Schecter's change from 26.5" to 28" scale length...

[DanielLunardi]

i have 1,65 cm tall , small hands, but the improvement in tone that 28" scale does with the guitar is awesome.. here in Brazil we don't have the oportunity to test many guitars, but i can tell you, 27" for a 8 string will be the minimum for a good tone ...

 

[OmegaSlayer]

My 2 cents...
The thickness of the neck is more important than the size.
My Ibanez RG2228 28" (Prestige instrument with super mega flat wizard neck D shape) is more comfortable than my Ibanez Xiphos 25.5" (Indonesian instrument neck through with C shape).
If your thumb is closer to the other fingers you'll be able to stretch a bit more with less fatigue.
So, build quality and other spec will affect your stretch more than scale.

 

[CanniballistiX]

I was a 6-string bass player for the past 10 years so I am used to a 35" scale. That said, when I switched to guitar in bands I already had an RG7421's 25.5" scale which felt small. I got an RG8 and it was better with the 27" scale, but I'm finally home on my 28" scale Banshee-8A and SLS C-8. Not going back and I sold the RG8 immediately.

 

[Stuck_in_a_dream]

Sorry for the late bump, but I think you'll appreciate this. Take a look at this pic:

This is an overlay of the Banshee 7 (26.5" scale) on top of the Banshee 8 (28" scale). Images that were downloaded from SW seem they had same focal length since the EMG pickups 707, 808 widths matched (their actual widths match, both are 1.5" wide), so no zooming was required on the original images prior to overlaying.

Now as you can see, the difference between frets is not that substantial. What do you guys think?

 

[7stg]

Sorry for the late bump, but I think you'll appreciate this. Take a look at this pic:

This is an overlay of the Banshee 7 (26.5" scale) on top of the Banshee 8 (28" scale). Images that were downloaded from SW seem they had same focal length since the EMG pickups 707, 808 widths matched (their actual widths match, both are 1.5" wide), so no zooming was required on the original images prior to overlaying.

Now as you can see, the difference between frets is not that substantial. What do you guys think?

It took a second, but I see the nut is lined up for both guitars and from there it is plain that there is not that much difference to how the frets line up. By the 12th fret there is about 1/2 a fret difference and 2 frets by the end.

I like long scales my self as I love what they do for the lower strings. I guess it could be summed up like this.
27 Lead Player - Compromising low end clarity and definition to have the easiest multi-step bends.
28.625 Balance - Not the best of either but not the worst of either.
30 Rhythm Player - Wanting the clearest well defined low end, but giving up full step bends for it. 1/2 step bends and vibrato are still fine.
23.5-26.5 multiscale - high A4
27-30 multiscale - Well rounded.
29.5-32.5 multiscale - When you want even more clarity and definition than possible from a single scale.

 

[Cloudkicker112358]

7 stg, you are probably one of the most valuable inputs on this forum. You know your stuff!

 

[7stg]

7 stg, you are probably one of the most valuable inputs on this forum. You know your stuff!

Thanks man. One of many, there are many valuable contributors here.

 

[7stg]

Here's the distance from the nut for given scale lengths as generated by http://www.ekips.org/tools/guitar/fretfind2d/. The difference between a 28 inch and 26.5 inch scale to the 4th fret is 0.309 inches and to the 12th fret is 3/4 of an inch. Edit:It looks like I reduplicated jwade's efforts, oh well.


Sca| 25.50 | 26.50 | 27.00 | 28.00 | 28.63 | 29.40 | 30.00

Nut| 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00
01 | 01.43 | 01.49 | 01.52 | 01.57 | 01.61 | 01.65 | 01.68
02 | 02.78 | 02.89 | 02.95 | 03.05 | 03.12 | 03.21 | 03.27
03 | 04.06 | 04.22 | 04.30 | 04.45 | 04.55 | 04.68 | 04.77
04 | 05.26 | 05.47 | 05.57 | 05.78 | 05.91 | 06.07 | 06.19
05 | 06.40 | 06.65 | 06.77 | 07.02 | 07.18 | 07.37 | 07.53
06 | 07.47 | 07.76 | 07.91 | 08.20 | 08.38 | 08.61 | 08.79
07 | 08.48 | 08.81 | 08.98 | 09.31 | 09.52 | 09.78 | 09.98
08 | 09.44 | 09.81 | 09.99 | 10.36 | 10.59 | 10.88 | 11.10
09 | 10.34 | 10.74 | 10.95 | 11.35 | 11.60 | 11.92 | 12.16
10 | 11.19 | 11.63 | 11.85 | 12.29 | 12.56 | 12.90 | 13.16
11 | 11.99 | 12.46 | 12.70 | 13.17 | 13.46 | 13.83 | 14.11
12 | 12.75 | 13.25 | 13.50 | 14.00 | 14.31 | 14.70 | 15.00
13 | 13.47 | 13.99 | 14.26 | 14.79 | 15.12 | 15.53 | 15.84
14 | 14.14 | 14.70 | 14.97 | 15.53 | 15.87 | 16.30 | 16.64
15 | 14.78 | 15.36 | 15.65 | 16.23 | 16.59 | 17.04 | 17.39
16 | 15.38 | 15.98 | 16.29 | 16.89 | 17.27 | 17.73 | 18.09
17 | 15.95 | 16.57 | 16.89 | 17.51 | 17.90 | 18.39 | 18.76
18 | 16.48 | 17.13 | 17.45 | 18.10 | 18.50 | 19.01 | 19.39
19 | 16.99 | 17.66 | 17.99 | 18.66 | 19.07 | 19.59 | 19.99
20 | 17.47 | 18.15 | 18.50 | 19.18 | 19.61 | 20.14 | 20.55
21 | 17.92 | 18.62 | 18.97 | 19.68 | 20.11 | 20.66 | 21.08
22 | 18.34 | 19.06 | 19.42 | 20.14 | 20.59 | 21.15 | 21.58
23 | 18.75 | 19.48 | 19.85 | 20.58 | 21.04 | 21.61 | 22.05
24 | 19.13 | 19.88 | 20.25 | 21.00 | 21.47 | 22.05 | 22.50



Sca| 32.00 | 34.00 | 35.00 | 37.00 | 38.00 | 39.00 | 40.00

Nut| 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00 | 00.00
01 | 01.80 | 01.91 | 01.96 | 02.08 | 02.13 | 02.19 | 02.25
02 | 03.49 | 03.71 | 03.82 | 04.04 | 04.15 | 04.25 | 04.36
03 | 05.09 | 05.41 | 05.57 | 05.89 | 06.05 | 06.21 | 06.36
04 | 06.60 | 07.01 | 07.22 | 07.63 | 07.84 | 08.05 | 08.25
05 | 08.03 | 08.53 | 08.78 | 09.28 | 09.53 | 09.78 | 10.03
06 | 09.37 | 09.96 | 10.25 | 10.84 | 11.13 | 11.42 | 11.72
07 | 10.64 | 11.31 | 11.64 | 12.31 | 12.64 | 12.97 | 13.30
08 | 11.84 | 12.58 | 12.95 | 13.69 | 14.06 | 14.43 | 14.80
09 | 12.97 | 13.78 | 14.19 | 15.00 | 15.41 | 15.81 | 16.22
10 | 14.04 | 14.92 | 15.36 | 16.23 | 16.67 | 17.11 | 17.55
11 | 15.05 | 15.99 | 16.46 | 17.40 | 17.87 | 18.34 | 18.81
12 | 16.00 | 17.00 | 17.50 | 18.50 | 19.00 | 19.50 | 20.00
13 | 16.90 | 17.95 | 18.48 | 19.54 | 20.07 | 20.59 | 21.12
14 | 17.75 | 18.85 | 19.41 | 20.52 | 21.07 | 21.63 | 22.18
15 | 18.55 | 19.70 | 20.28 | 21.44 | 22.02 | 22.60 | 23.18
16 | 19.30 | 20.51 | 21.11 | 22.32 | 22.92 | 23.52 | 24.13
17 | 20.01 | 21.26 | 21.89 | 23.14 | 23.77 | 24.39 | 25.02
18 | 20.69 | 21.98 | 22.63 | 23.92 | 24.56 | 25.21 | 25.86
19 | 21.32 | 22.65 | 23.32 | 24.65 | 25.32 | 25.99 | 26.65
20 | 21.92 | 23.29 | 23.98 | 25.35 | 26.03 | 26.72 | 27.40
21 | 22.49 | 23.89 | 24.59 | 26.00 | 26.70 | 27.41 | 28.11
22 | 23.02 | 24.46 | 25.18 | 26.62 | 27.34 | 28.06 | 28.78
23 | 23.52 | 24.99 | 25.73 | 27.20 | 27.94 | 28.67 | 29.41
24 | 24.00 | 25.50 | 26.25 | 27.75 | 28.50 | 29.25 | 30.00

 

[shikamaru]

think about it this way:
at 28˝, your first fret will be at 26.428˝. So, a 28˝ is like a 26.5˝ with an extra fret. Unless you have particular fingerings that involve a lot of open strings, I doubt your lead work will be less proficient on 28˝ than on 26.5˝, except you will miss one fret higher on the neck.

IMO 28˝ is definitely worth it because you will have better intonation, especially for that low F#

 

[DreamError]

I went with an Ibanez 27" 8 because I have a 6-string S I love, and I played an RGA8 recently and handled it nicely. I'm curious about the Schecter Hellraiser Hybrid C-8 and its "thin c" profile, though. 28" scale doesn't scare me after playing a 27". But I'm still drawn to the sleekness of the Ibanez S, feels so light and fits against the body nice, and just sounds perfect to me.

And I need the bendy.

Chording bothered me a little, it's a bit of a stretch, but I don't really do a lot of it down near the headstock anyway. And that was just playing one at a store, not owning one and building up that strength/stretch.

For single note runs and stuff, it's fine, and I don't see a 28" being much different in that regard since I've played a 5-string 35" bass for years. Actually makes me think I'll be fairly okay on upgrading to a 6-string bass; the nut width is the same on 8-strings

My fingers:
Index and Ring: 2.5" (6.4cm) long.
3" (7.6cm) long.
Pinky: 2" (5cm) long.

TL;DR - don't fear the 28" scale thinking your fingers are too short. I wish I could play one in person to be absolutely sure, but I say go for it.