What is a short scale guitar?

Answer 1

A short scale guitar is one with a shorter neck and fingerboard (and usually a smaller body as well). The shorter the scale length, the shorter the strings from the nut to the bridge. This in turn impacts the guitar's ease of playability as well as its sound. The scale (length) of the neck (and, ultimately, the strings) determines two major aspects of a guitar's personality: the distance between the frets, and the tension (or tightness) of the strings.

In a nutshell, the shorter the scale length, the closer the frets are together. This is a good thing if you have small hands or are a young beginner. Also, many rhythm Guitarists, like Elvis Costello, John Lennon and Kurt Cobain, prefer (or preferred) shorter scales when chording. On the other hand, a longer scale length comes in handy when shredding and playing leads in some styles (like those of Malmsteen, Vaughn and Atkins) because it keeps you from "tripping" over your own fat fingers when getting all acrobatic.

A guitar's feel is also affected by the tension of the strings. A guitar with a shorter scale length (like the Gibson Les Paul) requires less tension to reach concert pitch than a guitar with a longer scale (like the Fender Strat). This is true, as long as both are strung with the same gauge strings. One advantage of less string tension is a "looser" feel, making bending and vibrato more fluid.

So, then, why aren't all Guitars built with a shorter scale? Obviously we'd all benefit from that slinky feel, right? Well, guitars with greater tension benefit from a "tighter" sound due to better clarity in their higher overtones. This is often referred to as "twang." Shorter scale guitars also have trouble accepting heavier gauged strings because the slackened tension causes wider vibration and fret buzz.

Source(s):http://www.guitarnoise.com/article.php?id=297