Gibson scale conversion neck.

[Rick]

I had one coversion neck from warmoth and had no problem intonating.  Beautiful really ... Only problem was my dedos needed more space.  But that was my genetic problem, not a problem with the neck.

 

[J.D.ROOST]

just curious when placing a bridge on a 24.75 scale neck, or any other neck for that matter.  When using a strat style bridge, what process does everyone use?

I usually set all the saddles in the middle of their adjustment range, measure the scale from the nut and place the bridge appropriately with the saddles on that measurement. 

  I figure the high E will have to be moved a bit closer to the nut while the low E will be moved towards the bridge.  What is everyone else doing for builds that don't have the bridge holes pre-drilled??

Did this on the 1st one and slightly tapered down to low E on the others. E and B are fairly in the same spot on all of mine.

 

[TBurst Std]

just curious when placing a bridge on a 24.75 scale neck, or any other neck for that matter.  When using a strat style bridge, what process does everyone use?

I usually set all the saddles in the middle of their adjustment range, measure the scale from the nut and place the bridge appropriately with the saddles on that measurement. 

  I figure the high E will have to be moved a bit closer to the nut while the low E will be moved towards the bridge.  What is everyone else doing for builds that don't have the bridge holes pre-drilled??

For any 6 saddle bridge I start with:
E and g I start with 7/8 back.  A and b I startin the middle.  G and e I start 7/8 forward.

 

[electric__steve]

just curious when placing a bridge on a 24.75 scale neck, or any other neck for that matter.  When using a strat style bridge, what process does everyone use?

I've seen recommendations somewhere that the high side should be 0 - 1/8" further back, and the low side 1/8 - 1/4" further back than the theoretical scale length

 

[NovasScootYa]

I have a newly assembled Warmoth Gibson Scale Conversion Neck on a Warmoth Strat
Body with a USA Fender Hardtail Bridge and it intonates Sharp when checking with 2 high quality Seiko Tuners. 10-46 GHS Strings. I have it intonating however the low E and G saddle springs are removed and the low E saddle binds beyond adjustment range and that requires filing the saddle string slot and bridge plate bore for the intonation adjustment screw. The intonated low E has only .080" clearance between the saddle and bridge plate upright.

I decided to move the bridge back a hair less than 1/8" by installing dowels in the three bores for mounting the bridge and drilling new holes. The original plugged bores and new lower bores touch like a figure 8. So not to have to cut the spring for coil bind against the low E saddle I drilled a suitable recess in the bridge plate upright short of drilling through.
The mod was a total success, all strings intonate on the money, saddles stagger like they should. Instead of the .080" clearance between the low E saddle and plate upright I now have .145" a gain of .065".
Once the plate is relocated you have to drill the body string holes at slight angle. Used strings were straightened and installed with little effort, new strings should be no problem. I also angle filed the bores in the bridge plate for the saddle screws to move freely and aligned the pickguard with the new bridge location.
Below...Prior to bridge relocation the slot in the low E saddle covered the hole for the string. Guitar plays and sounds very nice for not being fully set up.

 

[burst]

I've never tried a conversion neck (maybe next screamin' deals blowout? lol) but this sounds like something the good folks at Warmoth would assist with.

Am I reading this right? Angling a hardtail bridge to get proper intonation without string, screw, saddle interference sounds pretty extreme. Aren't the Fender hardtails all string through not top loader so is it even possible without major mods?

For what its worth not specific to conversion necks but shorter scale in general. I think the need for drastic intonation adjustments on shorter scale guitars is exaggerated. I have a Jaguar style 24" scale setup very similar to my 25.5" scale guitars minimal relief action hovering around 4/64" at 15th fret all with the same 10-46's. The 24" scale needs at most 1/64" more string length correction on some strings versus the 25.5".

I think the Gibson horror stories come from periods where they located bridges badly. That in combination with still to this day they use inconsistent non-modern non-standard methods for calculating fret placement. It confuses people as to what the scale length really is - which is almost never true 24.75".

 

[stratamania]

Am I reading this right?

No

Angling a hardtail bridge to get proper intonation without string, screw, saddle interference sounds pretty extreme. Aren't the Fender hardtails all string through not top loader so is it even possible without major mods?

