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Newbie Question..... Will a 23 inch scale work for slide on a 3-stringer?

Posted by molinee on May 12, 2011 at 12:36am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

I am building my first cigar box and it looks like a 23 inch scale will fit really nice as far as the bridge placement goes.... I would like to do slide work on this guitar as well.  My question is will this 23" scale work or will it cause me string problems?  I probably can squeeze out a 24 inch scale on it if I have to.  Secondly, what is the most used scale length?

-What a great forum we have here and thanks for any thoughts on this basic question.

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Replies

  • Keni Lee Burgess May 12, 2011 at 3:50pm
    Low to high. Use the A (.045) D (.035) G (.026) strings from the pack. Then tune G D G. Now that you know the gauges, you could also just buy individual strings at a local music store too. Enjoy, Keni Lee  

    Dave Onastik said:

    Thanks for responding Keni.  Do you use the .056 for the low G, the .013 for the high g, and something from the middle of the pack (.022, .032) for the D?



    Keni Lee Burgess said:

    I use medium gauge (.013 - .056), but of course it depends on your tuning too. For GDg it works well. Enjoy, Keni Lee 

    Dave Onastik said:
    Just curious, what gauge strings do you use for a 22 inch scale?
  • Dave Onastik May 12, 2011 at 3:16pm

    Thanks for responding Keni.  Do you use the .056 for the low G, the .013 for the high g, and something from the middle of the pack (.022, .032) for the D?



    Keni Lee Burgess said:

    I use medium gauge (.013 - .056), but of course it depends on your tuning too. For GDg it works well. Enjoy, Keni Lee 

    Dave Onastik said:
    Just curious, what gauge strings do you use for a 22 inch scale?
  • Keni Lee Burgess May 12, 2011 at 1:14pm

    The possibilities are endless.

    EAD tune DAD

    ADg tune GDg

    Dgb tune Df#a

    gbe tune gbd

    How do want to tune is the question? Enjoy, Keni Lee 

    Mungo Park said:

    If you are building a 3 or 4 stinger you can still go down one string from a 6 string pack.

                Cheers Ron.

  • Keni Lee Burgess May 12, 2011 at 1:08pm
    I use medium gauge (.013 - .056), but of course it depends on your tuning too. For GDg it works well. Enjoy, Keni Lee 

    Dave Onastik said:
    Just curious, what gauge strings do you use for a 22 inch scale?
  • Don Thompson May 12, 2011 at 12:08pm

    http://www.cigarboxnation.com/forum/topics/lap-steel-scale-length

    same principle.

  • Mungo Park May 12, 2011 at 11:12am

    If you are building a 3 or 4 stinger you can still go down one string from a 6 string pack.

                Cheers Ron.

  • molinee May 12, 2011 at 9:24am
    A big thank you guys for all the great info.  I will continue on with a 23 inch scale and see where that takes me.  I will either end up with a real home-made CBG or some real nice firewood for this upcoming winter....
  • Keni Lee Burgess May 12, 2011 at 8:00am


    Yes, this is a very good point too. On standard 6 string guitars, I prefer a 1 7/8" nut. This is an older style wider than the more common 1 3/4" nut. String spacing in another consideration. As a finger picker, the wider nut / string spacing offers room for me to fit the fingerpicks in between the strings easier. I often find for my style, the thinner nuts / string spacing is problematic. I can't comment on what flatpickers might prefer. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy.

      
    Don Goguen said:

    I know it is a personal choice and different players will be more comfortable with what they are used to.  That said, I also have fairly large hands and have also settled on 22" as what is the most comfortable for me. The last instruments I've built for myself have been 22".

    I discovered this because I had been playing around with a short scale 4 string banjo and was amazed at how much I liked the combination of short scale and narrow neck.  This was surprising to me as I typically like my fat neck classical and hollow body jazz guitars.

    For me I think it is about width/length ratio and find it more comfortable when the two are somehow proportional.


    Keni Lee Burgess said:

    An important consideration about scale length is the size of your hands. Shorter scale lengths are better if you have small hands. Additionally, I have found that tunings like GDg, require longer finger stretches between frets to play 2 note doublestops than on a regular guitar in standard tuning. I have large hands, but I now prefer a 22" scale on a CBG. Although, I do have CBGs with standard scale lengths too. It works, but just not as easy. I hope this helps. Enjoy, Keni Lee

    Please watch this video where I mention this point:

    https://www.youtube.com/user/KeniLeeBurgess?feature=mhee#p/c/5E31B57...

  • Dave Onastik May 12, 2011 at 7:50am
    Just curious, what gauge strings do you use for a 22 inch scale?
  • Don Goguen May 12, 2011 at 6:48am

    I know it is a personal choice and different players will be more comfortable with what they are used to.  That said, I also have fairly large hands and have also settled on 22" as what is the most comfortable for me. The last instruments I've built for myself have been 22".

    I discovered this because I had been playing around with a short scale 4 string banjo and was amazed at how much I liked the combination of short scale and narrow neck.  This was surprising to me as I typically like my fat neck classical and hollow body jazz guitars.

    For me I think it is about width/length ratio and find it more comfortable when the two are somehow proportional.


    Keni Lee Burgess said:

    An important consideration about scale length is the size of your hands. Shorter scale lengths are better if you have small hands. Additionally, I have found that tunings like GDg, require longer finger stretches between frets to play 2 note doublestops than on a regular guitar in standard tuning. I have large hands, but I now prefer a 22" scale on a CBG. Although, I do have CBGs with standard scale lengths too. It works, but just not as easy. I hope this helps. Enjoy, Keni Lee

    Please watch this video where I mention this point:

    https://www.youtube.com/user/KeniLeeBurgess?feature=mhee#p/c/5E31B57...

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