Short Scale And Medium Scale Neck Question

Rox · Post by **Rox** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 4:00 pm

Quick question about guitar necks :

I am purchasing an offset that takes a Strat 25 1/2 scale neck but want to convert to either a medium scale or even a short scale . What compatible short and medium scale necks are direct bolt ons to a strat sized neck body ?

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 4:52 pm

Without moving the bridge to get the correct scale length, as far as I know, none of them are. If I'm not mistaken, the heel size is standard between the scale lengths.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 5:15 pm

what about one of those chinese jagmaster conversion necks?

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 8:00 am

stewart wrote:what about one of those chinese jagmaster conversion necks?

Want one for my Wesley Gaytar. Was bidding on one a few months back and it went for best part of 70 quid which was more than I was ineterested in paying

DanHeron · Post by **DanHeron** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:04 pm

As Stuart said, a conversion neck is the only thing that will fit and will intonate properly. Not easy to get hold of though.

A 24" neck will fit on the body, but without moving the bridge it wont intonate properly.

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:25 pm

the new classic vibe duo sonic has a conversion neck, the body is setup for a 25.5" scale but the neck converts it to a 24" scale

mezzio13 · Post by **mezzio13** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:49 pm

Get a ruler and see where your stuff ends up. Then you can figure out if you can change the neck, and to what if you can. For example, I'm putting a 25.5" on the Mexican Duo project that I'm working on right now which came with a 22.7" scale. The throw is only about 1/8" of bridge adjustment.

I'm sure someone here has a 24" neck laying around, and could give you the length from the nut to the heel. Then measure from the neck pocket to the bridge, and do a little addition. You'll know soon enough what you can do.

porterhaus · Post by **porterhaus** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 9:20 pm

Haze wrote:the new classic vibe duo sonic has a conversion neck, the body is setup for a 25.5" scale but the neck converts it to a 24" scale

I bought a recent (2008) Squier Classic Vibe Duo-Sonic neck on ebay. I thought it was supposed to be a conversion neck. There is exactly 12" between the nut and the 12th fret (24" scale). But there is a a little over 12-1/2" between the 12th fret and the saddles when placed in a strat body. So, unless I am wrong, mine doesn't appear to be a conversion neck. Here are a couple of pictures:

These are 21 fret necks. I believe many Fender 24" scale guitars have 22 frets. So, I question whether these necks will work on the Fender 24" scale guitars. Has anyone tried one of these necks on another type of body?

serfx · Post by **serfx** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:11 am

the CV duo necks will not work on a shortscale body (ie: mustang)
but will work on a strat body with a bit of an intonation setup (about 1/8")
IIRC

Haze · Post by **Haze** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:02 am

Oh the confusion. I remember thee too well

porterhaus · Post by **porterhaus** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 2:22 am

serfx wrote:the CV duo necks will not work on a shortscale body (ie: mustang)
but will work on a strat body with a bit of an intonation setup (about 1/8")
IIRC

Thanks, I am glad to hear someone has successfully done this.

In my case, I have guitars that are not official Fender guitars. They are supposed to be to Fender spec. But there are apparently some differences. So that may be a part of it.

I am not trying to argue the point. However, I did get curious and made an attempt at the full math (for theoretical purposes). If anyone is interested, here it goes:

According to the Warmoth website the distance from the nut to the end of the heel (not including fretboard overhang) for an official Fender Strat neck is 18-7/6" (18.4375").

The fret calculator at stewmac.com indicates (for a 25.5" scale guitar) the distance from the nut to the peak of the saddle to be 25.652" (at the centerline of the guitar).

This leaves a difference of 7.2145" (which is the distance from the end of the neck heel (or neck cavity in the body) to the peak of the saddle.

The Squier CV Duo-Sonic neck (that I have) measures 17-3/8" (17.375") from nut to end of heel (no fretboard overhang).

Add 17.375" (neck) to 7.2145". This equals 24.5895".

Now, according to the stewmac fret calculator (for a 24" scale guitar) the distance from the nut to the peak of the saddle (@ center line) is 24.143".

So, subtract 24.143" from 24.5895". This equals 0.4465" (or a little over 7/16").

There is not enough (7/16") intonation adjustment available in the strat vintage tremolo bridge. So (mathematically at least), unless I have made a mistake, one would have to either alter the neck, neck pocket, or relocate the bridge in order to have proper intonation.