Conversion-scale Bass necks? T-Bird headstocks?

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Has this been mentioned before?  It seems like a much more versatile option than the 7/8ths basses.  I suppose it might cannibalize some of the 7/8ths stuff, but there would also be a much wider base (pun intended) of players who want to swap out a neck on their fav P or J for a shorter scale neck with a Fender sized pocket.

Or is there a reason why Warmoth went with a 7/8ths size rather than conversion necks?

Seems to me being able to get a neck that converts from 34" down to 30" or 32", or even up to 35" might be a big seller.

Also: Thunderbird headstocks?  I know there's a different procedure used for the Firebird guitar necks, but is a Thunderbird possible?  I'm thinking a Thunderbird would look really nice next to my Firebird.  :icon_biggrin:  Not a huge market, I suppose, but there's a handful of out there who'd grab one if it was an option.

Freakin' Gibson...

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

Conversion neck going down, you'd wind up with a 17 to 19 fret bass.  I rarely go past 15 myself, but wouldn't want a sawed off version.  The other option is bridge relocation, then it's no longer just a conversion neck, so you would end up with a 7/8s version anyway.

+1 for a 35" conversion neck.

 

[Nando Vallart]

I think 33" would end with 20 frets, not sure how much change the tone... IIRC the old rickenbackers had 33" scale?

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

34" is 20 frets with no overhang, 21 frets with overhang, which is what Fender and Warmoth necks already are.

 

[stubhead]

I made a 30.5" fretless conversion out of a G5 - put on my own side dots on the neck, and just moved the bridge 3.5" north and had Warmoth move the PU hole -

It's a High-C conversion - E-A-D-G-C - that last little note at the very top of the 28 "fret" neck is another "E" - five-octaves! Yay! But,  :sad1: strings that short just don't sound very good. I'm not a fan of the virtuoso bassist's burp-tone... It's fairly difficult to play anything intelligible above the 17th fret or so, because your fingers get in each other's way. I don't buy the argument that intonation is hard - that's just like saying "music is hard, I don' wanna practice" but when you hear people way up there, it's usually gimmicky.

 

[Jack Michaelson]

A short-scale conversion neck would be sweet!

Moses is the only one I know of that makes them. (aside from Soulmate or other custom)

Anyone know of another place that makes them?

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

How many frets are theirs?

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

How many frets are theirs?

Ah, 35" conversion necks.

 

[Jack Michaelson]

Not much info on Moses' site regarding the short-scale necks.

I might try to get a reply from them, but I'd prefer a wood neck.

My guess is  (without any fretboard overhang) 18 frets.

 

[stubhead]

You're (mentally) just sawing frets off from the top of the neck. On a guitar with a 34" scale, the 2nd fret is 30.2906" from the (uncompensated for intonation) bridge.

http://windworld.com/features/tools-resources/exmis-fret-placement-calculator/#fretcalculator

I would guess that a major reason why certain scale lengths seem so "stuck" is that you need different truss rods beyond the standard ones to leap off the path to skip through the daisies - it took, like, 15 years before Schecter started making 7-string necks that were 26.5" scale instead of 25.5", though Ibanez was pretty quick to jump aboard once they saw Schecter's sales. From Warmoth's point of view, there's no reason to offer a bass neck that converts a 34" scale 21-fret bass to a 30" scale, 19-fret bass because they know they don't sell. They've never sold even a single one!

No matter who starts making them, after noticing how many people would like a shorter scale, even I would have to overcome the weirdness of how it would look.

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

But they make one already, just not a conversion neck.  The Ibanez/Schecter thing, those weren't conversion necks.  You had to buy the whole thing.  Warmoth will sell anyone a 30", 32", or 34" bass neck or body.  If Warmoth has never sold one, neither has Ibanez or Schecter.

 

[stubhead]

Yeah, if you could convince them to take one of their 30" scale necks, match it to a fullsize body, measure what that resultant scale would be, and fret it accordingly... of course they don't need to do any but the last step in the "real word", it's just running some math. Or if they would tell you very exactly what the length of the 32" and 30" scale necks are - just from the nut to the butt - you could fiddle with some models yourself.

The length from nut to butt, and from butt to bridge, have evolved from the Fender convention, and they're not, umm set-in-stone - just wood.

A standard Fender neck is 25" nut to butt,
A standard Fender body is 9" butt to bridge.

If you have a conversion neck you can measure, or if Warmoth will give you the specs, you can play around with scale lengths and matchups of a shorter neck to a standard body. Relocating the bridge is easy enough, you just have to account for a ground wire somehow. Since Warmoth already frets necks for scale lengths of 24", 24.75", 25", 25.5", 28.375", 30", 32" and 34", it probably does have more to do with truss rods than with fretting. If you can get a half-dozen people commit to BUY a short neck for a long body, they could wrassle 'em up, I would think.

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

Not much info on Moses' site regarding the short-scale necks.

From what I can tell, they're actually replacements for shorter scale Fenders, specifically the 24 fret Stu Hamm; they're not drop-in conversions for P/J basses.

Yeah, if you could convince them to take one of their 30" scale necks, match it to a fullsize body, measure what that resultant scale would be, and fret it accordingly...

The point would be to offer something that could drop into any Fender 4 string routed pocket; the bass equivalent of the 24.75" conversion guitar.  It opens a range of options for bodies (Fender, other OEMs, and Warmoth's other bass bodies), and would be a draw for those of those of shorter stature & like shorter scale, or those who like to string their basses as tenors or piccolos. 

I see a lot of folks being tempted by one of these, because there's a LOT of options for bodies; yes, some of them would be non-Warmoth, but I've pretty much decided that I'll never* build another instrument for myself that doesn't have a Warmoth neck; I'm already happily recommending them to anyone who's looking to mod or build their own guitar. I'm looking to build a bass for my nephew, and this option would be *perfect*, since it would allow him to later swap out for a longer scale one if he wants to, and wouldn't be restricted to just Warmoth for short scale bodies. 

And a 35" scale conversion neck?  Do I really need to make a case for that?  :toothy12:

I could see why Warmoth wouldn't want to risk putting the cash into R&D for this, having already developed the 7/8ths series & Geckos, and that's fair.  It would be a great option, though.

* With the possible exception of a Carvin neck, since they're also MIA & excellent quality. And since they're in CA and I'm in WA, there's no tax on them like there is for Warmoth stuff, making them effectively cheaper for me.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[ihavenothingprofoundtosay]

*bump*

Up conversion necks to 35" or even 36" scale? 

I swear I once saw an ad in bass player magazine for a 36" scale replacement Pbass neck.