Acoustasonic conversion?

[Mitch]

Does anyone here know if a Warmoth Gibson scale conversion neck would fit/work on a Fender Acoustasonic?

 

[stratamania]

I cannot say for certain, although I have not seen one up close.

But from what I can ascertain from photos of a Jazzmaster neck heel of the Acoustasonic I could see on the Stratosphere, it has a squared off heel unlike the electric counterpart but a curved overhang. I suspect the Tele will be squared off in both situations. The Strat version may be curved like its electric counterpart, for the overhang but the heel itself may be square like the Jazzmaster version.

The Acoustasonics, have 22 fret necks and I can see from one photo that an overhang is used for the 22nd fret. There was not enough detail to say for certain whether the overhang starts in the same place dimensionally as on an electric version.

The neck and body use the rounded contoured heel mounting, so if the hole positioning turns out to be the same along the scale length as on an electric counterpart you will have an incompatibility issue as one of the screws will be in conflict with the side adjust mechanism as all Modern construction necks which the 24 3/4" conversion necks also employ unless you use a tilted headstock version which does not use the side-adjust.

So in summary, there is a possibility one could be made to fit, but there is a good chance that it is not a direct drop-in replacement and may not be compatible without some modification.

If you have the Acoustasonic already and don't mind taking the neck off etc posting some photos, and some measurements I can help you further.

 

[mayfly]

To add to what stratamainia said, also measure the distance between the base of the neck pocket and the bridge. Just to ensure that once you have the neck mounted it will intonate properly.

 

[Mitch]

I recently posted a thread about a low cost truss rod cover for tilt-back necks. In that post I acknowledged with much gratitude the response posted here by Stratamania. I now have a Gibson conversion neck on my Acoustasonic Player Telecaster. I use Ernie Ball Earthwood custom medium gauge (12.5-56) strings and tune the guitar to D standard. I play regularly in an acoustic duo. A few songs I transpose for D standard and for the others I use a capo, mostly at frets 1, 2 and 4. Before the Acoustasonic I played my trusty Ovation Custom Legend. I was surprised at how much better the Acoustasonic sounds plugged into a PA. The Ovation now resides in its case. Heavier gauge acoustic strings really shine on the Acoustasonic with the lowered tuning and the Gibson scale. Fender markets the Acoustasonic as a hybrid guitar. It's really an acoustic guitar that looks and feels like an electric. I love it.

I received requests in the truss rod cover thread to post photos of the details of how I fitted a Vortex tilt-back neck to the Acoustasonic. So here they are. Thanks again Stratmania. If not for your post here on the forum I'd probably still be playing the Ovation.

 

[Rick]

What's the dime for? Actually I gotta go try an acoustic sonic, I've always been a big fan of ovations. Just curious, what about the acoustic sonic sound is better than the ocation. What makes it that way?

I see Franklin has a dent in his face.

 

[TBurst Std]

It’s for the micro-tilt.
Notice the hole in the neck plate below Mexico?

 

[Mitch]

That's FDR's face on the dime. The dent is from the micro-tilt screw. The dime is a bit softer than the steel disc that was on the Fender neck but it works well enough to protect the wood.

My Ovation Custom Legend has an OP Pro pre-amp. It has much more EQ capacity than the Acoustasonic. However that does not translate to a more natural acoustic tone. Fender and Fishman really did an amazing job capturing an authentic acoustic tone. The key is the blend control which is in the location usually used for the tone knob. It's very easy to dial in the player's preference between a dreadnaught and a small body acoustic. I have not been able to compare the tone to something like a Taylor with the Expression system, but is does sound great. One of the best features of the acoustasonic is the small size and light weight. It weighs only 5 lbs, which is 2 lbs less than my 7/8 Warmoth Strat.

 

[stratamania]

Many thanks for posting how you got on. Hopefully, it may be useful to someone else wanting to do such a conversion.

