Just when I thought I may have figured it all out...

...here comes another guitar I'd love to have. It's currently the only offering from a company called Durango Guitar Works called the Contender. Corny name, to be sure, but the guitar it's attached to is anything but. What really caught my eye about this guitar is the fact that it's a short-scale guitar, 24" to be exact.

So what's the big deal about that? Well, as I've blogged about in the past, I sometimes have issues with DeQuervain's tenosynovitis and the shorter 24.75" scale of my Les Paul Special often makes it feel better. I also have crooked pinkies that bend inward at the top joint, making some scale and chord stretches difficult, especially on my Fenders with their 25.5" scale. There aren't too many short scale guitars made, especially ones that are intended for hard rock or metal, so until I found the Contender I pretty much gave up on trying to find anything like it. I saw a few videos on YouTube and I think it sounds pretty good, especially since it has Wilkinson humbuckers with AlNiCo magnets.

I wish I could play one of these, or any guitar with a 24" scale. There aren't too many out there - the Fender Jaguar and Squier Duo-Sonic come to mind, but they're hard to find - but if I know what a 24" scale feels like, I may be more inclined to bump it up the Short List. As it stands now, the $299 guitar (a bargain if you ask me) is on the list under the "Guitars I can't play" heading.

Here's another updated list:

Guitars I've played:

Epiphone Les Paul Studio ($349)
Schecter Omen 6 ($299)

Guitars I haven't played:

Dean Cadillac Select ($479)
Sterling SILO20 ($399)
Sterling JP50 ($499)
Ibanez ART100 ($299)
Dean Vendetta 1000 ($275)
Ibanez GRGA32T ($299)
Ibanez RG5EX1 ($400)
Ibanez RG350DX ($400)
Schecter Damien FR ($450)
ESP LTD EC-50 ($249)
Ibanez S420 ($499)

Guitars I can't play:

Chapman Guitars ML2 ($525)
Chapman Guitars ML1 ($490)
Agile AL-2000 with Floyd Rose ($279)
(NEW) DWG Contender ($299)