CV DuoSonic question - Are the necks interchangeable?

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 5:00 pm

Okay, so a friend recently was asking for suggestions for a new guitar. She's a tiny person who plays in a really good local band, so her criteria are 'cheap, lightweight, has low end'. She loved the Mustangs she tried which tells me she likes the shortscale feel, but the Stangs are out of her price range. I suggested a CV Duo instead, and putting a JB Jr pickup in for added ballsyness.

My question, really, is if you can swap a normal Mustang/Jaguar/general shortscale neck onto a CV Duo? Is the neck pocket on those a normal shortscale pocket?

kypdurron · Post by **kypdurron** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 5:06 pm

afair the CV necks were conversion necks, unlike the generic Mustang necks? so it wouldn't work without tweaking. Neck pocket itself shouldn't be a problem.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 5:10 pm

Are they? I thought that only applied to the old MIM Duos. I thought the current CV Duo's were true shortscale.

stewart · Post by **stewart** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:08 pm

nah, they're conversion necks apparently.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:09 pm

Interesting. Thanks for the info, guys.

paul_ · Post by **paul_** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:11 pm

Think CV Duos are 25.5" scale with a 24" conversion neck exactly as on the later chinese Jagmasters.

http://shortscale.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=32649

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Sun Oct 09, 2011 6:25 pm

are you wanting a rosewood board? just buy a jagmaster neck?

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 12:11 am

It's more that I was telling her about them and I said I think you can swap the necks on them if she doesn't like the one on it, but that I wasn't 100% on that and I'd check to verify that. I think a Duo would be the best bet for her since she adores the feel of the Mustang, but this is affordable.

However, now I'm curious about buying one of these necks, or a Jagmaster neck, and putting it on an old Peavey strat copy guitar to make it shortscale. I didn't know the Duo also had a conversion neck.

cur · Post by **cur** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 2:55 am

I have the CV duo and a Jagmaster neck, both conversion necks. I like the feel of the CV neck better than the Jagmaster.

jagsonic · Post by **jagsonic** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:14 am

I really love the neck of my duo. I think, she just should play a duo, then she can decide...

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:18 pm

I hate that people call them conversion necks because that's misleading, too. It's not like these Duo necks drop into a Strat and automatically make it work.

The fact is, there is no such thing as THE ONE TRUE 24" NECK. There are two 24" neck dimensions that Fender currently makes: a 22-fret neck w/ no overhang (Jaguar, Mustang), and a 21-fret neck w/ no overhang (Jagmaster, CV Duo). They are not interchangeable, and they are certainly not 100% interchangeable with a Strat neck so we should really stop calling them conversion necks because that is misleading. A true 24" conversion neck for a Strat would have to be a 21-fret neck w/ overhang or something like that.

So if you want to get a 21-fret 24"-scale "conversion" neck for a standard Strat scale guitar, there's a good chance it won't work. That's why it's not a true conversion neck.

Grant · Post by **Grant** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 8:59 pm

They work on Jagmasters, though. Are Jagmaster 25.5" scale necks different from Strat 25.5" scale necks?

Have you experienced first hand that they don't work? That'd be useful info. I haven't experienced first hand that they DO work, mind. Portugalwillie used a 25.5" neck on his MIM Duo, and didn't report any ill effects.

honeyiscool · Post by **honeyiscool** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 9:32 pm

They work on certain 25.5" scale guitars with certain bridges that allow you to bring the saddles closer to the neck pocket. The two-point trems and hardtails are more conducive to that kind of thing, but my attempt with a hardtail Strat and a Duo Sonic neck wasn't successful by a mile. I probably could have gotten longer intonation screws, though. There are many stories of people who haven't been able to get their 25.5" scale guitars to work with these "conversion" necks. They're not conversion necks. They're just necks that happen to have bridge positioning close enough to the standard Strat dimensions that you have a chance of making it work. That's all.

And no, the full scale Jagmasters have identical neck specs to Strats. I have a 22-fret Strat neck on my Jagmaster.

Now, the necks that come with Douglas Peragro Traveler are pretty much 24" conversion necks.