Explorer/Nomad Build

[TheMayor]

Howdy folks. Working on building my first guitar, an explorer with a nomad neck, 24 3/4 scale conversion. It's a little ambitious, I'm going with a 3 humbucker setup.

However, I'm in a bit of a stall as I'm not sure how to go about with my measurements and cuts, especially in regards to scale. I don't know of many plans floating around for bolt on Explorer shapes, and since I've got a conversion neck, am I making a guitar with a 24 3/4 scale neck by design or am I making a Strat scale guitar in the shape of an explorer with a conversion neck? I realize that's a weird question, but I just want to make sure I'm doing this right.

 

[Fat Pete]

Whichever way you look at it, it amounts to the same thing - there's only one place the bridge wants to go. Relative to the neck pocket, it will be the same as a Strat. Relative to the nut on a 24.75" scale neck, it will be 24.75" to the intonation point (+ a bit for compensation).

Useful info here. Select 'electric guitar' and scroll down for bridge placement details.

[edit] Use the Stewmac info carefully as there appears to be at least one error. A fair rule of thumb is to position the bridge so that intonation point of the high 'e' string saddle, adjusted to its forward-most position, is bang on the scale length (that is, 24.75" away from the forward edge of the nut).