True 24 Fret Neck, AANJ Joint

GMGM

Junior Member
Messages
37
I'm really just a lurker here & I'm surprised this doesn't come up more often. I've seen it mentioned from time to time, but it seems everyone has just accepted it. So, one more time, I wanted to throw my support for a "true" AANJ / 24 Fret neck option.

My "dream" guitar is Steve Vai's Ibanez Jem but camouflaged to look like a Fender strat (ie - single coils, vintage trem, CBS big headstock - but with 24 frets, and easy access to all frets).

If they're worried about Ibanez taking legal action, they could just develop their own spin on it. Even though Ibanez is thas company who has a right to be upset over copyright infringement (lawsuit guitars from the 70's anyone? ha ha ha). Anyway, it doesn't even have to be exactly like an Ibanez' AANJ. I imagine this would be a cash cow for Warmoth if they would finally put some engineering time into it. 

Before anyone gets snarky - I don't want the extended access on a soloist body with neck/fretboard overhang. And I'm certainly not talking about a 24.75" scale neck on a short scale body. Those are clumsy workarounds IMO. I want a "true" 24 frets.

People usually get upset over pickup location (24 frets means moving the neck pickup away from the harmonic sweet spot). I can live with that, besedi that sweet only exists if you're playing an open string anyway. Otherwise, I find the standard neck pickup to be just a little too woofy anyway. 

Additionally, there are hundreds of people on other forums saying things like,"I wish Warmoth had a...". Just search the forums at 7string or Jemsite. Well, I'm one of those folks. Ironically, there's a pattern for custom builders who enter this market. They end up with too many orders, unable to keep up with demand, and eventually you have no one (ie - Chris Sims, Legacy 1, and on and on). We're an underserved market. Maybe that is part of Warmoth's hesitation? They don't want to run into these extended delivery times and so on. I can't blame them, but they've handled the strat community pretty well. I'm sure the investment would pay off hansomly for them if they served the Ibanez freak community.

I would just play an Ibanez but I hate pointy/metal looking guitars, and I can't stand Floyd Rose trems. Plus, I'm stupidly attached to the Fender headstock shapes.

Sorry to rant - I just really really really want Warmoth to give me this option.

 
Welcome, GMGM. 

You at least did your homework on the Warmoth site.  I love 24 fret guitars and prefer to have the longer Jackson-style scale.  However, it just won't happen with Warmoth.  That said, I have the penultimate V2 ordered that will have a "true" 24 fret neck, albeit the shorter scale.

You could try Warmoth's Custom Shop.
 
i would like to see a 24 fret on a full fender scale length. i think the mustang pocket/bridge distance could work, the 24.75" one does have a slight overhang if i remember right.

warmoth has made a few attempts to offer more original options but they always seem to miss the mark. i'd play a 25" scale 7 stringer but most people think thats stupid, maybe for good reason. and yet they wont do a 25 inch 6 stringer. i think some of these differences are small and people should try out what warmoth has to offer and i get that since they already offer something they are not likely to change it or add too many options i just wonder why they did things in a certain way in the first place.
 
what is so special about this neck joint?

Hey I'm a lefty, I wish I had a dollar for every time I walked into a guitar shop to only find one black mexistrat or nothing at all!!! 

If warmoth can't make you the guitar you want, I'm certain that you can find someone on Al Gore's invention, it's called the comp-u-tron-ernet or something like that.  :icon_scratch:  I heard it's this thing where computers are all wired together all over the world.  It has this thing called Goggle or something that you can type stuff into and it finds stuff.  :help: I don't know, I only heard about it  :icon_thumright:

in all seriousness, lurk around on some boards, I am sure you can find a builder who can help you out.  I have no idea WTF you are talking about because I have never had the opportunity to see or play  a left handed Ibanez.  Do they even make leftys? 

I am almost certain that Alembic will do whatever you want as far as scales and fret counts, it will be a neck through guitar and it will cost you about nine grand, but you will have an Alembic, which in my opinion is the finest guitar manufacturer there is.  Nobody, I mean nobody can compare with their instruments. 
 
+1

If I could get a 24 fret 25.5" soloist with the Jackson Headstock, I would have no need to ever buy a Jackson, Charvel, or Ibanez Bolt-on 6 string again.  It's the same thing over and over again.  There is supposedly no market for it.  Then again the market is not there because it is not offered...
 
