25.5 scale 24 fret neck on 7/8th scale body.

[Dstyles75]

Imagine this... A full 25.5" scale 24 fret neck on a routed 7/8ths scale strat body.

I know, I know.  It won't work, intonation, what ever.  I think it will.  Hear me out please.

The reason a 24 fret 25.5" scale neck does not work as a direct replacement for a 22 fret neck is because of the extra frets.  A 24 fret neck if used to directly replace a 22 fret neck, would move the nut farther away from the bridge, and therefore changing the intonation.

Here's the kicker... The distance from the neck pocket to the bridge on a 7/8s scale body is shorter because of the smaller scale making up the difference for the extra two frets.

A while ago, I ordered a 25.5" scale 24 fret neck thinking I would rout my own body.  I put that idea on the shelf and decided to build a 7/8 scale strat.  I just got the 7/8 body, and looking at it, wondered if my 25.5 scale neck would fit.  It is so damn close, I'm sure adjustable saddles could make up the difference.  Look at the pictures and let me know what you think?

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Rick]

Try it.  The worst thing that will happen is buy another neck.  Probably won't work.

 

[Cowbell Fever!]

I really dunno, but you will need some travel for the saddles.

 

[gingataff]

Put a bridge on on and measure from the low e or g string saddles

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

The picture of the neck positioned on the body does not seem right to me.  The 24 fret neck has a long fretboard overhang and the 7/8 strat body is not designed to accommodate it.  Can you confirm if the heel of the neck is properly located in the neck pocket.

PS:  Where did you obtain this 24 fret neck?

 

[stratamania]

The reason a 24 fret 25.5" scale neck does not work as a direct replacement for a 22 fret neck is because of the extra frets.

It is not because of the extra frets it is because of scale length and neck pocket placement along that length. You could have 36 frets along the same scale length between neck and bridge but it would be where the neck joint or pocket is that needs to move to accommodate such a set up.

Of course you can assemble it and experiment but the reason the neck you have shown fits at all is that a 7/8 neck is essentially the same neck blank as used for a 25.5" neck (see video below). But it will not intonate. As can be seen from your photos the bridge posts and trem cavity would have to be about 1/2" away give or take from where they currently are.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLLBquv-OD4[/youtube]

 

[PhilHill]

Quite so Stratamania. The neck is the same as any Warmoth neck as far as length. It fits into the same neck pocket as normal. The difference is in the length between the neck pocket and the bridge location. The body is 7/8 normal size, therefore the distance between the pocket and the bridge will be shorter than that of a full size body. The 24 fret neck is done by changing the length of the fret board, not the length of the neck. At least to my understanding..... :headbang: 

 

[rlefty]

Quite so Stratamania. The neck is the same as any Warmoth neck as far as length. It fits into the same neck pocket as normal. The difference is in the length between the neck pocket and the bridge location. The body is 7/8 normal size, therefore the distance between the pocket and the bridge will be shorter than that of a full size body. The 24 fret neck is done by changing the length of the fret board, not the length of the neck. At least to my understanding..... :headbang:

Yeah the way the scale conversion on normal bodies with a 24 3/4" scale neck (or any conversion, for that matter) is done is by altering the placement of the fingerboard on the neck. If you think about it, there are one variable and two fixed widths:

Fixed:
The distance from the nut to the 12th fret (x2) determines the scale. (C)
The distance from the heel pocket to the bridge, which is standard on a normal strat body to Fender spec. (B)

Variable:
The distance from the 12th fret of the fingerboard to the actual heel of the neck. (A)

As long as A + B = C (modulo the distance you can move your saddles for intonation) you're good. If A + B != C you're gonna have some wince faces....

I don't know what the measurements are on a 7/8 body but the same thing applies always with A, B and C.

 

[Cowbell Fever!]

Maybe pull all the frets, fill in with epoxy and go fretless!

 

[PhilHill]

Yeah the way the scale conversion on normal bodies with a 24 3/4" scale neck (or any conversion, for that matter) is done is by altering the placement of the fingerboard on the neck. If you think about it, there are one variable and two fixed widths:

Fixed:
The distance from the nut to the 12th fret (x2) determines the scale. (C)
The distance from the heel pocket to the bridge, which is standard on a normal strat body to Fender spec. (B)

Variable:
The distance from the 12th fret of the fingerboard to the actual heel of the neck. (A)

As long as A + B = C (modulo the distance you can move your saddles for intonation) you're good. If A + B != C you're gonna have some wince faces....

I don't know what the measurements are on a 7/8 body but the same thing applies always with A, B and C.

I see your point, however, allow me to ask if you've ever done this procedure on a pre-built neck ? This can open up a whole nutter can of worms you see. Besides the reshaping and alignment issues, there's the pickup location to consider. The adjustment for the truss rod, etc. All probably doable but how far ya wanna go with it ? ..... :icon_thumright:

 

[stratamania]

Whilst it was mentioned earlier that the 7/8 neck blank is effectively the same as a 25.5 neck blank both with overhangs for the 24th fret on the 7/8 versus the 22nd on a 25.5 the distance between the end of the neck pocket and bridge placement will be enough so one will not intonate on the other. You cannot escape the fact that one scale length is 3/4" shorter than the other nut to bridge which cannot be dealt with via saddle adjustment.

A way to see how different from the neck pocket to where the bridge will be between the two is to print out the pickguard fit templates, which can be found at the bottom of the pickguard pages for each pickguard.

https://warmoth.com/index.php/pickguards

 

[rlefty]

Yeah the way the scale conversion on normal bodies with a 24 3/4" scale neck (or any conversion, for that matter) is done is by altering the placement of the fingerboard on the neck. If you think about it, there are one variable and two fixed widths:

Fixed:
The distance from the nut to the 12th fret (x2) determines the scale. (C)
The distance from the heel pocket to the bridge, which is standard on a normal strat body to Fender spec. (B)

Variable:
The distance from the 12th fret of the fingerboard to the actual heel of the neck. (A)

As long as A + B = C (modulo the distance you can move your saddles for intonation) you're good. If A + B != C you're gonna have some wince faces....

I don't know what the measurements are on a 7/8 body but the same thing applies always with A, B and C.

I see your point, however, allow me to ask if you've ever done this procedure on a pre-built neck ? This can open up a whole nutter can of worms you see. Besides the reshaping and alignment issues, there's the pickup location to consider. The adjustment for the truss rod, etc. All probably doable but how far ya wanna go with it ? ..... :icon_thumright:

Me? No way. I'm just trying to explain the geometry. I'd suggest the neck has to really be built this way from the beginning. To accommodate this, using the formula above, it's probably pretty easy for someone who is building a neck from scratch (who already *can* build a neck from scratch) to accomplish this. But on an existing neck, no way.

 

[BroccoliRob]

yo I'm all hyped up over here waiting to see how this turns out, plz follow up with us OP.