ShortScale.org

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 ?

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.

what about one of those chinese jagmaster conversion necks?

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

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.

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

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.

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?

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

Oh the confusion. I remember thee too well

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.