A Gibson bridge is angled, but most have saddle adjustment also. A Fender one is not angled.

The other person is commenting on not having quite enough saddle adjustment available and what he had to do to achieve it.

 

[burst]

Yeah my question was because of this statement...

"I'll probably leave the high E side bridge plate attachment screw in place and move the low E bridge plate side back approximately 1/8" to achieve proper intonation adjustments according to my measurements"

 

[stratamania]

Yeah my question was because of this statement...

"I'll probably leave the high E side bridge plate attachment screw in place and move the low E bridge plate side back approximately 1/8" to achieve proper intonation adjustments according to my measurements"

A shorter screw or spring might be all that is needed.

 

[NovasScootYa]

I've never tried a conversion neck (maybe next screamin' deals blowout? lol) but this sounds like something the good folks at Warmoth would assist with.

Am I reading this right? Angling a hardtail bridge to get proper intonation without string, screw, saddle interference sounds pretty extreme. Aren't the Fender hardtails all string through not top loader so is it even possible without major mods?

For what its worth not specific to conversion necks but shorter scale in general. I think the need for drastic intonation adjustments on shorter scale guitars is exaggerated. I have a Jaguar style 24" scale setup very similar to my 25.5" scale guitars minimal relief action hovering around 4/64" at 15th fret all with the same 10-46's. The 24" scale needs at most 1/64" more string length correction on some strings versus the 25.5".

I think the Gibson horror stories come from periods where they located bridges badly. That in combination with still to this day they use inconsistent non-modern non-standard methods for calculating fret placement. It confuses people as to what the scale length really is - which is almost never true 24.75".

I did not go the angled route however I moved the bridge back and obtained the results I wanted...lots of work. And besides it would have been a never ending line of people telling me my bridge was crooked. I updated post with details. Thanks to all for the replies.

 

[burst]

I did not go the angled route however I moved the bridge back and obtained the results I wanted...lots of work. And besides it would have been a never ending line of people telling me my bridge was crooked. I updated post with details. Thanks to all for the replies.

Thanks for explaining. I'm glad you got it how you want it now.

Do you happen to have before and after photos of the bridge holes?
Do you mean once the bridge was mounted further back, you drilled from the top down at an angle to connect to the existing string through holes?

I've been bouncing around a few ideas including a Strat with conversion neck. But some of the prior threads like this made me hesitate..

 

[NovasScootYa]

Thanks for explaining. I'm glad you got it how you want it now.

Do you happen to have before and after photos of the bridge holes?
Do you mean once the bridge was mounted further back, you drilled from the top down at an angle to connect to the existing string through holes?

I've been bouncing around a few ideas including a Strat with conversion neck. But some of the prior threads like this made me hesitate..

Once the bridge is relocated and secured use an appropriate size bit to drill the string holes at a slight angle. You should see clean bores through the ferrule openings when held up to a light. Strings bend over the bridge plate bores so those spots cannot be scatched, etc.
Having to move the pickguard back allows for a bit more radius sanding between the heel and horn area where big hands tend to contact playing the last 4 frets. I used a drill press with a 1 1/2" sanding drum, low speed and moved the contoured heel option body around on a towel covered drill table, radius sand in relation to the pickguard.

 

[Topdawer]

What's the general consensus of intonating a Gibson scale conversion neck? I'm intending to use one and a Tune-O-Matic/Stop bar(Tonepros for the bridge/Gotoh for the stopbar) for my near future Switchback project. Although that's been the idea, I'm not at all against a 25.5 inch scale either.

I’ve had several conversion necks and have found that you only need minor adjustments to intonate, not large moves. Mostly it’s the low E and G that have to come back a tad.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

The "consensus" generally (or rather method) is the same as intonating any other scale length. Set the relief, nut height, bridge height and then move the saddles back or forwards so the note produced at the 12th fret presuming the open string is in tune is neither sharp nor flat. And also do this with the instrument in playing position.

This, 100%!

Makes no difference what the scale length is, 25.5, 24.75, or 25 5/8”. The process is the same. The only thing that might differ would be your preferred brand and gauge of strings.