conversion neck issue and dilemma

[joesatch]

I have about 15 warmoth strats. This particular one i decided use the gibson conversion neck. This particular body and neck, pickup . bridge combination is magic. Body is ultra light solid one piece swamp ash. As you can see with the conversion neck, the 22nd fret goes far into the body and i cannot comfortably get access up there, definitely not with my pinky. I am debating doing the steve vai thing like he did with his green strat and carving out all the wood there. This body finish is immaculate. Heads up to anyone ordering the conversion neck, you may have upper fret access issues.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Conversions have the 22nd closer to the bridge because of the shorter scale length alone. This is the only real trade off of doing a Gibby scale on a Fender mount. This is why most of my main players are 24 fret necks, but you pick your battles. I play my “Kenny” BariTele with the conversion neck at church the most because that environment lends itself to that voicing, and I also use “Bluey” the HB Tele with the P90 voiced pickups. Both of these guitars are only 22 frets, but they are the right tools for that job. For my regular recorded work with WÖR Party, I have other specific guitars.

The right tool for the job, so more guitars for varied applications.

After all, you don’t just have one sized Phillips head screwdriver, right?

 

[joesatch]

i might go ahead and ruin this body/paint to get it to play the way i want. definitely dont want to separate this body and neck as i'm getting incredible sustain and tone out of it. harmonics everywhere too

 

[u.9]

If it were me, I'd consider buying another body in the same config (preferably Showcase so I could get one of the same weight (density) to butcher up. If it turned out to not have the same magic, then I've got an extra body to play around with and could better justify the operation on the magic body. If it has the same magic though, then I didn't have to destroy that finish. I guess even if you buy a new body, you'd still have to destroy the finish unless you plan to do the finish yourself after reshaping the cutout. Sophie's choice, however you choose to proceed!

Swamp ash is one of those fickle woods, I hear... weight/density varies widely and thus does tone/magic. I've personally experienced less tonal predictability on the lighter/less dense side of the spectrum than on the heavier/denser end (my references: maple, padauk, alder, basswood, paulownia, and mahogany bodies, albeit with variable configs). I have two lightweight paulownia bodies (Dean Vendetta XMs, mostly identical configs/specs; paulownia is considered the nearest thing to swamp ash) that sound/feel nothing alike, while all of my denser bodies are only shades apart to my ears and fingers.

 

[Spud]

Iommi has cool finger thimbles, perhaps if you got some that extended your fingers a tad longer?

 

[Waraxe]

Uh, forgive me for being confused, but if the neck pocket remains a constant distance from the bridge, shouldn't the OP have this issue with any scale?

This is a body contour issue. Not a conversion neck one. A strat was made to have clearance to the last fret, the 21st. When you add the 22nd, it will always get partially blocked by the contours.

Try playing up that high on a tele. It's alot tighter.

 

[stratamania]

Uh, forgive me for being confused, but if the neck pocket remains a constant distance from the bridge, shouldn't the OP have this issue with any scale?

This is a body contour issue. Not a conversion neck one. A strat was made to have clearance to the last fret, the 21st. When you add the 22nd, it will always get partially blocked by the contours.

Try playing up that high on a tele. It's alot tighter.

What you mention is just compounded more on a shorter scale conversion put on a standard body with standard contours.

 

[TheGreatRedDragon]

Seems appropriate for a Gibson-scale guitar.

I feel like I've never used the 22nd fret in 20 years of playing, so I wouldn't even notice. I definitely wouldn't ruin a beautiful guitar like that to get at it.