Talk to me about cheap short scale guitars

ICBM

TTBZ said:

Sorry for slight hijack but what are 24" guitars like for tuning down to Eb? I imagine floppy without something like 12s?

Yes, Eb on a 24” scale needs two gauges heavier than you would normally use for E on a standard scale, so 12s if you normally use 10s.

A Jaguar needs one more gauge higher again due to the extra string length behind the bridge.

fastonebaz

Jackson minion. 

I have one and they are great

paulnb57

Squier Bullet Mustang...
I bought one and yes, they are cheap. However, give them a bit of love and they are great, dead easy to mod and the basics (neck and body) are good, biggest issue with most out of the box are sharp fret ends/rough frets and a shit bridge, both easy fixes, the tolerances on the bridge height ajustment screws is so bad that the saddles on mine adjusted themselves while playing, so replace the saddles with something better, electrics are typical budget stuff but easy to work on...some people complain aboit the tiners not holding tune, I have never ever had a tuner that doesn't...ever... and I've had loads, so I think its stringing technique....
Only about £115 new delivered...bargain...

Paul7926

carlos said:

Whenever I see Troy Grady shred on his Mustang I get the urge to buy one but their radii are always 9.5" which I can't really handle.

I may have misunderstood but just looking at the web for 'Squier Bullet Mustang' as I was interested in this thread my local shop claims:

"it sports a comfortable C-shaped neck with a modern 12"-radius fingerboard"

I have missed the point.  The actual Mustang is 9.5,  As you were, move along, nothing to see here.....

carlos

fastonebaz said:

Jackson minion. 

I have one and they are great

@DeeTee mentioned that think 24", not 22.5" so the Minion is too short scale for him. I think there's a difference between 24" which is short but for adults and 22.5" which is definitely in the 3/4ths guitar camp.

carlos

Paul7926 said:

I may have misunderstood but just looking at the web for 'Squier Bullet Mustang' as I was interested in this thread my local shop claims:

"it sports a comfortable C-shaped neck with a modern 12"-radius fingerboard"

I have missed the point.  The actual Mustang is 9.5,  As you were, move along, nothing to see here.....

Cheers for looking anyway. 
The Harley Benton Mustang is 14" radius so I might buy one. Replace the nut, locking tuners and string it with .010's and it might be very usable. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_ms_60_vw_ltd_edition.htm

Funkfingers

The Jaguar-style vibrato tailpiece on that H-B has to be better than the traditional Mustang system.

MikeS

I'm a bit of a fan of vintage short scale (sorry for grainy photo). I've tried over the years to gig with them, but they're not practical enough to gig with, without swapping guitars constantly, so they stay indoors, and are more ornaments than anything I guess, but I love them.

Modern versions are a bit more practical, and you dont mind taking them to gigs so much. Speaking of which, I have a lovely Orange Competition Mustang in the sales section currently (shameless plug).

JD50

MikeS said:r

I'm a bit of a fan of vintage short scale (sorry for grainy photo). I've tried over the years to gig with them, but they're not practical enough to gig with, without swapping guitars constantly, so they stay indoors, and are more ornaments than anything I guess, but I love them.

Modern versions are a bit more practical, and you dont mind taking them to gigs so much. Speaking of which, I have a lovely Orange Competition Mustang in the sales section currently (shameless plug).

What do you mean by practical?

JD50

These are my 3 Short scales

https://i.imgur.com/AN1sOwP.jpg

MikeS

JD50 said:

What do you mean by practical?

Well, if you had original, unmodified examples, you'd know exactly what I mean.

grungebob

TTBZ said:

Sorry for slight hijack but what are 24" guitars like for tuning down to Eb? I imagine floppy without something like 12s? Always liked Jaguars and Mustangs (especially the Squier now it comes in decent finishes!) bit not sure if it would work for me!

I’ve owned mustangs and jaguars always tuned Eb with 10’s or 11’s. No issues at all and I strum hard and often the Db got dropped further too. 

JD50

MikeS said:

JD50 said:

What do you mean by practical?

Well, if you had original, unmodified examples, you'd know exactly what I mean.

Nice one

ICBM

I gigged for many years with original unmodified short-scale Fenders and never had any problems with them - that even included a 22.5”-scale ‘65 Musicmaster. I also had a ‘64 Duo-Sonic which the singer in my band used, a ‘66 Mustang and my main guitar was a ‘65 Jaguar... which is the most stable guitar I’ve ever used live.

The Musicmaster was strung with 12s and sounded like a fat, powerful Strat neck pickup - the others with 11s. All totally practical. I regret selling them all now.

The only real flaws from a practical point of view were that the Jag and the Mustang/Duo-Sonic are too easy to accidentally turn off if you knock the switches, but that can be fixed with a couple of bits of tape if you want.

Not quite the same thing I know, but I’m now using an original unmodified (apart from replacement knobs!) ‘72 Mustang Bass. No problems with that at all.

toescantalk

My little Duo Sonic 60s parts build is solid as a rock, even with my soldering. Sounds marvellous too.


 (I've even trimmed the strings now so looks even nicer!).

punchesjudy

toescantalk said:

My little Duo Sonic 60s parts build is solid as a rock, even with my soldering. Sounds marvellous too.


 (I've even trimmed the strings now so looks even nicer!).

That's lovely. 

Stringing though, put the strings in the centre hole of the tuning pegs. Cut the string length three posts longer than the string you're currently stringing. So cut the low E at the G post, A at the B post and so on. 

StanleyAccrington

Durango Guitar Works. All their models have a 24 inch scale length.

https://www.durangoguitarworks.com/index.html

DeeTee

I was going to say "I'm talking cheap though" and then I saw the prices. That's really helpful, thank you! 

JD50

DeeTee said:

I was going to say "I'm talking cheap though" and then I saw the prices. That's really helpful, thank you! 

Squier Bullet cannot be beat for price.

The new reissues Mustang/Duo Sonics are already appearing 2nd hand for cheap.

toescantalk

punchesjudy said:

Stringing though, put the strings in the centre hole of the tuning pegs. Cut the string length three posts longer than the string you're currently stringing. So cut the low E at the G post, A at the B post and so on. 

Thanks for the reminder. Wisdom added as that's a really good way to remember how to string guitar.

Photo taken when it was first put together from old parts got off ebay so strings may have needed neck taking off / very loosened when shimming neck, bridge off and adjusting nut. I think from memory it didn't need that so your advice was still right!