My headbangin' 2cents....I was an Ibanez guy all the way forever and I even LIKE the pointyness of RG's etc. Always wanted to build my own so I checked out those Ibanez style sites listed and almost  :help: ordered one. But then I did alot of research and decided that Warmoth had the most to offer and had much much better reviews and also had all of you guys for support. Unbeatable. The final straw was when I actually thought about how much I honestly used my 24th fret and it's really not much even trying to be a "shredder". You can get what you want in a neck from warmoth or USA custom--also very good reviews..I always felt I needed the wizard neck and the one I ended up with is nice and thin and 22 frets. Yet I'm very happy.
 
My biggest thing with 24 frets is not that I use the 24th fret often, it's that it moves the other frets farther out from the body.
 
I was an RG guy back in the day too. But I can see Warmoth's point about the market
 
I can see their point as in not wanting to spend the time, money, and effort when there are other projects that may be "more important".  But the point I don't see is them just writing it off saying the market isn't there when it obviously is.
 
Lots of those guitars are cheap or at least reasonably priced, and you can buy Ibanez JEM project bodies at practically a dime a dozen, nice guitars off-the-shelf well under 1k. I'm not saying there's no market appeal to the feature at all, but it's not exactly the heyday of the Ibanez shred guitar either. I mean is it a cool idea? Yeah I'd like to see them. Is it cool to the point where enough people would put $1,300+ into Warmoth building them one as opposed to just buying a decent model from Ibanez for that, or maybe half that? Not in 1990, but today? I can't say for sure but I'm guessing W is right, and again I'm one of the people those guitars still has some appeal to.
 
I had an RG770 that I sold recently to fund my Warmoth build--awesome guitar and top of the line in 1991 when it was made. Paid $400 for it 5 yrs ago  and sold it for $450. I wanted 24 frets at first and it can be had but I guess in the end I found it was'nt that impartant. If I miss it that badly I will buy an older JEM or one of the reissue RG's once people get bored and want to sell. But I know how you feel if you're just stating to plan your build and are disappointed with this.
 
I have a true 24 fret freak tele
P1010001.jpg
 
TJD said:
I had an RG770 that I sold recently to fund my Warmoth build--awesome guitar and top of the line in 1991 when it was made. Paid $400 for it 5 yrs ago  and sold it for $450. I wanted 24 frets at first and it can be had but I guess in the end I found it was'nt that impartant. If I miss it that badly I will buy an older JEM or one of the reissue RG's once people get bored and want to sell. But I know how you feel if you're just stating to plan your build and are disappointed with this.

same. i had an RG570 i sold last year to fund warmoth #1. it was a great playing guitar, but the neck was so thin is cramped my hand. i also found that 24 frets just weren't as important as i had thought. great guitar, and i miss it sometimes, but one day i'll build my warmoth version (22 frets, thicker neck, pickguard for looks and functionality). mine was also made in '91, and didn't have the AANJ. i got used to the block heel and it's never bothered me on any guitar since then.
 
JaySwear said:
TJD said:
I had an RG770 that I sold recently to fund my Warmoth build--awesome guitar and top of the line in 1991 when it was made. Paid $400 for it 5 yrs ago  and sold it for $450. I wanted 24 frets at first and it can be had but I guess in the end I found it was'nt that impartant. If I miss it that badly I will buy an older JEM or one of the reissue RG's once people get bored and want to sell. But I know how you feel if you're just stating to plan your build and are disappointed with this.

same. i had an RG570 i sold last year to fund warmoth #1. it was a great playing guitar, but the neck was so thin is cramped my hand. i also found that 24 frets just weren't as important as i had thought. great guitar, and i miss it sometimes, but one day i'll build my warmoth version (22 frets, thicker neck, pickguard for looks and functionality). mine was also made in '91, and didn't have the AANJ. i got used to the block heel and it's never bothered me on any guitar since then.

+1  ..and I liked the block heel too..felt sturdier and stayed in tune better..really good quality guitar--mine was a USA made. Just got sick of the trem and not being able to tune down or alternate tune quick.
 
I did end up having a neck built for me. I won't name the builder for legal reasons - but I'm thrilled.

Jem specs, except with 6150 gauge stainless frets and a fixed bridge/non-trem. It's currently on an RG body, RG2EX1 until I can decide what color I want the new body to be.

New body will also be 3 single coils, fixed bridge, pickgaurd.

New3.jpg
 
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