Creating a conversion neck?

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 10:02 pm

Okay, so a side project I have is to get my old Decca Tulip back to playing order. The fretboard on it was completely snapped in half while attempting to unglue it to fix a bad truss rod, due to internal rotting.

I ordered a blank slab of rosewood. I can pretty much refret this however I want. It's a Strat scale guitar, so my intention was to do the fretboard as a 24" conversion neck. I thought about doing a true 24" board, but that would require moving the bridge forward, and I don't have the room to do it in relation to the stock routing, and I'm not keen on carving up a 60's guitar, no matter how shitty it is.

So, I wanna leave the stock bridge placement, slap a new conversion fretboard on there, and go with that. Problem is, I can't find any online source for fret spacing. Do I just simply use a standard 24" scale fret positioning but shifting the whole mess forward an extra 0.75" or is it more than that?

I am also considering just making a new body out of plywood but I figure I'll start by making this fretboard a conversion.

jcyphe · Post by **jcyphe** » Thu Nov 10, 2011 11:44 pm

http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resource ... rptclc.htm

This lets you enter scale length you want, plus fret amount.

theworkoffire · Post by **theworkoffire** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 12:01 am

If you're keeping the bridge where it is, changing the scale of the neck involves moving the nut position, so to get a 24" scale neck you'd have to move the nut 1 1/2" nearer to the heel. Just a guess, but I'd say that's going to look pretty wrong.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 3:24 am

jcyphe wrote:http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resource ... rptclc.htm

This lets you enter scale length you want, plus fret amount.

Yeah, I'd found that but it doesn't seem to really explain conversion necks. I think I'll have to just use the 24" scale for the frets.

theworkoffire wrote:If you're keeping the bridge where it is, changing the scale of the neck involves moving the nut position, so to get a 24" scale neck you'd have to move the nut 1 1/2" nearer to the heel. Just a guess, but I'd say that's going to look pretty wrong.

Not if I shift the fretboard a bit to overhang as well. Maybe I could do 24.75" Gibson scale, which will only involve a 0.75" shift.

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 5:06 am

you'd have to the move the nut up 1.5 inches unless you're physically moving the neck closed to the bridge.

if you measure a conversion neck on a strat body, the nut-to-bridge measurement is still 24 inches; that never changes. So, you can move the nut, the bridge, or change the neck pocket OR hack some of the bottom of the neck off.

you can add frets to on the bottom of the neck all you want, but it won't change the scale.

cur · Post by **cur** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 5:54 am

Pens wrote:
jcyphe wrote:http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resource ... rptclc.htm

This lets you enter scale length you want, plus fret amount.
Yeah, I'd found that but it doesn't seem to really explain conversion necks. I think I'll have to just use the 24" scale for the frets.

If the scale is 24" than the fret spacing will be the same. With a conversion neck vs an old school 24" neck the bridge would have to be in a different position on the body. The spacing between frets are the same if they both equal 24" scale in the end.

theworkoffire wrote:If you're keeping the bridge where it is, changing the scale of the neck involves moving the nut position, so to get a 24" scale neck you'd have to move the nut 1 1/2" nearer to the heel. Just a guess, but I'd say that's going to look pretty wrong.

Not if I shift the fretboard a bit to overhang as well. Maybe I could do 24.75" Gibson scale, which will only involve a 0.75" shift.

YOu will have to cut off 1.5 inches from the heel to make it work and then it probably won't screw on the body correctly. Only have a nub left.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 3:38 pm

Um. No, if you move the fretboard to overhang the neck it's closer to the bridge, you don't have to chop the neck. Or remove a fret. I think I'll set this up as a Gibby scale so I don't have to move it as much.

theworkoffire · Post by **theworkoffire** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 5:49 pm

So how will you deal with the extra 3/4" between the nut and the tuners? Surely it'll just expose the truss rod end and an ugly flat area of the maple.

cur · Post by **cur** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 5:50 pm

Pens wrote:Um. No, if you move the fretboard to overhang the neck it's closer to the bridge, you don't have to chop the neck. Or remove a fret. I think I'll set this up as a Gibby scale so I don't have to move it as much.

