Short-Scale Super Strat Comparison

[grot]

I've gotten into short-scale superstrats recently for some reason. I didn't realize there were so many of them:

1. Fender HM Strat
2. Charvel Fusion
3. Charvel 750xl
4. Jackson Fusion
5. Jackson Archtop Soloist
6. Kramer Nightswan
7. Kramer ProAxe
8. Kramer Bluesbreaker(?) - not sure about this one
9. ESP Maverick
10. ESP RA-600
11. Peavey Vanderberg

Let me know if I missed any!

As far as I know, all of them have the Gibson 24.75" scale - except for the Fender HM Strat, which I just recently discovered has a 25.1" scale.

I was wondering if any of you who might own several of these guitars can tell in the scale lengths and if it makes a difference? (I realize I'm talking about fractions of inches here, but humor me - I'm anal that way).

Also, as far I know, all of the other guitars have a compound radius, whereas from what I understand, the HM Strat has a flat 17" radius all the way up the neck. How much of an advantage/detriment is this, in your opinion?

There was an HM Strat on Ebay last week that had a Fender Stratocaster logo on the headstock as opposed to the normal HA "Strat." The seller claimed it might have been a custom option. Do any of you know anything about this model - or if it's just a decal someone added after the fact?

[heem6]

Hi grot,
I owned a Charvel Fusion some years ago, and even though I have small hands, found it hard to play up in the higher frets. They're too close together. Haven't had that problem with the HM's. Also, maybe because The Charvel was from Japan and they are not known for their indigenous tone woods, but the thing was a dead piece of wood and I finally sold it after nothing I did to it could bring it to life. In all fairness, I could have just gotten a lemon, though. The "HM" Strat on eBay either had a decal put on afterwards or wasn't an HM at all.

Others: Peavey Tracer * Peavey Nitro * Peavey Destiny * Peavey G-90 (Some of these models had both a 24.75" and a 25.5" scale length version.) And of course PRS guitars are 25.00".