I also have small hands, and I have two "Fenders." One is the Squire "Mini" which retails for about $100, made in Indonesia, hard tail, and most importantly a 22.75 inch scale neck, 21 frets. The other is the Stratocaster Jr., a similar guitar, made in Mexico, also hardtail, retails for about $350. THe Strat Jr has 22 frets, and a different neck, ( truss rod cavity cover is laminated on the back of the neck on the jr where the truss rod must be under the fret board on the mini). At any rate, the Strat Jr is also 22.75 inch scale.
Now both these guitar are fairly good guitars. I bought the Squire originally because I wanted a short scale but couldn't justify the Rickenbacker 325 which is also a 22.75 scale but costs $1,200+ depending on who quotes the price, and frankly although I've owned Ric's before and have been happy with them, I don't particularly like the feel of the current reissues.
The thing about the Squires and the mexican Fenders is that they are GOOD ENOUGH. What do I mean by that?
First, if you are a beginner, you will be perfectly happy with them just as they are. Second, if you are more demanding, they are good enough to modify. That is, you can put high quality bridges, pickups, nuts, tuning motors, what have you and customize a Squire or a mexican Strat and turn it into the equivalent of one of those expensive American Fenders and keep the short scale.
My ONLY gripe with them is they have slightly reduced size bodies. I guess the manufacturer figured that someone with small hands must neccessarily want a smaller body size. There is a solution: after market Strat bodies are cheap and you can remount the short scale neck on a standard size Strat body. Unfortunately, this requires some cutting in the neck pocket of the standard Strat body. So you need to get someone who knows a little about guitar making involved-not for everybody.
Other possibilities:
The Fender Jaguar, The Fender Mustang, ang the Fender Jagmaster all have 24 inch scale necks. Problem is the Mustang isn't available anymore in the US (that's OK it was no prize). The Jagmaster Squire is no longer available with the short scale. The Jaguar (still the guitar of choice for lead guitar in surf bands) costs over $1,200.
But check this out...
http://www.excite.co.jp/world/english/web/body?wb_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ishibashi.co.jp%2F&wb_lp=JAEN&wb_dis=2
This is a link to the english version of the Ishibashi web site in Japan. They sell Japanese Fenders you can't get here; they are VERY high quality, and even with shipping a new Jaguar, for example comes out at less than a grand. They also have Squire Jaqmasters with 24 inch scale for roughly $350 US before tax and shipping.
Also Warmouth Custom Guitar, a high quality parts supplier, sells 24 inch scale replacement necks for Jaguars and Mustangs as well as matching bodies pickups, hardware, etc.
Dean Guitar used to sell(as recently as a year or so ago) a 22.75 inch scale electric guitar for about $100, actually two different models. But I was on their web site a few days ago, and couldn't find them. But maybe you could find one from a dealer whose still got one in stock.
There are also some mini Epiphones called pee wee or pee vee or something like that. THey come in packs with amplifiers. I don't know what the scale is.
In closing, I'll just say that the manufacturers really haven't paid much attention to the issue of hand size and scale length; and it's my belief that their motivation is primarily economic. They want to offer just one (or two: Fender 25.5" vs. Gibson 24.75") scale length and get the customer out the door. But the better solution is the model adopted by the golf industry, where you have a set of golf clubs FITTED TO YOU. How many young guitarists have quit, discouraged, because they basically couldn't reach that last fret in that variation on a basic blues turnaround ( or something similar)?
Anyway, the Squire Mini for $99 at Guitar Center or Musciansfriend.com will make you a happy camper for the bucks invested.
Dave
Dave
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