Question about string tension on 7/8ths Tele

martinrking

Newbie
Messages
2
Hi there! I want to build a 7/8ths Tele. I use Ernie Ball Super Slinky's (9-42). On 25.5" scale guitars the low E string is always floppy. Also, I'm just not a fan of having the high E string be the string with the longest run to a tuner. I love my Ernie Ball Music Man Silhouettes for their 4 over 2 headstocks, it's one of a multitude of reasons why I put down my Fender American Strat and bought three EBMM Silhouettes.

Now I want to build a 24.75" scale guitar, and with standard Tele parts I'm certain that my low E will be floppy-as-heck. So here's the idea:

- Reverse headstock
- Tune-o-matic bridge, but no stop-tail piece: instead, string-thru body with staggered or angled holes.

Has anyone tried this before? In particular I'm interested to hear about the string-thru tun-o-matic option. I've seen pictures of builds that do it but I've never tried it myself. Since I'm going down the road of building a custom instrument, the main question with any decision is: "why not go all out?" vs "is this actually a terrible idea?" Thank you for your input and advice!

(By the way, the guitar will have two P90s; the lightest swamp ash 7/8ths Tele body I can get; maple neck with either rosewood or maple fretboard)
 
A set of 009's on a 24,75" scale guitar would feel something similar to 008's on a 25,5" scale guitar. So if you're used to 009's on your 25,5" scale you might want to try 010's instead on the 24,75". Or perhaps .0095's.

Different bridges - with different length of string behind the saddles - won't change the tension of the strings. But when bending the strings it might feel slightly different, depending on how close the string anchor is to the saddle. The same way bending a note on the 12:th fret feels different to bending a note on the second fret.
 
My Strat neck is 25.5" and I like 10's on it. My JM has a 24.75 scale neck and with 11's on it, it feels about the same. Not exactly but close enough for practical purposes.
 
As Logrinn, mentioned the length of string beyond the nut or the bridge makes no difference to tension at a given pitch between the nut and bridge. You might perceive a difference in feel when bending but that is all.

A good solution is 9 - 46 strings. You get the lighter feel like 9s but with the lower pitch strings like a set of 10s. Highly recommended its what I use on my Les Paul.
 
+1
9-46 on my 25 1/2 scales
10-52 on my 24 3/4 scales

I was 10s and 11s but had to drop a gauge.  These do it for me now. 
 
I've been using EB hybrid 9-46 on my 24.75" Strat and Hagstrom H2. When I built my Tele, also 24.75", I wasn't happy with the tension on the low E, so I tried, and liked, ghs THICK CORE BOOMERS 9-48's. Still have the light touch , but a little less wobble on the low end. Lot's of string choices out there, and at less than $10, you can afford to try them until you find one you like.  :icon_thumright:
 
Thank you for the advice, everyone!  :headbang:

I'd totally conflated string tension with "bend feel", in regards to lengthening the string past the nut and the bridge saddle. Thank you for clearing that up! (I guess what I really want is fanned frets/multi-scale necks... c'mon Warmoth! Let me throw money at the problem! You'll make a ton of cash!  :laughing11: )

After trying a lot of different strings, I settled on Ernie Ball Super Slinky's a while back. One day, Sweetwater had 3-packs on sale... I went whole-hog and bought 60 packs of Super Slinkys. They sit in a box in my closet, its easily one of my favourite things in my home  :laughing11:. Anytime I want to change strings I just stick my hand in my bottomless box of strings, and with the locking Schallers on my Ernie Ball Music Man guitars I'm restrung in a couple of minutes  :toothy10:. I've tried the Light-Top Heavy-Bottom set but they don't work for me. I'll see about getting some "Lucie" 46's, that might solve the problem.

Thank you again, everyone!
 
I believe the fanned frets/multi scale question has been around here once or twice.
But I got the impression that not that many here are interested in them. And if Warmoth believes they'll only sell a few, then the cost for getting them ready for sale will probably be way higher than what they'll gain.

I've tried playing some fanned frets/multi scale guitars and personally they're not my cup of tea. I'm not interested in getting a neck where the frets are harder to reach. That's why my neck of choice is a 24" scale one.
 
I use standard 009-042 sets (steel not nickel) on all my 24"-scale guitars.
So that would translate to 008's on a 24,75" scale guitar and 007's on a 25,5" scale guitar, I guess.
Floppiness? What's that? :icon_jokercolor:
 
I think the string gauge is really the key as per the other posts in the thread...

I will add though that I own a carved top tele with a recessed (staggered TOM) and a 24.75 scale conversion neck.  I play 10-46 and I am really fine with the string tension on that one.  It plays great and is still my favorite guitar 6 years on.

I also happened to have reverse headstocks on on both my Strat and my JM (also Warmoths).  Those had 25.5 scales and I also use 10-46s on those (I also have a life time supply in a closet!).  I really didn't like the feel of the low E on those guitars (the look also ended up getting old) and I've long since swapped the necks back to standard headstocks.  I'm not bothered by the feel on the high E on a standard headstock but the low E on a reverse was definitely annoying!

No string trees on any of the above guitars.  Taking that thought a little further, if you get a standard headstock on the tele and don't like the feel, then may a floyd style string retainer bar (the type that usually goes after the locking nut) or a tight string tree on the high B / E strings might be the answer to your problems.

 
Back
Top