

Acoustics are usually strung with mich heavier strings - 12 or better.

Strats will be 9 or 10.

 

American/Mexican Strat will have a much better neck than any cheaper acoustics.

 

There's nothing to fear in a Strat, because there's NOTHING that cannot be easily fixed.

The tuning stability may be less than you like if the trem is used much.

 

Go for the American Standard if you can, it's worth the extra money.

Even the American Special and Highway One leave too much out of the equation for my tastes.

 

I challenge any player to pick up some third brand of unknown origin blindfolded and tell me the scale length by feel.

 

 

I'm thinking of not using the trem at all because the type of music I play won't need it....but it will be there in case.

 

The acoustic is actually at the same pricepoint as the American Standard Strat. Its an American made Martin OM-1

 

I don't know if its the scale length or the gauge but it hurts to play sometimes.

 

I am not buying the Highway One here....if I do get a strat it will either be the Standard or the AV57 (more than likely the standard though) or something inbetween.

 

for the price that the Highway one is being sold for locally, I could buy two online.

[NeoConMan]

I'm thinking of not using the trem at all because the type of music I play won't need it....but it will be there in case.

I rarely even screw the arm into my Strats.

[milod]

Personally I don't care at all for Strats. I think largely it's because of the fretboard radius.

 

But I had some interesting thoughts after recently getting an Epi Dot which is in ways a "generic" 335. I'd not played a 335 in probably 35 or more years.

 

The thing felt as if it had a narrow nut in comparison to the 175.

 

Nope, sez the Epi chief Jim R.

 

Okay, so why did it "feel" narrower? I did some messing around with the two guitars and concluded that it's largely the body shape. That puts the center of gravity of the guitar, and therefore how I hold it, in a different place and my left arm was reaching a bit more and with a different angle to the nut.

 

The question of "comfort" with a neck is, I think, quite individual. I started on a classical and I think that's kinda the geometry for my body that I still expect for playing, no matter what style. Other folks will have different body shapes and will have started on other instruments that have become somewhat imprinted in muscle memory.

 

EDIT: BTW, I also a couple of weeks ago got some very light acoustic strings for one of my A-E guitars. With a bit of setup it's a lot easier to fingerpick fancies compared to the "strum to to bluegrassy-folkie" stuff.

 

m

[Jantha]

You'll just never know until you try it out. Personally, I find the smaller fretboard radius on Fenders to be more comfortable. For whatever reason, they are just easier for me to play.

 

Everyone is different I guess.

[NeoConMan]

I'm with Jantha on that one.

In the nineties, I found it was easier to learn new songs on my Strat and then play them on the Les Paul if needed.

 

Never could really understand why, sort of an intangible thing like Milod alludes to.

[milod]

I think if you've been playing a while, you get a degree of muscle memory that just makes it more natural to do certain types of playing on certain guitars. That's nothing against any given instrument. Odd thing to me is how I'm not comfortable with an LP, either.

 

m

[Riverside]

I can assure you it does not.

 

American/Mexican Strat will have a much better neck than any cheaper acoustics.

 

There's nothing to fear in a Strat, because there's NOTHING that cannot be easily fixed.

The tuning stability may be less than you like if the trem is used much.

 

Here we go again!

 

I agree wholeheartedly. (If I used smilies, I might put one here.)

 

With the possible exception in that I block the trem on both my strats.

 

Nice guitars, nothing that can't be worked around - and with the right amp setting, lots 'o quack.

 

Nothing wrong with the right MIM strat, either. If you look around, you don't need to pay the extra 3-400 bucks for MIA - although there's plenty of reasons why you should.

[FirstMeasure]

In four hours I'll use my tremolo on about 4 songs, that's enough to have at least one Tremolo equipped guitar on hand.

[Riverside]

In four hours I'll use my tremolo on about 4 songs, that's enough to have at least one Tremolo equipped guitar on hand.

 

That's what the Gretsch is for!

[cookieman15061]

In my case I played a Standard Strat and a Kramer from 87 through 2006 until I bought my first Les Paul and I did find my playing suffered a bit because of thickness of the Paul neck. I realized I couldn't play leads nearly as fast and took me a little while to really get comfortable. Now it's no problem I play both so often.

 

 

My new Ric 12 string poses a new challenge with the 12 strings on a relatively thin neck you have to be pretty darn accurate and at times alter some of the chord finger patterns but it's coming along nicely and the sound is classic and beautiful.

[BigKahune]

.

My Strat is the easiest one to play out of my bunch. The neck and neck edges, fret job, action are soooo nice. And the cuts and bevels of the body are very comfy.

 

 

 

 

My new Ric 12 string poses a new challenge with the 12 strings on a relatively thin neck you have to be pretty darn accurate and at times alter some of the chord finger patterns ...

 

Very true. Glad to hear you're workin' it out. B)

[milod]

Cookieman et al...

 

Just as a suggestion for playing a Rick or other 12... You may wanna look at how Mcguin plays in terms of addressing the neck. There should be a bunch of stuff on him on youtube or whatever.

 

I personally found playing a 12 a bit easier than some folks because I started on a classical neck that's also relatively wide. I made a big error in the 70s swapping an electric 12 when I wanted a "board" 6-string. In retrospect I should have simply locked down half the tuning pegs and played the thing as a 6 'cuz I like a wider fingerboard anyway and otherwise it was a great guitar. Too many swaps in the 60s and 70s and ... too soon oldt, too late schmardt.

 

So... on changing necks I think it's mostly muscle memory...

 

m

[FirstMeasure]

That's what the Gretsch is for!

Oh man, Now I need a Gretsch. Thanks for the GAS.

[Rewddawg]

The 25 1/2" scale pretty much determines how far up the body the bridge is. It gives you more room for palm muting than a 24 3/4 scale guitar does. It was a bigger adjustment for me playing a 25 1/2" scale guitar and going to a 24 3/4" guitar. It felt awkward for awhile not as much room for your hand.