The overall look works well with the headstock shape etc.

 

[oliviaadair]

I recently posted a thread about a low cost truss rod cover for tilt-back necks. In that post I acknowledged with much gratitude the response posted here by Stratamania. I now have a Gibson conversion neck on my Acoustasonic Player Telecaster. I use Ernie Ball Earthwood custom medium gauge (12.5-56) strings and tune the guitar to D standard. I play regularly in an acoustic duo. A few songs I transpose for D standard and for the others I use a capo, mostly at frets 1, 2 and 4. Before the Acoustasonic I played my trusty Ovation Custom Legend. I was surprised at how much better the Acoustasonic sounds plugged into a PA. The Ovation now resides in its case. Heavier gauge acoustic strings really shine on the Acoustasonic with the lowered tuning and the Gibson scale. Fender markets the Acoustasonic as a hybrid guitar. It's really an acoustic guitar that looks and feels like an electric. I love it.

I received requests in the truss rod cover thread to post photos of the details of how I fitted a Vortex tilt-back neck to the Acoustasonic. So here they are. Thanks again Stratmania. If not for your post here on the forum I'd probably still be playing the Ovation.

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Thank you for sharing.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I had the Strat version come across my bench about two months ago and I was quite impressed at well put together these were. Tolerances were very tight. Nice instrument.

 

[oliviaadair]

I had the Strat version come across my bench about two months ago and I was quite impressed at well put together these were. Tolerances were very tight. Nice instrument.

I would love to see some of your works on that strat.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I would love to see some of your works on that strat.

It was nothing really. Came in for a “sympathetic vibration”. Which turned out to be a bit of slack on the pickup mounting spring. Stretched it out to increase tension, done. Didn’t even invoice him for it, took seconds.

 

[Rick]

Ah ... the hole in the neck plate. Poor Franklin, goes thru a depression, world war II and now this.

 

[oliviaadair]

It was nothing really. Came in for a “sympathetic vibration”. Which turned out to be a bit of slack on the pickup mounting spring. Stretched it out to increase tension, done. Didn’t even invoice him for it, took seconds.

That's the reason why I believe guitarist should learn to diagnose and repair minor problems.

 

[playmusic]

I recently posted a thread about a low cost truss rod cover for tilt-back necks. In that post I acknowledged with much gratitude the response posted here by Stratamania. I now have a Gibson conversion neck on my Acoustasonic Player Telecaster. I use Ernie Ball Earthwood custom medium gauge (12.5-56) strings and tune the guitar to D standard. I play regularly in an acoustic duo. A few songs I transpose for D standard and for the others I use a capo, mostly at frets 1, 2 and 4. Before the Acoustasonic I played my trusty Ovation Custom Legend. I was surprised at how much better the Acoustasonic sounds plugged into a PA. The Ovation now resides in its case. Heavier gauge acoustic strings really shine on the Acoustasonic with the lowered tuning and the Gibson scale. Fender markets the Acoustasonic as a hybrid guitar. It's really an acoustic guitar that looks and feels like an electric. I love it.

I received requests in the truss rod cover thread to post photos of the details of how I fitted a Vortex tilt-back neck to the Acoustasonic. So here they are. Thanks again Stratmania. If not for your post here on the forum I'd probably still be playing the Ovation.

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Hi Mitch -Your conversion looks great! I am interested in changing to a Gibson scale neck on my Acoustasonic Telecaster but I love the feel of the original Fender Acoustasonic neck. In my hand, it feels like a thinner easy C electric neck vs a chunkier acoustic neck. I just don't like playing the longer scale Fender neck. Due to some physical limitations all of my other guitars are 24 inch or 24.75 inch scale. I know it's subjective, but how does the Vortex neck shape feel in regard to chunkiness vs thinness compared to the original Fender Acoustasonic neck? Thanks for any insight you or anyone else on the forum can give me.

