Jaguar neck on a Tele...?

[advid]

....recently tried a Squire Jaguar and really liked the 24inch scale neck...(got short fingers..!)....Would it be possible (for a skilled luthier) to fit a Squire Jaguar neck onto a Squire Telecaster body.....? That (to me) would be ideal.....

 

[Peegoo]

Yes it's possible; the bridge would need to be modified a little to accommodate the shorter scale (move the saddles/bridge closer to the neck). If you can do simple woodworking, you could do this yourself.

 

[jvin248]

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Easier would be to convert a Jaguar to Tele pickups and controls.


This guitar is interesting in that it's 22.5in scale (or thereabout) that just happens to be the same as taking a Strat/Tele and putting a capo on the second or third fret and uses full sized regular Tele pickups for all the tone. You could try a capo on your current Tele.





Here is the Johnny Marr signature Jaguar that has a Tele 4-way switch in it. ... so the conversion process to Tele has begun



Otherwise, get a Jaguar neck and a Tele body and a top-mount string "half" bridge so you can more easily place the bridge at the correct distance without drilling string through holes. You want the nominal bridge saddles to sit at 24in from the nut or 12in from the 12th fret with wiggle room for intonation. The 'half bridge' option avoids the need to chisel out the bridge pickup cavity using a conventional plate.

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[Lowerleftcoast]

Welcome to TDPRI.

Yes it is possible. There are a few members that have done it.

I too have small paws and I am interested in a short scale tele myself.

 

[Boreas]

....recently tried a Squire Jaguar and really liked the 24inch scale neck...(got short fingers..!)....Would it be possible (for a skilled luthier) to fit a Squire Jaguar neck onto a Squire Telecaster body.....? That (to me) would be ideal.....

My suggestion is to buy the Jag and leave the Tele alone. But if you must, it isn't all that difficult to do yourself - depending on your bridge layout. Just need to move the bridge forward and possibly tweak neck angle. But make sure you have the available space to move the bridge.

 

[davidchagrin]

This has the 24" scale already. Could be a good mod platform.
https://www.rondomusic.com/product9667.html

 

[Freeman Keller]

I have assembled three jagstangs from parts and several scratch built teles. I would be possible to build a 24 inch scale tele but everything would be moved - bridge, pickups. Jagstangs seem to have the body joint at the 17th fret - that moves the neck pocket.

So while it is doable, if I was asked to do it I would start from scratch, decide on the location of the joint and lay out the geometry for the desired scale. It would be a one off neck and body.

ps - don't forget that a 24 inch scale has 88 percent of the string tension compared to a 25.5 using the same strings - many people bump the gauge up a notch or two.

 

[Freeman Keller]

There is one other thing that can be done. Cutting off a 25.5 inch scale neck at the first fret shortens it by 1.431 inches making it almost exactly a 24 inch scale (there is some talk that this is how Fender makes its 24 inch fretboards). It would be relatively easy to make a neck with that fretboard but everything else the same as a standard 25.5. You could put this on any tele body and intonation would work. I don't know of anyone who makes that neck to sell but it might be available.

 

[Deaf Eddie]

Call Warmoth and have them make you a conversion neck. $$$, but NO HASSLES moving the hardware around.

 

[SRBMusic]

This has the 24" scale already. Could be a good mod platform.
https://www.rondomusic.com/product9667.html

I bought one of these, looking for an inexpensive way to get a short scale Tele. The guitar is well made and plays well after a basic setup. It has just as much twang and spank as my 1983 AS, if not more. The tuners might need an upgrade at some point. However, in real life, the guitar is smaller than it looks! Neck width at the nut is very tight for my relatively slim fingers, and the guitar makes me look like I’m 6’4”, 220 lbs, when I’m actually 5’10”, 160. If I try for a short scale Tele again, I would try the replacement neck from Warmoth, Mighty Mite, etc. That would look proportional, and give more width at the nut.

 

[Freeman Keller]

Call Warmoth and have them make you a conversion neck. $$$, but NO HASSLES moving the hardware around.

I could be wrong but I think Warmoth only makes the Gibson (24.625) and bari conversion necks. I believe their Jag/mustang necks are designed for jag/mustang bodies. The necks on the guitars in post #7 are Warmoth 24 inch for jagstangs.

Worth a call, however

 

[Willie Johnson]

There seems to be an easier way to arrive at this outcome. ([But] I'm [not] a luthier, baby, so why don't you skill me...)

 

[Freeman Keller]

There seems to be an easier way to arrive at this outcome. ([But] I'm [not] a luthier, baby, so why don't you skill me...)

Willie, its actually pretty simple. When someone designs a new guitar the first thing they pick is the scale length. That is one of the most important things affecting playability. Scale sets the amount of tension in the strings for a given tuning, has a lot to do with the mix of fundamentals and partials (ie how it sounds). Once you've selected a scale you decide where the neck to body join is going to be - it might be the 14th or 16th or 18th fret. Again, a bunch of factors come into play. With those two measurements everything else falls in place - bridge location, pickups, yadda yadda yadda.

A long time ago Leo Fender selected 25.5 inch for his scale length (it was a popular one with classical guitar builders) and put the body joint at the 16th fret, or 15.380 from the nut. That means the uncompensated location of the bridge is 10.120 inches from the body joint. All is well because both the neck and body are built to those dimentions.

Advid want to put a 24 inch scale neck on a body that has the bridge located for a 25.5. It ain't gonna work. Well, actually it can be made to work by moving things all around. It makes no sense to do that with an existing body and neck, it makes a lot of sense to do it from scratch. The Jaguar/Mustang guitar does have a 24 inch scale, the joint is at the 17th fret (more or less) and the bridge is in the correct location for that guitar. Advids simplest option is to buy or build a parts jagstang with tele pups and bridge and whatever else he wants.

A kind of interesting option is that if you put a capo on a 25.5 inch guitar at the first fret you basically have a 24 inch scale (its a hair more). That opens the idea that if Advid took a standard tele and simply wacked off the neck at the first fret and moved the head back and reconnected it.... You won't find too many luthiers who would do that, but I would certainly make a shorter neck with a fretboard that had been shortened. Its even possible that someone sells such a board.

So, bottom line, changing the scale on an existing guitar is possible but a nightmare, building one from scratch to Advid's specifications is very doable.

 

[naomimoan]

A few years back Fender actually made a short scale Telecaster. I remember trying one & not being too impressed...

 

[Freeman Keller]

One way you can get a feel for how much you will like it is to throw a capo on a standard tele at the first fret and tune down to concert. That will give you the fret spacing of the 24 inch scale, the shorter neck and the lighter tension.