Hey everyone, first time posting here. I've been wanting to try a 7/8 size guitar lately, but the warhead design is not my ideal look for a headstock. Seeing how that is the only 7/8 neck Warmoth offers, I am wondering if it may be possible to use a Gibson scaled 22 fret Vortex neck with a 7/8 body (either Strat or Tele). To my understanding, the intonation would be off if I coupled a standard neck with a 7/8 body. However, could the intonation issue be solved if I measured and drilled the bridge placement myself? If so, I'm assuming I would also need to route the pickup cavities myself (neck and bridge humbuckers) to make sure they sit at the proper point along the scale. Is that correct? Are there any unforseen issues I might be overlooking, such as neck to body weight ratio and making sure the weight is balanced? Any advice is greatly appreciated!
7/8 Body with Standard Size Neck
- Thread starter lusmic
- Start date
Fat Pete
Hero Member
- Messages
- 1,656
Hi lusmic, welcome to the forum. You could certainly do that - the bridge would just need to be about 3/4" further from the nut.
No issue with balance as W's 7/8 necks are the same size as 25 1/2" necks, just with a 24 3/4" scale fretboard attached, so by using a Gibson conversion neck you'd probably actually improve the balance.
Issues:
You'd have to go rear route or design your own custom pickguard as the available ones wouldn't work.
Aesthetics - the bridge position and pickup placement might look a little 'off' relative to the body outline. Mock it up in a graphics program first so you have an idea of how it would look. Hand position etc. will also be affected.
You'd have a bunch of work to do. It sounds like you're happy routing pickup cavities and drilling/routing for the bridge - you'd also have the fun job of drilling the wire holes.
Good luck and report back!
No issue with balance as W's 7/8 necks are the same size as 25 1/2" necks, just with a 24 3/4" scale fretboard attached, so by using a Gibson conversion neck you'd probably actually improve the balance.
Issues:
You'd have to go rear route or design your own custom pickguard as the available ones wouldn't work.
Aesthetics - the bridge position and pickup placement might look a little 'off' relative to the body outline. Mock it up in a graphics program first so you have an idea of how it would look. Hand position etc. will also be affected.
You'd have a bunch of work to do. It sounds like you're happy routing pickup cavities and drilling/routing for the bridge - you'd also have the fun job of drilling the wire holes.
Good luck and report back!
stratamania
Mythical Status
- Messages
- 11,387
Hi Lusmic, welcome also to the forum.
In addition to the advice from @Fat Pete an alternate approach would be to buy a body blank routed for a bridge and pickup cavities etc. Then cut the outline of the body to the size and shape you require. The conversion necks will intonate with those options.
In addition to the advice from @Fat Pete an alternate approach would be to buy a body blank routed for a bridge and pickup cavities etc. Then cut the outline of the body to the size and shape you require. The conversion necks will intonate with those options.
JohnnyHardtail
Senior Member
- Messages
- 547
Do you simply want a 7/8 scale strat, but using 22fret instead of 24? Warmoth already offer a conversion neck to do that for a wide variety of bodies. However the conversion necks are only offered with Warmoth modern truss-rod design, and reportedly requires some adjustment of the saddle position by several millmetres.
Similar threads