 

[stratamania]

Hi Mitch -Your conversion looks great! I am interested in changing to a Gibson scale neck on my Acoustasonic Telecaster but I love the feel of the original Fender Acoustasonic neck. In my hand, it feels like a thinner easy C electric neck vs a chunkier acoustic neck. I just don't like playing the longer scale Fender neck. Due to some physical limitations all of my other guitars are 24 inch or 24.75 inch scale. I know it's subjective, but how does the Vortex neck shape feel in regard to chunkiness vs thinness compared to the original Fender Acoustasonic neck? Thanks for any insight you or anyone else on the forum can give me.

Vortex refers to the headstock shape, not the neck profile.

Here is a link to the neck profiles Warmoth offers, the closest to the thinner C shape is the "Standard Thin". This profile is available also on Vortex necks.

Guitar Neck Profiles

warmoth.com

 

[dc.git]

I recently posted a thread about a low cost truss rod cover for tilt-back necks. In that post I acknowledged with much gratitude the response posted here by Stratamania. I now have a Gibson conversion neck on my Acoustasonic Player Telecaster. I use Ernie Ball Earthwood custom medium gauge (12.5-56) strings and tune the guitar to D standard. I play regularly in an acoustic duo. A few songs I transpose for D standard and for the others I use a capo, mostly at frets 1, 2 and 4. Before the Acoustasonic I played my trusty Ovation Custom Legend. I was surprised at how much better the Acoustasonic sounds plugged into a PA. The Ovation now resides in its case. Heavier gauge acoustic strings really shine on the Acoustasonic with the lowered tuning and the Gibson scale. Fender markets the Acoustasonic as a hybrid guitar. It's really an acoustic guitar that looks and feels like an electric. I love it.

I received requests in the truss rod cover thread to post photos of the details of how I fitted a Vortex tilt-back neck to the Acoustasonic. So here they are. Thanks again Stratmania. If not for your post here on the forum I'd probably still be playing the Ovation.

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Hi Mitch,

Now that you've had this guitar a while, can you tell me how this neck change is working out? In particular, how is the intonation on this guitar? I want to do the same thing but I'm concerned about the intonation adjustments one does for a standard acoustic, ie. if it is possible to intonate the guitar properly with the bridge in it's current position.

Thanks,
dustin

 

[Mitch]

I've had the Acoustasonic Telecaster with the conversion neck for over a year now. It's great. There are no intonation issues, but to achieve that the nut slots had to be re-cut for the acoustic strings. I'm pretty handy with fixing guitars but I had that done by a local tech. I liked the result with the Telecaster so much that I went looking for an Acoustasonic American body. I got a Jazzmaster body on eBay that needed a neck and a few fixes on the electronics. I used the original Telecaster neck which I still had to test everything. After I got it working I ordered the conversion neck. This time I went with a Strat headstock and all roasted maple. The body is black so I got black fret markers and black Hipshot tuners. I use extra light gauge strings and standard tuning. With the micro-tilt in the neck I've adjusted the action to 2/32" at the 12th fret which is as low as a typical electric guitar. No fret buzz on the entire length of the neck. A Warmoth Gibson conversion neck on the Acoustasonic is fabulous but does require some extra work.

 

[dc.git]

thanks for the update! i plan to buy a Warmoth conversion neck for an American telecaster acoustasonic (when I find one). I want the spruce top, which is why i'm looking for a used American tele. I plan on getting a mahogany tele style neck with a zircote fretboard. enjoy your guitars!

 

[Mitch]

A tilt-back neck is required because the relocated neck bolt would interfere with the side truss rod adjustment on modern construction Warmoth necks. See the photos and Stratamania's analysis of potential problems above. Accordingly, a regular Gibson conversion Telecaster neck won't work. Warmoth does not list tilt-back as an option for Tele necks. Maybe it can be special ordered. Otherwise the headstock options are Strat, Warhead or the several Warmoth 3+3 tilt-back styles.