ShortScale.org

I forced holycats to make a 30" scale conversion neck for my Jazzmaster so that I could play a bass VI instrument in his band (which I also forced my way into). Here's the progress (next to a picture of my also-to-be-completed shortscale bass). The Jazzmaster just needs the frets and nut installed, and to be setup.

It's got a generic Jazz Trem, no rhythm circuit, 1meg pots, and some 50's vintage correct pickups that I wound up for it. The neck is one-piece maple, and the body is pine.

With the conversion neck, I can swap back to the jazzmaster neck without needing to any modifications other than changing the strings and removing the neck.

very cool. what is the actually scale length of the neck?

robert(original) wrote:very cool. what is the actually scale length of the neck?

Thanks! It's a 30" scale neck

is the bridge in the standard jazzmaster spot?

robert(original) wrote:is the bridge in the standard jazzmaster spot?

Yeah, he made it so that the bridge would stay in the original spot so that the necks could be swapped out easily, and we wouldn't have to move anything on the body.

im perplexed, i was under the impression that was impossible to do, i thought i had tried...... wait,.... i had tried on a jaguar for aen. not a jazzy.

Yeah I'm super curious about the details on this one, can you provide any kind of detailed specs as if someone were to replicate this?

Pens wrote:Yeah I'm super curious about the details on this one, can you provide any kind of detailed specs as if someone were to replicate this?

Measure from bridge to neck pocket. Lets say it is 6 3/4 inches. That means the neck has to be 23 1/4 inch nut to butt to make up the 30". Then for a 30" scale neck you need frets at 42.768, 40.368, 38.102, 35.964, 33.945, 32.040, 30.242, 28.544, 26.942, 52.430, 24.003, 22.656, 21.384, 20.184, 19.051, 17.982, 16.972, 16.020, 15.121, 14.272, 13.471, 12.715, 12.001, 11.328 mm increments from the nut. you might be able to get a couple more frets in there at the butt end of the neck but I would have to do math the get them.

cur wrote:

Pens wrote:Yeah I'm super curious about the details on this one, can you provide any kind of detailed specs as if someone were to replicate this?

Measure from bridge to neck pocket. Lets say it is 6 3/4 inches. That means the neck has to be 23 1/4 inch nut to butt to make up the 30". Then for a 30" scale neck you need frets at 42.768, 40.368, 38.102, 35.964, 33.945, 32.040, 30.242, 28.544, 26.942, 52.430, 24.003, 22.656, 21.384, 20.184, 19.051, 17.982, 16.972, 16.020, 15.121, 14.272, 13.471, 12.715, 12.001, 11.328 mm increments from the nut. you might be able to get a couple more frets in there at the butt end of the neck but I would have to do math the get them.

yes, that's how you do it. As I recall, HolyCats started by plotting where the twelfth fret would need to be (15" from the original location of the bridge), used a fender neck template to get the general dimension of the heel for the neck pocket, and plotted accordingly.

This looks like a cool project. I don't think you'll miss the rhythm circuit, honestly. When I replaced the three-way toggle on mine I did a bit of rewiring while I was in there - I disconnected the rhythm circuit completely and threw the wires away.

One track I recorded recently was half-step drop D (drop C#?), using the same .10-.46 strings I usually use. If I start doing downtuned stuff more often I might need a baritone or bass VI-style guitar. Hmm...

robert(original) wrote:im perplexed, i was under the impression that was impossible to do, i thought i had tried...... wait,.... i had tried on a jaguar for aen. not a jazzy.

Yar. I havent ever seen a 25.5" to 30" conversion neck, just the 28 5/8" ones that warmoth makes.
Also, anyone whos modded something to something like VI specs will tell you, they list 30" scale, but they are actually 30 1/3" This is the case with the Bronco bass as well, that's the kind of neck Robert put on the jag. The bridge had to go way back! But it worked, more or less.

The neck was made from scratch. You can make it whatever scale you want. Then do the math to figure where the frets go. So it was made as an exact 30" conversion neck. Or at least that is how I'm am reading it. If you want 30" then the fret distances I listed are correct.

Concretebadger wrote:This looks like a cool project. I don't think you'll miss the rhythm circuit, honestly. When I replaced the three-way toggle on mine I did a bit of rewiring while I was in there - I disconnected the rhythm circuit completely and threw the wires away.

One track I recorded recently was half-step drop D (drop C#?), using the same .10-.46 strings I usually use. If I start doing downtuned stuff more often I might need a baritone or bass VI-style guitar. Hmm...

Yeah, I've not missed the rhythm circuit yet, and I've been playing the jazzmaster as a standard guitar for a while. A few years back I had a Jazzmaster with the rhythm circuit, and found it useful enough, but I really didn't see a need to put in this guitar. Maybe I'll throw a fuzz circuit in that space.

aen wrote:

robert(original) wrote:im perplexed, i was under the impression that was impossible to do, i thought i had tried...... wait,.... i had tried on a jaguar for aen. not a jazzy.

Yar. I havent ever seen a 25.5" to 30" conversion neck, just the 28 5/8" ones that warmoth makes.
Also, anyone whos modded something to something like VI specs will tell you, they list 30" scale, but they are actually 30 1/3" This is the case with the Bronco bass as well, that's the kind of neck Robert put on the jag. The bridge had to go way back! But it worked, more or less.

Yeah, I've never seen one for sale either, although, I've heard that the Danelectro baritone necks might be 30" conversion necks with a tele heel (I havent been able to test it for sure), so that's why we had to make one from scratch. This one is an even 30" scale, just like all of the shortscale basses we've been making. hopefully this thing will be setup in a few days.

cur wrote:The neck was made from scratch. You can make it whatever scale you want. Then do the math to figure where the frets go. So it was made as an exact 30" conversion neck. Or at least that is how I'm am reading it. If you want 30" then the fret distances I listed are correct.

That's exactly it.

mathmatically, yes. ut. as luck would have it, string size affects string oscilation, and that in tern can also wreak havoc on intonation. i.e. sounding a bit sharp or flat when it shouldwork out. in reality, the guitar is a bitch instrument, and the bass as we know it i a bastard. if we were going to stick frets in the mother fuckers we should have stuck with the english tuning that they originated from. and not adapted this spanish style stuff. but then again. most folks can make it work just fine.

robert(original) wrote:mathmatically, yes. ut. as luck would have it, string size affects string oscilation, and that in tern can also wreak havoc on intonation. i.e. sounding a bit sharp or flat when it shouldwork out. in reality, the guitar is a bitch instrument, and the bass as we know it i a bastard. if we were going to stick frets in the mother fuckers we should have stuck with the english tuning that they originated from. and not adapted this spanish style stuff. but then again. most folks can make it work just fine.

huh.

the g string can never properly intonate. ever seen one of those "tru" necks? the frets are all wavy and weird.
i can't remember all the history but the guitar is a mesh of 1 style of instrument and then adapted to another style of tuning, and well. it just never really was perfected. becuz in reality, its impossible to perfect. so we make do.
do som re-search you'll find out some crazy shit.

I don't think Toez is planning on doing pitch perfect Malmsteen arpeggio solos above the 12th fret (at least I hope not for the sake of my sanity). I think it will be fine for playing garage rock bass lines. I wasn't trying to revolutionize the 6 string bass world, I was just making a cheap-o bass 6 style neck for my friend.

So none of these will intonate either?

because according to the specs they are 30" scale. . .

Fabulous work as always, gents. Excited to see/hear/taste the results.

Always love to see others jumping into the six-string bass world.

I love my Gretsch tuned E-E but fuck those awful D'addario Bass VI strings. The E has the tension of melted dildo.