Well then you will have to move the nut 1.5 inches in (or .75 if you go gibby). Something's gotta give.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 6:43 pm

Correct, the nut will be closer. 0.75" isn't really that much extra space. As far as exposing, I have a full blank slab of rosewood to work with. I was thinking of doing a zero fret at the correct spot, then putting the nut back where it ought to be. Either way, the neck is mahogany so it won't look that bad.

Gabriel · Post by **Gabriel** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:22 pm

Pens wrote: I was thinking of doing a zero fret at the correct spot, then putting the nut back where it ought to be.

That sounds like a good idea, would probably look best and in keeping with the design of the guitar too I'd think.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Sat Nov 12, 2011 9:40 pm

Okay, thanks for the info guys. I'm measuring this out now, 21 frets at 24.75" scale with the zero fret shifted forward 0.75", and leaving the nut where it was.

I'm very likely going to fuck this up. I'll update once I start cutting this.

JohnnyTheBoy · Post by **JohnnyTheBoy** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:29 pm

Hey Pens!..I've come across the same problems you have!...I'm making 2 conversion necks fir my jazzmaster and bronco/mustang/duosonic II projects...
I've copied my jagmaster neck which has subtle differences to my squier cv duosonic, and I've found that the bridge will be off by about 1/4" on the jazzmaster....I'm gonna have to trim the neck pocket and guard by 1/4" towards the bridge otherwise it won't intonate...
I was under the impression that I could just stick that scale neck on the jazz and that would be it, but after measuring it, cause its a fixed bridge I'm not gonna have that adjustment I need....Be different on a tele with the long travel saddles...

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 8:23 pm

JohnnyTheBoy wrote:Hey Pens!..I've come across the same problems you have!...I'm making 2 conversion necks fir my jazzmaster and bronco/mustang/duosonic II projects...
I've copied my jagmaster neck which has subtle differences to my squier cv duosonic, and I've found that the bridge will be off by about 1/4" on the jazzmaster....I'm gonna have to trim the neck pocket and guard by 1/4" towards the bridge otherwise it won't intonate...
I was under the impression that I could just stick that scale neck on the jazz and that would be it, but after measuring it, cause its a fixed bridge I'm not gonna have that adjustment I need....Be different on a tele with the long travel saddles...

Interesting. Can you give me the measurements from 12th to heel? I think that's going to be the hardest part, making sure that bridge to heel + heel to 12th comes out right.

JohnnyTheBoy · Post by **JohnnyTheBoy** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:21 pm

Yeh no probs..I'd already measured both necks from nut to pocket, 12th to pocket,
12th to bridge etc...here's what I came up with..

Jagmaster
Centre of 12th to pocket = 33mm
Centre of nut to pocket = 17 1/4"
Centre of 12th to bridge (approx) = 12"
Pocket to bridge saddles (approx) = 6 3/4"

Cv Duosonic
Centre of 12th to pocket = 37mm
Centre of nut to pocket = 17 1/2"
Centre of 12th to bridge (approx) = 12"
Pocket to bridge saddles (approx) = 6 3/4"

So u can see they have differences but are supposedly both conversion necks...
The strat scale I measured was also 18 1/2" nut to pocket, 45mm centre of 12th to pocket, 12 3/4" centre of 12th to bridge, and 7" from pocket to saddles...that had a 22 fret 25.5" scale with the overhanging fret...the others have 21 frets..
Hope that's of use!
Hope that's of some use to you

SKC Willie · Post by **SKC Willie** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:43 pm

you should talk to the andrewdoes hair guy . . . .

I know he's built a good amount of conversion neck from scratch, so I'm sure he'd be able/willing to help you out.

Pens · Post by **Pens** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:51 pm

MY HAIR IS FINE. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO IMPLY HERE, ROBBIE??