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Post subject: Guitar size
Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 1:22 pm
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A thought:

There are small people and there are big people. Big people buy big shoes and big suits and small people buy... you get it.
The Stratocaster and other guitars only come in one size, though. Just because it has always been that way. The guitar business is an extremely conservative business (just look at us - discussing a construction from the 50s that still is state of the art.)

Now, wouldn't it be nice if the Strat came in different sizes? A little smaller for women and not so big men, a medium for those medium mn and big women - an one Godzilla for for the really big guitarists.

I'm not a very big guy - 172 cm (feet, inch - no idea) - and the Strat makes me look even smaller. But lots of people are smaller than me. Especially girls.
Is it even possible for a small girl to take a clean F chord? (There is actually a guitar brand specialized in guitars for girls - www.daisyrock.com - but I think girls too deserve a Strat instead of pink candy and hearts (come on - grown up rocking girls don't play with Barbie...))

On the other hand, a Strat on a huge guitarist looks silly IMO. Like a toy.

I imagine three sizes - small: 3 inch shorter - medium - big: 3 inch longer.

But the scale length? On the small guitar the bridge would have to be slightly relocated towards the strap button. Or just accept a shorter scale and recommend F# tuning or heavier string gauge. The big guitar would have to be tuned in D, I think.

Is this a good idea or am I out bicycling (Swedish expression ;-) )




PS You don't see many small girls playing the bass, do you? And if they do, I don't think the like songs in the key of F...


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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 2:05 pm
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Tal Wilkenfeld
Jeff Becks bass player at crossroads http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... oads&vt=lf

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... oads&vt=lf


Strat player Ana Popovic covering Hendrix http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... A+POPOVIC+


no troubles there!


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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 2:44 pm
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I'm a regular sized guy but I have pretty small hands for guitar playing. So you'd think I'd be more comfortable on a Les Paul with a 24.75 inch scale length. And yet my fingers are happiest on a Strat neck: go figure.

Still, it is perfectly possible to make a 25" scale neck to fit a normal Strat body and bridge placement: with 21 frets the end of the fingerboard just overhangs the pickguard a little, like a 25.5" 22 fret neck. So you could feasably have different scale lengths without having to change everything else about the guitar. But I've not noticed people asking for it. Us short fingered types just accept we have to stretch a little more.

There's a much bigger variation in the size of bass guitars, though, isn't there? Still, young Ms Wilkenfeld seemed to be doing fine on a JB. (Anyone know who's on drums on that Crossroads vid? Was it Vinnie?)

Cheers - C


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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 2:49 pm
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I don't know but that young girl on bass with Beck blew me away!! 8)


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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 3:09 pm
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I think trying to make too many different sizes would just drive the price up and cause delays in getting a Fender guitar.

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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 3:44 pm
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Aren't there some Japanese small scale strat?

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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:03 pm
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there is the mini strat
I think there would be just too much overhead for Fender to do something like different scale models, Warmoth already makes different scale necks anyway


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Posted: Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:36 pm
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Perhaps you could look into a short-scale guitar like the Fender Jaguar. If you want to go really small, there's the Squier Strat Mini.


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Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:17 pm
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Ceri:
Quote:
I'm a regular sized guy but I have pretty small hands for guitar playing. So you'd think I'd be more comfortable on a Les Paul with a 24.75 inch scale length. And yet my fingers are happiest on a Strat neck: go figure.


Small people have short arms. That's the main problem.

CAFeathers:
Quote:
I think trying to make too many different sizes would just drive the price up and cause delays in getting a Fender guitar.


Well, I was suggesting three sizes, not tailor made. A company that tosses out more than 50 varietys of guitars could easily manage that, don't you think?



But alright, I clearly see that you good people on the forum don't see the need for a smaller (not only the scale length, I mean smaller body, smaller neck width etc. A smaller Stratocaster for smaller people.)

Thank you for your opinions.

Erik

PS Russianracehorse: The problem is not mine. My thoughts went to teenage rocker girls who want to play the Strat but finding the guitar too big and heavy for them. That I should get myself a Squier Strat Mini was an amusing thought though :D
//E


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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:08 pm
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swenglish wrote:
Small people have short arms. That's the main problem.


Didn't Randy Newman have something to say about that?

- C


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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:10 pm
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Ceri wrote:
swenglish wrote:
Small people have short arms. That's the main problem.


Didn't Randy Newman have something to say about that?

- C


Saw him on Letterman the other night. He's still got it.

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Is that a mexican poncho
Or is that a sears poncho?
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Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 2:13 pm
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You can get a smaller custom neck and frets or a mini strat.


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