crazy conversion neck idea

[quarterpound]

I think the proportions look amazing. Nice looking guitar! How's it play?

[chrissh]

Thanks. It plays really well. The whole form feels (literally) scaled down, so it is a different experience, almost like a piccolo guitar. It still feels like a guitar, and it's much bigger than a ukulele or mandolin, so it's not incredibly tiny. I guess timbre is the biggest difference, this having rounder highs and fuller mids than a longer scale, and not as slinky feeling. Not quite as much sustain either, though that could be because the saddles are moved so far forward.

[017493816]

I can't imagine why you'd do it. Is there something I'm missing about a 22.5" scale that's a good thing?

Depends on your size... Shorter scales can make for a very different playing feel for the little peeps.

[northern_dirt]

I'm huge and prefer shorter scale.. I never got along with the jazz master I had

[chrissh]

Make no mistake, this feels quite different than a 24" Jag or a 24.65" Gibson. It is short short. But yeah, you can use very light strings and tune it really high, or average strings and tune it up a step or two, or use heavy strings and tune it to standard pitch. And all will sound and feel different.

[ohm-men]

a few years back I buid a non reverse firebird with an old czech made Futurama neck from the mid sixties. Neck is 23" scale and pretty small.
I paired it with a cheap P-90 ceramic pu, Tom and a non trem string plate (pretty simelar to that of a Jm)

It's in std. tuning with a set of 0.11- 0.50 strings. It has a unique sound, indeed less sustain, but much growl. Lows are fat and highs are nicely articulated. The shorter scale sounds much snapier then my Jaguar. It also sounds huge in drop D and with a slide.

[chrissh]

That's really cool, ohm. You mention growl, I was surprised how much this short scale overwhelmed the pickups. They "hear" a proportionally longer length of string.

[antagony]

So, in summary, you can put a 22.75" neck on a 25.5" scale body and it will work without moving the bridge?

[tqi]

-

[antagony]

Hey guys, here's a side by side with my wife's 25.5" scale Hello Kitty Squire and my in-progress Mini Strat for my son. Here are some measurements:

Squire Hello Kitty 25.5"
12th fret to neck heel = 5.75"
saddle to neck heel = 7"
Scale length = 25.5"

Mini Strat 22.75"
12th fret to neck heel = 4.5"
saddle to neck heel = 6.85"
Scale length = 22.7"



The Mini Strat's 12th fret moves in proportion to its length. If I put the Mini Strat neck on the Hello Kitty 25.5" body, the distance from the saddle to the 12th fret would be 11.5" or 23" scale. We would then need to move the saddles 0.125" to intonate to 22.75". This must be how users have easily put their 25.5" necks on the 22.75" bodies with no modification to the bridge placement. A slight adjustment to the saddles seems to do the trick.