...read all of the Ed Roman stuff, etc. about how the pickups cannot possibly be placed in the right position on a 22 fret guitar.
An advantage with a CU24 is that you can tune down a whole step and still be able to play every note as you would on a 22 fret guitar tuned to standard.
I've read people say that they get lost on 24 frets. I find the opposite. Given the extra fret marker I find it easier to relate everything I do on the first 12 frets to the next 12.
I am clarifying the matter once and for all. The scale of a custom 22 and 24 is the same 25". The neck pickup is in the same spot on both gtrs, but the bridge and bridge pickup is closer to the neck pickup and the neck is longer on a 24fretter. The distance from the nut to the bridge is the same 25" for both gtrs. On a 22 fretter, the neck pickup is farther from the bridge because the bridge is in a different spot. Thus the neck pickup is "picking up" the strings vibrations in a less trebled, warmer spot. When a string is plucked closer to the bridge, the result is a brighter, more trebled sound. when you pluck it further from the bridge, the sound is bassier, warmer, dull and rounder, with less treble. The neck pickup on a 22fret sounds warmer because it is farther from the bridge, underneath a less trebled spot. This is not because the neck pickup moved, the entire bridge is moved farther from it. If you take a ruler and measure the distance between the bridge and neck pickup on a 22 and a 24, you will notice they are closer together on a 24, and farther apart on a 22. The distance between the frets on both gtrs is exactly the same, exept for the last two on a 24 which make the fretboard longer, not sqeezed together. 22 fret= shorter neck with bridge farther from the neck pickup. 24 fret= longer neck with the bridge closer to the neck pickup. The bridge pickup is the same distance from the bridge on both gtrs. The neck pickup is not, and sounds fatter on a 22fret gtr. Apart from this tonal differnce of the neck pickup, the difference in bridge placement and neck length is why the two feel completely different as far as playability goes. In my opinion, neither is better as to playability, its just what you are comfortable with. Other than this comfort issue, the advantage of the 22 is the sweeter sounding neck pickup, and for the 24 it is the two extra notes. ( and the owl )......Now to briefly addess the Roman arguement: It only makes sense for the open string. Once a string is fretted, the harmonic moves to a different location. Thus, the neck pickup placement error arguement due to harmonic overtones is a dead one. If every note had its own string and its own pickup, then maybe I could be convinced, but we are talking gtrs, not pianos. Thats just my opinion, and Ed had his too. May he, and this topic rest in peace......and for what its worth, I think the 24fret 25" scale length is worthy of a nobel prize, I love it!.......I think I need an aspirin, thankyou.
Yes the fretboard is longer by two frets, but the bridges are in different spots also. Thats what gives the neck pickup on a 22 a less treble sound, because its further from the bridge. Somewhere in this thread there is an illustration where this difference can be seen visually.
HUH??
...talk about getting lost.... I do some alternate tunings, but this seems like a strange one.
Stretching out the neck to include those two extra frets has a significant impact on feel for me. The bridge, bridge pickup and controls are moved further into the body. It shifts everything an inch or so to the left from a playing perspective.
FINALLY the definitive explaination! Thank the Lord.
Take a ruler to your local guitar center if you dont believe me. The neck pickup is closer to the bridge on a 24 because bridge is in a different spot. The scale is still 25" because the neck is 2 frets longer. Look back in this thread to a post by EricT. There you will see the light.
Well - no. See below.
Sorry - I disagree.
See the illustration below. All three guitars have the exact same scale length as shown by the bridges and 12th frets and nuts aligning exactly.
All three have their neck pups at the end of their fretboards as PRS and almost everyone else does it. for comparison sakes, the bodies are all the same size. The fretboards are identical with the ONLY difference being that the 24 has 2 more frets.
The left is a 22 fretter. The neck joins the body at the upper bout at about the 20th fret.
The center is a 24 fretter, The neck joins the body at the upper bout at about the 22nd fret.
The right is a 24 fretter with the neck joining the body at about the 14th fret.
Yes, it is true that the bridge on the 24 falls closer to the neck end of the body. But that is not what is limiting the space available for the pups!
Have a look at the guitar on the right. Its bridge, pups, fretboard and scale is identical to the center guitar. You can see that I positioned the bridge really far down on the body away from the neck, but you can also see that the fretboard had to move the same amount into the body to conserve the scale length. I could just as easily done it the other way and put the bridge where the neck pickup is, but then I would have had to move the fretboard and nut the same distance. End result - the distance available between the bridge and the end of the fretboard remains the same. Move the bridge wherever you want, the length of the fretboard from nut to 24th fret will always be the same and always be what is limiting the space available for pups.
You could even have the neck joint for center guitar at the 20th fret (like the 22 fretter) and you would still only have the same diminished space between the fingerboard and the bridge for the pups. And in that case, the bridge would be in the same position on the 24 as it is on the 22 in relation to the body.
Position of bridge for a given scale on body's effect on pup placement - none
Length of fretboard for a given scale's effect on pup placement - the limiting factor.
Hey Ruger
Tuning down a whole step does not seem strange to me or probably to many other people. Quite common tunings if you listen to metal.
The image speaks for itself.
I don't understand all this gimmetry. :tongue:
I don't understand all this gimmetry. :tongue:
]-[ @ n $ 0 |v| a T ! ©;78943 said:
The hard part was hiding the smoke and mirrors......
Man, that's a fancy diagram! The way I think of it is like this: Imagine you can stretch the neck of the guitar to include two new frets, but the scale must stay the same, and the neck pickup cannot move. Therefore, you pull the neck to make it longer and include the extra frets, which drags the bridge, bridge pickup and controls closer to the neck pickup.
So basically guitars 1 and 2 above, but I picture them with the butt ends sitting on a level surface. I had fun doing that sort of side by side back when I had the CU24 and my current 22 fretters.