26 Inch Scale?

[metallicaforlife]

Hi, this is my first post and i was wondering if anybody has built a guitar with a 26" scale for having it tuned to drop C or should I just get higher gauge strings?

Edited April 13, 2009 by metallicaforlife

[WezV]

26" is actually used on a lot of classical guitars. I have a fanned fret electric with 25-26" scales and i think you will like 26" on that low string d for C, but get thicker strings as well - maybe about a .052 for the low string. you can do drop C on gibson scale with a string like that but it will feel so much better and sound a lot clearer on a 26" scale

[DRAKO]

I think the difference between a 25.5” and a 26” would be negligible for drop C. There are plenty of 25.5s out there ready to go that would tune to drop C, arguably, every bit as well as a 26” scale length. I’ve heard a few people talking about that scale length lately, but can’t think of anyone who builds it regularly. However, if you’re gonna get a custom job done anyway, I don’t see a reason not to go with the 26”. I would definitely recommend experimenting with heavier gauge strings before making that investment though. After all, I’ve seen guys tune 25” scale length guitars to drop B, and they seemed to live with it just fine.

[Prostheta]

I find that on a standard set of 10s, 25.5" is okay for Open C if you have a light touch. Any extra scale length helps, although 0.5" might be less noticeable than 26.5" or 27". Personally, a heavy bottom/light top set would appear to be the best of both worlds for low tunings and slightly longer scales to keep decent high register string flexibility and maintaining reasonable mid-range presence which seem to be common issues with shorter scales and lower tunings.

[metallicaforlife]

so 26.5" would be better?

[westhemann]

I have a 26" scale F copy I built...never finished it yet though...so can't tell you about that...but I built it to tune to C standard with 10s...so If that is any consolation...I assumed the same thing you do...

I had a 27" tuned to B with 10s though...so i don't see why not.

[metallicaforlife]

what does 10s mean?

[Mitch]

what does 10s mean?

A set of strings where the high e string is 10 thousandths of an inch thick.

[Prostheta]

What Mitch said. A D'Addario "10s" regular light set is (.010 .013 .017 .026 .036 .046), a "9s" super light set is (.009 .011 .016 .024 .032 .042). WezV was recommending a bottom string gauge in line with D'Addarios "medium" set which is (.011 .014 .018 .028 .038 .049) whereas a heavy bottom and light top in that regard is (.009 .013 .021 .029 .036 .046) to maintain flex in the higher strings for bending, and tension in the lower strings to maintain tone and lose the string "flab".

[metallicaforlife]

thank you to all!