Nothing to worry about. Any good Luthier should be able to make it look
proportionate. The are a lot of smaller scaled Guitars around. One thing I have
noticed on a smaller scale is, I like to use heavier strings to get the same
feel as a longer scale. Maybe it's just me, but light strings just feel too
light on a smaller scaled neck. I have a few Guitars, some with full scale
necks, some with smaller scaled necks. I tend to like the smaller scale better
myself, because of the size of my hands. Those five fret stretches are a lot
easier that way.

Micheal


----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Emilio Fleener
To: guitarluthiersnetwork@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 7:24 AM
Subject: [Guitar Luthiers Network] Short scale length with full size body?


I was going to hire a luthier to build me a couple of customized
acoustic guitars, one nylon and one steel string, and I thought I
should educate myself on the kind of things he/she will be coming
across trying to please me.

The thing about this guitar is that it would have a 22 15/16" scale
length with a full size body... I may be wrong, but I guess it's
kinda like a jumbo guitar that got scaled down 10 or 11%. Hhmmmmmmm,
is that all there is to it? Am I making things more difficult than
they are? Or.................................

Either I loose distance (relatively speaking) between the nut and
neck/body joint... WHICH I'D RATHER NOT!!! or the bridge moves up on
the soundboard... The problem with that is that the bridge won't be
centered on the lower bout anymore, which I guess would affect the
transfer of sound from the bridge throughout the entire soundboard....
Maybe this can be counteracted with a luthier that has an exceptional
understanding of creative fanning techniques. Somehow I doubt that,
seems like wishful thinking to me. So maybe I should just alter the
relationship between the bouts by moving the waist up about an 1" or
something... Then the lower bout would be bigger allowing the bridge
to be centered, but then the upper bout is smaller than it was
before... Hhmmmmmmmmm, that relationship change a lot!!! How's that
gonna sound? Could that still sound as good as a guitar with "normal"
bout relations??? and what's all that do to the soundhole? What do I
do??????

Oh ya, I think I'd like the steel string to have a cutaway.

Thanks for the advice,
Mark





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