Tom wrote: >The purpose of the short score is used to produce a "long" score, which does not necessarily indicate the number of players, though it can. The A&R person needs to know how many violinists to hire and the copyist needs to know how many copies are needed. That information can go a different route. A standalone orchestrator does not need to know the number of players. That detail can be decided or filled in later.56 pieces, or 70, or 20, for that matter. As already said, you don't orchestrate for 70 musicians if a score will only have 56 available.

I have seen full scores that indicate the number of strings to play, but usually this is when the compliment is not standard - for example, a cue emulating a baroque ensemble. In addition, the full score will always indicate whether a passage to be played by less than all of a particular instrument (i.e., Trombone 1).