ShortScale.org

Hello all,

I'm 64 and have not played electric in many many years. I sold my acoustic and almost quit playing all together until I searched for short scale electrics. I didn't realize so many had medical issues (hands for me) that would benefit from short scale (24"), and some just like them because. So far I bought a BlackStar ID60 w/foot switch and have ordered a Durango Guitar works HH in red. My main question is:
I play classic rock and blues, will the tone/volume allow me to get a strat sound on occasion or must I coil split the humbuckers? I'm trying to get by on the cheap here so even though a 2nd guitar would be best, I'm looking for suggestions.

Thanks

Welcome to the board, mister!

Typically the volume and tone controls on a guitar will actually reduce top end and clarity when dialled down, making the guitar even further removed from the brighter top-end of a single coil, so it looks like you might wanna consider a coil-splittable pickup, or even something superfunky like the Seymour Duncan P-Rails:

I was afraid of that. I'll look into the SD's.

Has anyone tried splitting other humbuckers with good results? The tech at Lace sensor suggested their Hemi's for a vintage sound and when split very close to a strat sound.

Rather than spending time and money on a new set of pickups, have you thought about just getting a cheap Strat? I've been impressed with every Squier Bullet Strat I've played, and they can be had for under £100 all day. Can anybody offer any insight into whether I've just been very lucky or I just have very poor taste?

That is an alternative, but I know nothing about the bullet.

I'll search and see what I can find.

Thanks

Freddy V-C wrote:Rather than spending time and money on a new set of pickups, have you thought about just getting a cheap Strat?

I thought the requirement was for a shortscale, due to the aforementioned hand problems.

There are some very short scale Squier strats.

Also, it is possible to split coils with the tone controls, some guitars have a feature that does it when the tone is on 10, but if the manufacturer doesn't specify this, it probably doesn't have it.

And the humbuckers posted only get a P90 type sound when split, another humbucker would be better to get closer to a strat sound.

I found these from SD:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/a ... _shot_swi/

I'll try these first, if they don't give me what I'm looking for I'll try the P-Rails. The Durango Guitar uses 4 wire humbuckers so the triple shots should work.
These make wiring very simple.

Thanks for the info.

Some humbuckers split really well, some sound better switched to parallel

I would recommend googling the model like this "Seymour Duncan pearly gates split or parallel" and check out forum threads on it

NickS wrote:I thought the requirement was for a shortscale, due to the aforementioned hand problems.

Missed that detail, sorry!

George wrote:Some humbuckers split really well, some sound better switched to parallel

I would recommend googling the model like this "Seymour Duncan pearly gates split or parallel" and check out forum threads on it

I have heard that also, no first hand experience. I will keep searching.

Fakir Mustache wrote:There are some very short scale Squier strats.

The Squier mini? Yes, that's the same 22.75" scale length as the Swinger/Musiclander/Arrow and much more affordable.

I don't know how well a 22.75 scale will work for me. I have a 24" scale ordered, when it get here I'll see how much it helps. I may try and find something similar I can demo first. I really don't like buying without trying.