The following question has come up a number of times, and was recently raised over on our forums. One of the people who responded provided some great information that spanned over a couple of messages. We’ve chosen to run the question and a slightly edited version of the answer here.
“Which guitar is better to buy: a 22 fret or a 24 fret? Does it really make a difference?”
Forum user Ed Belknap responds:
What I believe is a more important question — or rather, one which must be asked hand in hand with the 22 versus 24 fret question — is, what is the scale length of the instrument?
Both parameters (# of frets and scale length) have a marginal effect on playability…though that’s arguable, as total neck length, and access to the higher frets will be determined by these parameters.
But more critical is how the number of frets and scale length affect pickup placement…and this is extremely crucial to tone. Look at a Gibson Les Paul Custom versus a PRS Custom 24. Both instruments have the same scale length, but the Gibson has 22 frets and the PRS obviously has 24. Since the neck pickup is mounted right at the end of the fingerboard, what this means is that the location of the neck pickup’s polepieces will be in a different position relative to the vibrating string’s length: On the Gibson they happen to be directly under the antinode (the harmonic). Believe me, this has a tremendous effect on the tone of the guitar. On the 24 fret PRS, the polepieces do not line up with the string’s antinode, because that’s where the 24th fret has to go (by definition). Therefore it is IMPOSSIBLE for a 24 fret PRS to get a similar tone as a Les Paul neck pickup.
(If you don’t like the Gibson vs PRS slant of this thought experiment, simply compare a 22 vs 24 fret PRS.)
It is axiomatic to say that the part of the vibrating string “seen” by the pickup’s polepieces determines timbre. No properly built 24 fret guitars can have the neck pickup’s polepieces under the string’s antinode so they will necessarily sound different.
Here’s a link to the thread if you’re interested:
