Confusion on neck scale re: ease of bending.

I thought that the longer the string/scale was, the easier it would be to bend the string. A friend just argued the opposite. He says the shorter the scale the easier it is to bend strings. I'm too inexperienced to know what the truth is.

Which is the truth?

Thanks in advance.

Am using .11 on my Gibson (heavier strings = harder to bend) due to the shorter scale and use .10 on my tele - so they end up sort-of equal in feel.

I find .10 on the Gibson is too easy to bend and get too much vibrato - almost like a rubber band sound.

Your friend is correct.

shorter is easier.
Something about more tension required on the longer string to bring it up to pitch. 3/4 of an inch wouldn't seem to make much of a difference.
In the end, it's not really all that much "harder" with other factors being equal.

Yup, short scale= less tension. Exactly why I will never own a hofner Beatle bass.

Your friend is correct. Physics 101.

Maybe this will help you understand what's going on:

Take your Tele and tune it to Eb, then capo the first fret. You'll be playing in E then, right? You had to lower the tension to get it to play in standard tuning when capoed at the 1st fret.

That's essentially what happens when you go from the longer scale of a Fender to the shorter scale of a Gibson. Same note, lower tension.

Glad to have finally sorted that one out. Thanks to all.