Rista Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 First of all, hi everyone. I'm new here Now, I'm building my first guitar. It's going to be an Explorer with Ken Lawrence style headstock. I wanted to use a "standard" Gibson 24.75" scale but I've read somewhere that the actual scale is 24.625", not 24.75". Can anyone verify this for me? I've done some search but couldn't find a definite answer. Am I correct in saying that a so called compensated 24.75" scale means that the true scale length is 24.625" but the bridge is placed as if it were a 24.75" scale? Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnewman Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 As I recall, Gibson has used two or three different "24 3/4" scales... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 Welcome to the board Rista. Your first post, eh? OK, here is some info for you to find out more about the Gibson scale length anomaly. All I did was hit the search button on the top right corner of the page and typed in "Gibson scale length" and got this INFO. Ya know what? You can do it too! This message board is a great repository of information. Pretty much everything to do with guitar building has been discussed at one time or another. When it has to be discussed again that means there is a lot of duplicate information that isn't necessary. So try doing a search first and read thru previous topics. I'll guarantee you'll find what you are looking for. take care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 (edited) If you purchased a preslotted "Gibson 24.75" scale" fretboard from say Stewmac or LMII, it's actually a compensated 24.625 scale. They say 24.75 because after compensation, the post for the treble side of a TOM bridge ends up about 24.75" from the nut. Gibson did however use a true 24.75" scale at one point. Personally, I like the sound of the longer (true)24.75" scale a bit more(although it could all just be in my head); it's just a tad bit brighter to my ears. peace, russ Edited October 2, 2005 by thegarehanman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rista Posted October 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 Welcome to the board Rista. Your first post, eh? OK, here is some info for you to find out more about the Gibson scale length anomaly. All I did was hit the search button on the top right corner of the page and typed in "Gibson scale length" and got this INFO. Ya know what? You can do it too! This message board is a great repository of information. Pretty much everything to do with guitar building has been discussed at one time or another. When it has to be discussed again that means there is a lot of duplicate information that isn't necessary. So try doing a search first and read thru previous topics. I'll guarantee you'll find what you are looking for. take care. ← Thanks. But like I said, I already did some search and couldn't find a definite answer. Some say the actual Gibson scale is 24 9/16, some 24 9/19" (?) and some say it's 24 5/8". I didn't know there were that many "24.75" scales so I just wanted someone to confirm it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rista Posted October 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 If you purchased a preslotted "Gibson 24.75" scale" fretboard from say Stewmac or LMII, it's actually a compensated 24.635 scale. They say 24.75 because after compensation, the post for the treble side of a TOM bridge ends up about 24.75" from the nut. Gibson did however use a true 24.75" scale at one point. Personally, I like the sound of the longer (true)24.75" scale a bit more(although it could all just be in my head); it's just a tad bit brighter to my ears. peace, russ ← You mean 24.625, not 24.635 right? I didn't buy a preslotted fingerboard. I want to do it myself so I was wondering what scale to use. So, if I were to use the real 24.75" scale, I'd have to "compensate" it by moving the brigde a bit further than 24.75" from the nut, right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegarehanman Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 Sorry, that was a typo. Yes, Gibson's 24.75" compensated scale is a true 24.625" scale. Go to stewmac.com and look in their resources section. They have a scale lenght calculator that will tell you how far away from the nut to mount your TOM posts based on your true scale length. peace, russ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rista Posted October 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 Sorry, that was a typo. Yes, Gibson's 24.75" compensated scale is a true 24.625" scale. Go to stewmac.com and look in their resources section. They have a scale lenght calculator that will tell you how far away from the nut to mount your TOM posts based on your true scale length. peace, russ ← Thanks, that helped a lot. Cheers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 [edit: cross posted] Just put the bridge in the same place that you would if you were doing any old 24.75" scale. The compensation doesn't work if you compensate for it. It's marketed as a 24.75" neck because that's how they want you to treat it. However, the other good thing is that TOM bridges have individually compensatable saddles, too. If you decide to give yourself a touch of 'wiggle room' on the high e just to be sure, you might want to angle the bridge SLLlliiiiiiightly more acutely than the standard diagrams, so that you don't LOSE adjustability on the low E. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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