Anyone switch necks routinely

[ptirman]

Hi, does anyone switch the neck of their guitar on a fairly routine basis?
Potentially dumb question I realize but I mean single body, more than one neck, so a switch.
I did some searches and didn't come up with anything.
I'm curious and am considering doing it on a prn basis.

 

[jackthehack]

Is there an actual question about it?

 

[ptirman]

Is there an actual question about it?

Does anyone switch the neck of their guitar on an as needed basis rather than building out 2 complete guitars?

 

[line6man]

Is there an actual question about it?

Does anyone switch the neck of their guitar on an as needed basis rather than building out 2 complete guitars?

That seems like a lot more hassle than it's worth.

I know some members here swap their necks around frequently, such as Tubby.Twins and AprioriMark, but they either want to try different wood combos, or think one neck might be better suited to a body than another. Routinely going back and forth between two necks is just a PITA. I'd rather be happy with one guitar and save my money up until I could build the second. But that's just my opinion.

 

[bagman67]

If you're gonna do it, install the stainless inserts and use machine screws - otherwise you run the risk of stripping the neck holes by screwing and unscrewing the neck bolts too often.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

I done a fair part of swapping for testing purposes and general nerdiness (yup - that's a word).

The good thing about that is you always end up with a neck or body to few/many ... we all know what that leads to.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[ptirman]

Thanks , exactly what I was looking for!

Great advice bagman if I go through with this which I think I will do.

The reason I was asking other than my own brand of nerdiness is that I I actually like switching between 25.5 and 24.75 scales and I want to do that for specific purposes with the piezo pickup equipped Warmoth- slide versus finger picking verses lead solos etc. for home recording.
While I would love to build yet another, my wife laid down the law. :toothy10:

 

[JaySwear]

How much of a difference do you notice between the 2 scale lengths? I'm curious. More tone change or more feel? Maybe both? Sometimes I wonder about these things just because guitarists can geek out about these things that sometimes would be barely noticeable otherwise. I would guess this would affect feel more than tone myself, but I haven't gotten to experiment with the same guitar and 2 necks.

 

[ptirman]

For me it's definitely feel. I have smallish hands and solos s are much smoother on a 24.75 scale and also some rhythm parts. The main riff in Message in a Bottle kills my hands because you have to stretch over 5 frets constantly. It should be played on a maple neck for the sound but I ended up playing it (when I did in a band) on a gibson because of the shorter scale.

Slide and finger picking I like the 25.5 scale. Just me.

On the piezo equipped guitar which I plan to use for polyphonic midi recording I would like to switch around.

I know I sound like a brat and some would say the scale difference isn't enough to justify doing that but I think it does.

But to your point also, if I get a showcase neck, which is what I would do, I think I'll get mahogany or rosewood conversion because I want a warmer sound for the shorter scale. The neck I have now is walnut and bright.

Cheers

 

[bagman67]

The main riff in Message in a Bottle kills my hands because you have to stretch over 5 frets constantly.

For what it's worth you can play it over three frets if you hit the ninths on the G and B strings instead of the D and G strings.  You have to train yourself to skip a string for the riff, but it's a hard riff to play cleanly anyway - so put the work into playing it more easily for your hand size, instead of forcing yourself to mimic what is presumably Andy Summers' approach - or at least the way all the tablature shows it.  The way I hear it, there's so much signal processing that the difference in timbre associated with playing the note on the lighter gauged string would be negligible -- assuming it's audible at all.


Bagman

 

[swarfrat]

Warmoth is cool, this is the W house, rah rah rah. but for all the hassle I would be tempted to grab an ebay body to make a holder for the spare neck.

 

[ptirman]

The main riff in Message in a Bottle kills my hands because you have to stretch over 5 frets constantly.

For what it's worth you can play it over three frets if you hit the ninths on the G and B strings instead of the D and G strings.  You have to train yourself to skip a string for the riff, but it's a hard riff to play cleanly anyway - so put the work into playing it more easily for your hand size, instead of forcing yourself to mimic what is presumably Andy Summers' approach - or at least the way all the tablature shows it.  The way I hear it, there's so much signal processing that the difference in timbre associated with playing the note on the lighter gauged string would be negligible -- assuming it's audible at all.


Bagman

I actually downloaded a video of Andy himself showing how he played it which is why I tried to do it that way - I wasn't smart enough to think of trying a different way. :icon_jokercolor:

I don't even play the song any more but am trying to justify getting a showcase neck and still be within the bargain I struck with my wife. :cool01:  which is why an ebay body isn't going to fly either. Agree on the high hassle factor though. Not entirely sure.


If I did go through with it, would I likely to have have a set up every time I switch or would one set up be enough then switch at will? You guys know a lot more than I do.

 

[Cagey]

If I did go through with it, would I likely to have have a set up every time I switch or would one set up be enough then switch at will? You guys know a lot more than I do.

Bare minimum, you'd have to reset the intonation. Assuming the frets are similar in size and in good shape on both, string height could probably stay the same. But, you say you're going to do slide on one and not the other, so height would need to be set as well.

Sounds like a helluva lotta trouble to me, but you can't argue with the boss. Maybe you could so some kind of side jobs on the weekends or something to finance another body/pickups/bridge. People hate to paint, for instance.

 

[ptirman]

You're right Cagey.

As a manifestation of my self diagnosed adult attention deficit, I tend to fixate on guitar related things. Sounded like a good idea yesterday. After a nights sleep not so good. I think I'll concentrate on paying my sons college loans instead.
interesting distraction for me though, I love thinking about guitars. Carry on.

 

[Cagey]

Sounds more like OCD than ADD, but I'm sure without a lot of trouble we could find several other mental disorder-related acronyms to apply in order to justify/explain our behaviour <grin>

Patience. If you pay a lot of attention to guitars, it becomes a "thing" about you and all your friends/family/co-workers know about it. Every once in a while, an incredible deal will come along and if you don't see it yourself, somebody else may and you'll get the chance to improve your lot. There's an old saying from Louis Pasteur: "Chance favors the prepared".

Chance, luck... same thing, really. In any event, it's very true. If you go looking for a specific thing today and can't wait, you're screwed. You gonna get hurt. But, put yourself in position by saving up the money, and there's no panic. Then when fortune smiles upon you in the form of a '58 Tele the kid down the street found under grandpa's bed after he died and he wants to know if you think it's worth $50, you say "It depends. It's awfully old. But, I'll give $75 RFN."

Then you smile at the sky and call it "luck". But, really, it was you being prepared. Shithappens all the time.

 

[ptirman]

Exactly correct.

I probably will get a showcase conversion neck sometime down the line when I really really get to serious recording.

I've always thought that there is no such thing as chance - just seized or missed opportunities to one aware or unaware. Gotta keep eyes open as you intimated. I hope you're a psychologist - if not you missed a calling.  :glasses9:

Now back to perseverating.....

 

[erogenousjones17]

I remember reading an article about a certain famous (or at least semi-famous, i.e., guitar mag worthy) guitarist having stainless-stell inserts installed on his Tele so that he could take the neck off and stow the whole guitar in the overhead compartment of an airplane. A bit of a hassle to be sure, but if I travelled a lot and absolutely wanted the guitar with me it's one reason I could see for regularly removing a neck.

Then again, that says nothing of swapping, which was the original point of this thread. Sigh.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

How about a double neck?

 

[bagman67]

How about a double neck?

If the missus is on his case about spending too much dough on guitars, I don't see a doubleneck solving that problem.  But I like how you think.

 

[SustainerPlayer]

You know. Fight fire with fire.  :laughing7: