Has anyone modified a Carter scale?

Brian Henry · Posted 14 Oct 2014 5:05 pm

Has anyone modified a Carter Scale to 24 1/4?

Richard Sinkler · From: aka: Rusty Strings -- Missoula, Montana

Why would you want to do this?
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Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

You'd have to replace the fretboard.
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David Nugent · From: Gum Spring, Va.

Just a thought: What would fill the 1/2" gap between the existing neck and keyhead? It would most likely become necessary to have a replacement neck fabricated as well (not to mention custom made fretboards)..Also, performing this modification may result in excessive string breakage. When pedals were first being added to non pedal guitars with longer scale necks, it was decided to shorten the length to minimize this problem. Converting the guitar to a keyless tuning system may be the answer in that case (Sierra keyless guitars featured a 25" scale).

Brian Henry · Posted 14 Oct 2014 9:24 pm

Sorry, I meant 24 1/4" ... I have a Thomas that is 24 1/4" and like that on the second octave. Would such a change cause problems with the pedals and levers tuning?

Tony Prior · From: Charlotte NC

to sound in tune ?
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David Nugent · From: Gum Spring, Va.

Brian...I own a Thomas and my belief is that the added weight of the guitar (heaviest guitar that I own!) contributes more to the tone and sustain than most other factors. Place the Carter and the Thomas side by side and try striking the strings on both while they are unplugged and you may see my point. The Thomas that I have seems to sustain longer than most any guitar that I have owned and in my opinion, much of that is due to the added thickness of the wood in the cabinet and weight of the parts.

Jack Stoner · From: Kansas City, MO

Its obviously doable. Whether or not it will produce the results you want is questionable.

My Franklin is 24 1/4, a friends Sho-Bud is 24(isn't that what Sho-Buds are) and I think his Weenik guitar is 24". Playing either the Sho-Bud or Weenik I don't notice any negatives above the 12th fret, although personally the Weenik sounds better.
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Per Berner · From: SkÃ¶vde, Sweden

The big question must be Why? Adding 1/4 inch, just 6 mm, means lengthening the scale by only 1 %, which is a LOT of work for next to nothing.

Why not try slightly heavier strings instead? .0115 for the 3rd string, etc.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

If it ain't broken, don't fix it. Whoa!

Tom Gorr · From: Three Hills, Alberta

Trade it for a similar guitar with a longer scale length...otherwise you risk being unable to sell the guitar to carter fans who want the bud carter design...

As far as tone goes, I do think there is a slight difference in tone between the different scale lengths, maybe it's more 'feel', hard to tell. As for which one I prefer...depends on the day moreso than the scale length.

I like the timbre of the c6 neck over the E9 neck 90 percent of the time...

Jim Palenscar · From: Oceanside, Calif, USA

I did a bit of an experiment awhile ago when I compared my MSA Legend to Dean Parks' new Studio Pro. My Legend was the 1st one that they built post the Millennium model in response to me asking the good folks at MSA "When are you going to build another wood bodied guitar?" I preferred the tone of the Studio Pro to my Legend and, using their modular pickup design, we swapped in and out multiple pickups with the result being the same- I could not obtain his tone. My Legend had a 24" scale and the changer fingers were made of 6061 aluminum. The Studio Pro had a 24 1/4" scale and the changer fingers were made of 2024 aluminum. Fortunately the folks at MSA used the same mounting holes for the keyhead and neck and I was able to swap out both to extend my scale from 24" to 24 1/4" and swapped out the fingers for 2024 aluminum. This was accomplished in 2 different stages as the neck and keyhead were not available at the same time that the fingers were. After replacing the fingers I thought I detected a difference in the tone but wasn't sure as the "operation" took a few hours. A few weeks later I swapped out the neck and keyhead and thought I detected a difference however again- it took a few hours so I wasn't sure. Dean came down and again I compared the two guitars and was unable to detect a difference between the two anymore. The gist of this was that, while I can't tell for sure whether or not it was the difference in material or the scale change, one of the two changes (maybe both) made a fairly profound tonal change. Chis Lucker informed me after he read a post where I stated that the push-pull changer fingers were made from 2024 aluminum that both 2024 and 6061 were used by Emmons so I suspect that the scale length change was primarily responsible but I cannot be sure of that.

Mike Perlowin · From: Los Angeles CA

I swapped the 24" necks of my 2 Millenniums for 24&1/4. (Jim Palenscar did the work.) The reason was that when I sat down at a guitar with the longer fretboard, I noticed an immediate improvement in my ability to intonate correctly when playing up the neck.

For that reason, if it were practical, I'd have the necks replaced again with the Sierra 25" fretboard.
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Brian Henry · Posted 25 Oct 2014 10:33 am

Thank you Mike. I seem to get better intonation in the second octave on the 241/4 scale. By the way JEFF Surat sent me some fretboards at 24 1/4 scale. So it's just that 1/4 space between the Keyhead and neck I need to think about

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