Intonation refers to your cigar box guitar sounding in tune all the way up the fretboard.Īn easy way to determine this is, when your guitar is in-tune, to play all three strings open. Scale length isn’t just about tone it also affects your CBGs intonation. That spacing contributes to the loud chime of longer scale CBGs and the thicker sound of tightly packed harmonics on a short scale CBG.īut that’s not all. On a longer scale CBG, those harmonics are spaced further apart than a short scale CBG. If you lightly touch the string up and down the fretboard and pluck it, you’ll hear harmonics of different pitches in other locations. That note is a harmonic and, in this case, is an octave higher in pitch than the open string.
You’ll hear a note ring out that doesn’t require you to press the string down to the fret. With the other hand pluck the string, then immediately lift your finger touching the string. Use one hand to lightly touch a string on your CBG right over the 12th fret. To better understand this, try the following exercise.
This can be explained, in part, because of harmonics. Whereas the strings on the 23-inch scale CBG are under less tension, and therefore have softer, thicker, and warmer tones. Strings on the 25-inch scale CBG are under higher tension (discussed later in this article) and will likely have rich, robust tones that ring loud and bright with a big low-end. Let’s look at two cigar box guitars (CBGs) using the same gauge strings, both tuned G-D-G, but that have different scale lengths, say 25 (635mm) and 23-inches (584mm). How does scale length affect how my cigar box guitar sounds? Tone How does scale length affect the sound and feel of your cigar box guitar? Some details affect that simple definition, but this gives you an overall picture of scale length.
Put simply, scale length is the distance between where the strings contact the nut and where they contact the bridge. Instead, this article gives you the knowledge necessary to dial-in your builds to sound and feel the way you want when played.īut first things first. The rest we’ll leave to the physics majors, high-end luthiers, and those who have time to worry about such things. How it affects your cigar box guitars feel.How it affects your cigar box guitars sound.Well, rather than bog you down with confusing terminology and the science of it all, what you’ll find here is the simple definition of scale length and the two big reasons why it should matter to you. Given the “no rules” mantra in the cigar box guitar community, the term scale length looks an awful lot like a rule, doesn’t it?Īnd if there are no rules to building cigar box guitars – a big reason why they’re so much fun – then why do you need to learn about scale length? What is scale length and why should you care?
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