lets talk scale length

so i am working on a tele with a pine body and 1/4" maple top. got my plan from byog and cut it all out and now i am getting down to pre finish assembly and the neck i had originally bought was used on another project , so i picked up a jackson neck(24 fret)real cheap the pocket is tight. but the scale length to the located bridge is 26 1/4" from the nut. i can only move the saddles away from the nut. what are my options besides buying a new neck?

Assuming the scale length of the neck is 25.5" (which most Jacksons would be)

You could:
Re route the neck pocket to the correct size (about 3/4" further toward the bridge).
or
Re mount the bridge 3/4" of an inch forward (toward the neck pocket).

Both of these would have cons. The former is probably preferable. It's very likely that in that case you might have to extend the neck pocket route all the way into the neck pickup route, but that'll still work (many 24 fret guitars are manufactured like that).

The simplest thing is to get the right neck :wink:. Failing that, pull the 22nd fret out of the jackson, and whack the neck off right there :shock: :lol:. Reshape the heel until your scale matches, then plug the neck screw holes and redrill to fit the body......................that's about it :razz:

The simplest thing is to get the right neck :wink:. Failing that, pull the 22nd fret out of the jackson, and whack the neck off right there :shock: :lol:. Reshape the heel until your scale matches, then plug the neck screw holes and redrill to fit the body......................that's about it :razz:

Hey, that's a good idea! The only reason I can think there might be a problem with that is if the truss rod is of a type that might be in the way of the cut. If it's not, I'd say go for it. 21 frets ought to be enough for most of us - it's plenty for me!

Good Luck,
Rex

I have a wrecked Jackson 24fret neck at home.

I'll hack the heel up tonight & let you know how deep the trussrod end is. It's no loss to me. I'm only keeping it to learn how to refret, level & crown because the headstock is busted up.

Having said that, Jackson necks with 22 frets are pretty common, I'm sure you could pick one up from Ebay for sensible money, and they are the same dimensions as Fender necks except the heel is usually 2 1/4" wide (heel width applies for pretty much all 80's, 90's & early 00's Jackson & Charvel necks).

You can also only cut the heel of the neck and let the fretboard extend. Like on most 24 fret fenders. Watch out for the trussrod... as stated before.

Cutting frets off may not solve the problem, depending on how the scale length is set
up on the body, vs. the install of the bridge though, right? The measurement would still
be the same from the nut to the 12th, which means the same distance needs to be
applied from the 12th to the center of the bridge, or am I missing something?

Not just cutting frets off, removing a chunk from the entire heel, allowing the neck to seat further into the body, thereby bringing the scale length back to 25 1/2".

There are 24 frets but the scale length/fret spacing is already 25.5, so all that needs to match is the nut to 12 and 12 to bridge. If the truss rod extends to close to the heel then extending the neck pocket seems the only choice unless you slap a std tele neck on, if I am understanding the current bridge placement.

or leave it alone. Some music requires neither being in tune or intonation. :)

I don't really wanna cut it up. I will recheck the measurement from nut to 12 and 12 to bridge. If not it looks like I will be trolling the bay for a new one. Thanks for the great comments.
Also if I did cut the neck how much would that change the heel width.

As the heels are very slightly tapered, it would probably take just enough off the width to allow it to fit in a standard Fender 2 3/16th pocket, but best to measure to be certain. You can do this now, just measure the width 3/4" from the heel.

C'mon Timmy, cut it!! We're all fired up about that idea now :lol:

Rex

I will recheck the measurement from nut to 12 and 12 to bridge
And you will find the distance from the 12th to the bridge to be longer

26 1/4" is a banjo scale length.......maybe you could convert it into a banjo. You could make the neck pocket 3/4" longer or cut the end of the neck and over hang the finger board or split the difference.
I'd buy another neck.

The simplest thing is to get the right neck :wink:. Failing that, pull the 22nd fret out of the jackson, and whack the neck off right there :shock: :lol:. Reshape the heel until your scale matches, then plug the neck screw holes and redrill to fit the body......................that's about it :razz:

Even if you were able to do this without truss rod problems, wouldn't there be an issue of spacing between all frets, up and down the fingerboard? On a longer scale guitar, the frets are farther apart than on a shorter scale guitar. Thus, it seems to me that even if you matched up the 12th fret right in the middle, everything else would be a little off. Wouldn't it? I mean, you can't put a bass neck on a mandolin.

Even if you were able to do this without truss rod problems, wouldn't there be an issue of spacing between all frets, up and down the fingerboard? On a longer scale guitar, the frets are farther apart than on a shorter scale guitar. Thus, it seems to me that even if you matched up the 12th fret right in the middle, everything else would be a little off. Wouldn't it? I mean, you can't put a bass neck on a mandolin.

The 24 fret neck is (most likely) 25.5" scale length, which means if you managed to "trim" it until the 12th fret was 12.75" away from the bridge saddles, then all the frets would be in the correct place.

Yep. Longer neck does not equal longer scale.

The 24 fret neck is (most likely) 25.5" scale length, which means if you managed to "trim" it until the 12th fret was 12.75" away from the bridge saddles, then all the frets would be in the correct place.

Guess it depends on the scale length of the Jackson neck, which I personally have no idea about, other than the fact that Fender now owns Jackson. Why do you say most likely?

Guess it depends on the scale length of the Jackson neck, which I personally have no idea about, other than the fact that Fender now owns Jackson. Why do you say most likely?

