I had shoulder surgery on my left arm and lost the lateral rotation of it. I'm having a very difficult time reaching the low notes I my Fender Jazz bass. Is it possible to put a Fender Mustang neck on a Fender jazz bass body. Would the short scale neck harm the tone in any way. Would it change the intonation any? It is a string through the body 1 of 200 custom edition made for Guitar Center. Would doing and undoing a modification like this harm the resale value of my bass?
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Changing necks.
- Thread starter Jimmy K9
- Start date
It is not that easy. Even if you move the bridge direct behind the pickup.
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Shortscale to Long scale convertion (?)
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Shortscale to Long scale convertion (?)
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The only time this type of conversion would work is with an unlined fretless neck. Otherwise all of the frets would off, the scale length would be wrong and you'd never be playing in key.
Intonation will most definitely change. You will likely have to move the bridge forward to compensate.
Measure the distance from nut to the 12th fret. Now measure that same distance from the 12th fret towards the bridge. That's roughly where the saddles will be. Mark and drill appropriately.
Your tone will change because of physics. Short scales have more fundamental and less high harmonics, resulting in that classic "tubby" sound.
Since you are drilling holes to move the bridge, this will also significantly lower the resale value.
You may be better off simply getting a short scale jazz style bass.
i have similar difficulties due to a minor stroke last year that messed with the right side of my body. I had been using shortscales pretty much exclusively for several years prior but I still have long scales that I can no longer play due to the effects of the stroke.
I tried using a Mustang neck on my Warmoth P and J along with moving the bridge it worked but there were gaps between the neck and the sides of the neck pocket I filled with wood shims.
Several years ago I purchased a few inexpensive SX short scale (30" scale) necks on sale at Rondo Music. I found the SX short scale neck fits the Fender P and J neck pocket almost perfectly so I changed to using them and it works very well.
Relocating the bridge may or may not be necessary depending on how much intonation adjustment there is in the saddles. Use of something like a Badass II style bridge with it's long saddle travel, possibly with relocating the attachment point of the bridge, might make for a neater installation.
As far as sound goes, I've not noticed any change that couldn't be compensated for with my amp eq. I'd say additional holes for moving the bridge would very likely alter the resale value.
BTW, I also use a Mustang P/J and a couple of other reasonably priced short scales which avoids all the work of swapping necks.
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