strung tension, scale lengths and bracing.

[Dave Bagwill]

What is the shortest usable scale length? I believe I have seen 23" scale guitars, but I could be wrong.

[ken cierp]

Scale length is directly related to string tension -- 23" yields pretty thuddy, flabby sounding bass ("E" "A") pretty much why they are not found on many short scale (23") tenor guitars - only four strings. However I doubt there are any rules. Just note that Martin went to a longer scale length across the board so their guitars were louder and more powerful over all. Also note that the idea of fan fret scales is to take advantage of the longer scale for the thicker strings producing more piano like clarity in the bass registers.