Guitarron--put on a bass guitar neck?

[Jeffery R.]

Hello:

Was directed over here from the Bass Player magazine forum. Here's the message I sent to them:

A pal gave me a guitarron that was passed on to him from a yard sale. Rather than learn new fingering to play on the very short neck, is it possible to put a fretted bass guitar neck onto the guitarron body?

How hard is it to do this?

Are there instructions anywhere?

Would the longer neck put harmful stress onto the guitarron body?

Thanks.

Jeffery R.

[NJL]

not trying to push you away, but mimf.com has good info also.

for those of you who may not know what a guitarron is, i live in mariachiville. here's a pic:

[pilotjones]

If you put on a longer neck, the scale length will increase. Unless you use much lighter strings, this will mean that the tension will be significantly higher.

First, the soundboard, bracing, and bridge were most likely designed for the tension of the stock neck and strings, and not much more. This means that if the tension increases significantly, you will could warp the soundboard, and perhaps damage the bracing or bridge.

Second, I seem to recall (but look it up for yourself, please, I could be wrong) someone saying that the soundboards on these instruments were very weak and had to be replaced periodically. If this is true, then it almost certainly would not be able to take extra tension.

The MIMF should be a good source, as mentioned.

[Milothicus]

it would be very hard for another reason too:

the distance between the frets depends on scale length, so the 12th fret absolutely has to be exactly half way between nut and bridge. otherwise the intonation will never work. if the body could handle the stresses of the longer neck, the bridge would likely have to be moved. i assume this instrument is braced like an acoustic guitar, and the bracing can only hold the bridge at a certain point.

i say learn to play it as is. it's always good to learn new instruments.

[Hambone]

Acoustic instruments get their volume from a freely vibrating soundboard - the top of the instrumemnt. Attaching a bolt on neck - especially given the special geometry the guitarron requires - might totally dampen the top and you'll get bmph instead of boooom.

Just amaze your friends and learn the dang fingering system.