Fender Swinger

[JPCordingley]

I don't have one and will probably never buy an original 69 model. But I do really like the look of the body shape and headstock and am a little intrigued by the possibilities of a 22.5" scale in terms of up-tuning to say G or even A. Would that be possible with a set of 8s perhaps? Do they even make 8s? Do 8s even exist? That's my techie question really (which is why I chose this forum over the others on Offset Guitars).

I'm not so keen on the whole 1 pickup thing though. Maybe a couple of Gretsch Filter'tron style pickups thrown at it. Might be a neat little guitar when tuned up to a higher register. Like a yappy little dog. Maybe a Warmoth build will happen at some point when I have some money to throw at such an outlandish creation. Any thoughts?

[Jaguar018]

You can get 8s for sure, but I don't know how much tension they could take as you try and tune them up so high.

[jorri]

i think there will be a point where you don't benefit from the smaller guages, they snap more easily so whilst hypothetically the tension is right you probably won't get them that far up.
I did look at this once, and came to the conclusion 10s were about as small as necessary, finding some charts on it in addition to tension charts (somewhere!). you've got what's basically two less frets of scale length, so at G i'd say its more like 11s and A is more like 13s, but perhaps setup can make those easier to play if not used to it.

of course it only really matters for the high E string, although i would bet a few more string breaks than usual.

there is a company that does this however for those massive 13 string (or however many) 'basses' (they probably are zithers by that point) out there: http://www.octave4plus.com/ who claim it can be done on ~28" scale!

[rumfoord]

When I was looking into weird string gauges for a project, I used a gauge/tension calculator to get a close approximation. Then some minor tweaking once I'd actually played a set. I first looked up the theoretical tension of the strings on guitars that I was familiar with (e.g. 10s on 25.5 scale, etc) as a reference point.

http://hikkyz.net/misc/stringassembler/

[jorri]

http://liutaiomottola.com/formulae/tension.htm a link i used, it gives some idea of the benefits or lack of with getting thinner strings...in a calculator at the bottom which might tell you that 8 won't get to G but 10 will!

also forgot 'new standard tuning' sets, that's CGDAEG in fifths with a G above standard E. They make sets for that.

[JPCordingley]

Thanks Rumfoord. That calculator suggests that .008 or even .009 will give me an A on a 22.5 scale guitar at the same (or less) tension as a fairly standard .010 tuned to E on a regular 25.5 guitar. Now obviously I'd have to factor in the fact that a .008 is naturally going to be weaker than a .010 but it suggests to me that it's theoretically possible.

Jorri, I'll have to look at your calculator another time - looks a bit more technical than my tired Thursday-night brain can cope with.

At the moment this is all purely hypothetical. I was just looking at Fender Swingers and thinking "there's an interesting looking instrument - but it doesn't look particularly versatile guitar. What could I do to make it more interesting?"

I have more pressing matters to attend to when it comes to guitar buying. My next purchase is going to be either a Starcaster or a Pawn Shop 72 (if I can find one used since, them being a one year only run in 2011 they're out of stock new). I've played both and both are fantastic guitars for the money. The Swinger is almost certainly one for the future.