Because the vast majority of (6 string) post-super-strat/heavy metal guitar designs feature a fender (25.5) scale length. There are of course some gibson scale length (24.75) and even the occasional PRS/Danelectro 25", but usually if it has 24 frets and came off a Jackson, Charvel, ESP, Ibanez, Schecter, etc. it's going to be 25.5" scale length.

but usually if it has 24 frets and came off a Jackson, Charvel, ESP, Ibanez, Schecter, etc. it's going to be 25.5" scale length.

Correct (except for the VERY occasional 27") . Of course I should have suggested the OP measure that neck from the nut to the 12th fret, then we would know. But it matters little, as he wants to measure it from the 12th to the bridge (which we already know is wrong) and does not want to cut it. As I said, the simplest thing, for him, is to get the correct neck. All else being equal :lol:

so i broke and bought a cheap neck out of china. but can someone get into the techical side of scale length? why and how does it work from the gibson 24.75 to the 25.5?

http://liutaiomottola.com/formulae/fret.htm

Bridge placement is based on the scale length. This is why you can't just stick any old neck on and expect it to intonate. It has to be a scale measurement that the saddles can adjust to.

That was a great deal of information.thanks for putting that up.

I'm new to this forum and just posted my problem, but alot is being talked about on this thread, my idea is to rip off my rosewood fretboard and put on an ebony fretboard with binding, at this stage is it possible to put a 24.75 scale length fretboard on a tele neck thats 25.5?

I'm new to this forum and just posted my problem, but alot is being talked about on this thread, my idea is to rip off my rosewood fretboard and put on an ebony fretboard with binding, at this stage is it possible to put a 24.75 scale length fretboard on a tele neck thats 25.5?

Yes you can. Because the 24.75" scale fretboard is shorter, you can cram in 22 frets with no overhang on a tele neck. In fact, I'm doing this for a customer right now!

... you can't put a bass neck on a mandolin.

Dang it! Now I have to come up with something else for next year's challenge :cry:

Dang it! Now I have to come up with something else for next year's challenge :cry:

Do it anyway! Just to prove him wrong!

Dang it! Now I have to come up with something else for next year's challenge :cry:

Do it anyway! Just to prove him wrong!

:lol::lol::lol:

Hey guys, I saw this thread and the knowledge posted throughout it, and was wondering if you had a fix for this problem?
I play Jackson guitars, and have 'modded' several throughout the years, but just came into a problem similar to the one on this thread.
I have a Jackson Rhoads body, and I bought a Jackson DK2M 24 fret Neck (25.5 scale length) and apparently the body doesnt fit that scale neck, although it DID say so when i bought it on eBay... lol.
Anyways, is there a way i can just like route out more of the neck pocket by the neck Pickup to make it fit? And how much should i route out? I need all 24 frets and have the guitar setup, but obviously can NOT play it due to the intonation not being there.
Hope there's a fix to this i can do myself! Thanks.

Hey guys, I saw this thread and the knowledge posted throughout it, and was wondering if you had a fix for this problem?
I play Jackson guitars, and have 'modded' several throughout the years, but just came into a problem similar to the one on this thread.
I have a Jackson Rhoads body, and I bought a Jackson DK2M 24 fret Neck (25.5 scale length) and apparently the body doesnt fit that scale neck, although it DID say so when i bought it on eBay... lol.
Anyways, is there a way i can just like route out more of the neck pocket by the neck Pickup to make it fit? And how much should i route out? I need all 24 frets and have the guitar setup, but obviously can NOT play it due to the intonation not being there.
Hope there's a fix to this i can do myself! Thanks.

Without the guitar in hand, we won't be able to answer your question. The best thing to do is to get the proper neck for your guitar.

If you want to modifiy the guitar, IMO< the best method is to re-route the neck pocket.

You could always...and I say this if it isn't an expensive vintage guitar....cut off some of the heel and just have the fretboard overhang. Many necks have a longer heel because of the extra frets. I did this on a yamaha neck to fit in a regular neck cavity. You need to make sure you aren't sawing into the truss rod or anchor/ adjustment nut. Most regular Fender length cavities are 3" long. Doing this kind of ruins the resale price that the neck is worth though, but the same holds true for routing out the body too.

Hey guys, I saw this thread and the knowledge posted throughout it, and was wondering if you had a fix for this problem?
I play Jackson guitars, and have 'modded' several throughout the years, but just came into a problem similar to the one on this thread.
I have a Jackson Rhoads body, and I bought a Jackson DK2M 24 fret Neck (25.5 scale length) and apparently the body doesnt fit that scale neck, although it DID say so when i bought it on eBay... lol.
Anyways, is there a way i can just like route out more of the neck pocket by the neck Pickup to make it fit? And how much should i route out? I need all 24 frets and have the guitar setup, but obviously can NOT play it due to the intonation not being there.
Hope there's a fix to this i can do myself! Thanks.



Welcome to the forum! :smile:

It's easy (in spite of people's best efforts to make it hard). Measure from the nut end of the fretboard to the 12th fret, multiply by 2..................that's your fretscale :wink:
IF, it's 25.5, set the neck on your body, measuring from the nut end of the fretboard to the center of the bridge. Check where the neck strikes the body....................can you rerout the neck pocket to fit, or trim the neck? If you can, fine............if you can't (or cannot do the work)...............buy the correct neck and save yourself a headache :wink: