I have a rather nice Epiphone Les Paul electric guitar. There are 22 frets. I have shortish arms and would like to shorten the neck to 12 frets so I don't need to reach so far with my left hand. Obviously it is a silly idea to have the guitar altered, but can the same effect be achieved with a capo yet still be in standard tuning?
Peter.
I don't think you can de-tune the guitar enough to 1/2 the number of frets and still end up in standard without the strings being WAY too loose. But, you could easily go down at least a step (capo on 2nd fret) or 2 (capo on 4th fret) and still end up in standard and experiment.
Beyond that, you may want to look at trading your Les Paul for a 1/2 and 3/4 sized guitar. They will give you a shorter neck, but keep the number of frets the same. That should help you with your smaller reach.
