There seems to be little discussion or mention about the scale of necks on pedal steels. I find this somewhat perplexing. In the six-string world, the scale of the neck is considered as one of the determining factors in overall playability and tone of a guitar. Gibsons and Fenders represent the two sides of the scales in the six-string world, with Gibsons having the shorter 24.25" scale necks, and Fenders having the 25.5" scale necks. Although just one of the many differences between the two guitars, there is a strong school of thought that the longer scale of Fenders contributes to their overall clarity and note separation, and the shorter scale of Gibsons to their overall darkness and amalgamation of notes.

Because they're hardly discussed, I don't even know the scale lengths of any of the necks on pedal steels out there. If I had to take a guess, based on tonal qualities, I would put Sho~Bud on the short-scale end and Emmons on the long-scale end, but I could be way off. The point is, this is so infrequently discussed, I wonder if pedal steelers and pedal steel manufacturers consider scale when considering the desired tone of their instruments.

There is also the general rule of thumb that whatever string gauge you play on a Fender, you should play one string gauge higher on a Gibson to match tension. Those of you who have experience with six-strings know that a 10-gauge string is much easier to bend on a Gibson guitar than it is on a Fender, and that an 11-gauge on the Gibson gives the equivalent of the 10-gauge on the Fender.

Does this rule not also apply to pedal steels? The same gauges of strings are sold regardless of the scale of your particular pedal steel. But by the previous rationale, what's easy to pull to pitch on a shorter-scale pedal steel may not be so easy to pull to pitch on a longer-scale pedal steel, and in fact may put an unhealthy strain on the string and risk breakage.

Again, I see nothing of the sort mentioned on the Forum or at the steel shows I've been to, so I wonder if, for some reason, this is just a non-issue for pedal steel. I'm curious for some feedback, and some ideas to set me straight or otherwise enlighten me.

Chris

Edit: Speeling erars.

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"It's gettin' hard to find a place to play my guitar,
And they're tryin' to put an end to guys like me"

The Georgia Steel Guitar Association: we steel got them Georgia Peaches

[This message was edited by Chris Lasher on 04 April 2005 at 07:40 PM.]

The ability to increase the scale length without string breakage is one of the main points behind Sierra's keyless design. Since the overall string length (which includes that length of string behind the nut going to the keys) is reduced in keyless, it's possible to make the scale-length longer without increasing string tension. Ed's Beast is a 30" keyless design with an integrated changer/tuner.

Dan, I don't think Gibson ever considered the Les Paul to be a student/kid guitar, certainly not the original Goldtop or Custom. Their first production-model electric guitar, the ES-150, had a 24-3/4 scale length also. The larger-bodied archtops (17" bouts and larger) had 25-1/2" scale lengths, which makes sense, they were larger to project more acoustic volume. That isn't necessary with a guitar designed primarily as an electrified archtop. Further, Duchossoir's book shows no solid or semi-solid Gibsons with a scale length larger than 24-3/4", at least back in the 50s and 60s. And how about the Byrdland, ES350T, and Tal Farlow models? Certainly professional models, but with a 23-1/2" scale. No doubt many 'pros' were looking for shorter scale lengths for playability reasons (e.g., all those crazy jazz chord stretches).

Everything I've read or heard on the subject of Fender indicates Leo was looking for a cleaner, more brilliant sound (he started out making steels). It's no surprise he went with a longer scale length. I don't think there's any question that scale length influences guitar sound a lot. All the humbuckers in the world won't make a Tele or Strat sound exactly like a Les Paul and vice versa for single coils on a Paul. One isn't 'better' than the other, just different - I'm sure some will disagree with me on that.

I'm honestly amazed more experimentation hasn't been done on steels. I own 2 Sierras, but they're 24" keyed guitars. I'm going to have to trade my S10 in on a 25" scale keyless one of these days.