Scale length of the Bigsby mandolins

[Bill McCall]

Trying to determine the scale length of the Bigsby mandolins. I saw the ones by Eddy Elliott were 13 7/8, but I’m suspicious that the originals were longer. Don’t have one to measure🙁

Can anybody help?

Thanks

[Bill McCall]

I also see the Michael Stevens ‘Paul Glasse’ model have a 13 7/8 string length with only 15 frets. I believe Andrew Jerman’s mandos use a 14.5” string length, while Steve Ryder uses both lengths.

Searched the forum, lots of discussion about Bigsby but no numbers to be seen.

[mrmando]

Gosh darn, I had a Roberts for a while and could have sworn the scale was on the long side ... don't recall if I bothered to measure it, though.

[mrmando]

On the other hand, the scale lengths of Tiny's Bigsby and Roberts in this photo by Deke Dickerson don't look appreciably longer than the scale length of his Gibson.

[Bill McCall]

I’ll try to scale that off the photo, but a 14.5 scale is only 5/16 longer than typical to the 12th fret. It’ll be a challenge.

I’m thinking that for the fatter tone, the pickup location and hollow(ish) body are probably more important, that sound being the goal.

Thanks