Changing out a guitars neck with a bass neck?

[Seth DuSith]

I have this guitar I made in highschool, that I wanted to put a bass neck on. Has anyone done this before? I plan to route out space for a bass humbucker, and do the whole nine yards

Another thinf I considered it just adding bass tuners and a bass bridge to it, along with a bass pick up. How would it function with a guitars standard scale length?

 

[KOOL BREEZE]

The bridge would have to be moved very far back to accommodate the bass neck's scale length. If there is room enough it can work. You can measure from the nut to the twelfth fret on the bass neck and double it for a rough scale length measurement

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Your best bet would be a short scale neck, 30” scale. Might work if the body is long enough. You’ll probably have to re-cut the neck pocket too. Typical guitar scales are 24.75 to 25.5”, that’s a lot of bridge movement to get to 30” from nut to G string saddle.

 

[ardgedee]

Basically, you're working with wood so you can attach anything to anything if you put your mind to it. But since a bass will be longer scale than a guitar, you have to plan on how the neck and bridge will be positioned.

There have been a few threads here on building a bass using a guitar body. Some recent ones:
turning a guitar into a bass
Short scale bass neck onto guitar bod
Can i turn a guitar into a bass
Converting an Acoustic Guitar to a Bass, and String Selection
A project for me... The Samsaphone (acoustic guitar to bass)
Coverting a reg Guitar[URL='https://www.talkbass.com/threads/coverting-a-reg-guitar-to-a-bass.1028328/'] to a Bass[/URL]

 

[Seth DuSith]

I'm liking the idea of a short scale neck, any clue where I can find one? Nothing on amazon, but maybe that's my problem. I'm looking on Amazon haha.

I will take a picture of my guitar and upload it. The good news is it does have a fair bit of space behind the bridge, so I feel confident that for sure a short scale neck will do.

What about just stringing the regular guitar neck with bass strings, bass tuners and a bass bridge? If I raise the action on the nut?

 

[Seth DuSith]

Basically, you're working with wood so you can attach anything to anything if you put your mind to it. But since a bass will be longer scale than a guitar, you have to plan on how the neck and bridge will be positioned.

There have been a few threads here on building a bass using a guitar body. Some recent ones:
turning a guitar into a bass
Short scale bass neck onto guitar bod
Can i turn a guitar into a bass
Converting an Acoustic Guitar to a Bass, and String Selection
A project for me... The Samsaphone (acoustic guitar to bass)
Coverting a reg Guitar to a Bass

Thank you, I will skim through these while the discussion goes on. I appreciate you posting these

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Plenty of short scale bass necks on Ebay
short scale bass neck for sale | eBay

Some people have converted guitars to basses, youd be replacing bridge, tuners and nut. Pickups might or might not work depending on type. Most guitar necks arent engineered for bass string tension, but it might work......nah. Just get a short scale neck, stil a fair bit of work.

 

[Beej]

I'm liking the idea of a short scale neck, any clue where I can find one? Nothing on amazon, but maybe that's my problem. I'm looking on Amazon haha.

I will take a picture of my guitar and upload it. The good news is it does have a fair bit of space behind the bridge, so I feel confident that for sure a short scale neck will do.

What about just stringing the regular guitar neck with bass strings, bass tuners and a bass bridge? If I raise the action on the nut?

Amazon canada has quite a few, just search for "30 inch scale bass neck" or similar and they will arise. Quality will probably determine the need to attend to fit, finish and fretwork, but otherwise they tend to be reasonably good.
https://www.amazon.ca/24fret-Guitar...818&sprefix=30+scale+bass+neck,aps,143&sr=8-2

https://www.amazon.ca/Yinfente-guit...818&sprefix=30+scale+bass+neck,aps,143&sr=8-3

 

[Seth DuSith]

Amazon canada has quite a few, just search for "30 inch scale bass neck" or similar and they will arise. Quality will probably determine the need to attend to fit, finish and fretwork, but otherwise they tend to be reasonably good.
https://www.amazon.ca/24fret-Guitar-30inch-Rosewood-Fretboard/dp/B0BVK1KPC7/ref=sr_1_2?crid=FZKDLXKTQMV&keywords=30"+scale+bass+neck&qid=1679717818&sprefix=30+scale+bass+neck,aps,143&sr=8-2

https://www.amazon.ca/Yinfente-guitar-22fret-Rosewood-Fretboard/dp/B087NRVBKQ/ref=sr_1_3?crid=FZKDLXKTQMV&keywords=30"+scale+bass+neck&qid=1679717818&sprefix=30+scale+bass+neck,aps,143&sr=8-3

Thank you, I didn't know how to search for them. This is exactly what I wanted. Thanks a dude load

 

[vvvmmm]

My fave part of the Amazon neck descrip is, "Truss Rod Adjust at Headstock or bottom."

I wonder how that would work (in photo it's just at the headstock).

Also, "Side dots is left side dots." And they is.

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Here's a quick pass at the math:

I'm assuming that your guitar is 25.5" scale with a 21 fret neck. Fender pattern. That means that the heel end of the neck is at the 22nd fret position, which is 18.344" from the nut. That means that the bridge zero line (the fulcrum point on the saddles, with no intonation compensation) is 25.5" - 18.344" = 7.156" from the back edge of the neck pocket.

If you were to mount a standard Fender 34" scale bass neck in that pocket: A Fender bass neck is 20 frets, with the heel line at the 21st fret position. From the nut to the heel is 23.892". The bridge zero line for that neck needs to be 34.0" - 23.892" = 10.108" from the back edge of the neck pocket.

So, if you mount a 34" scale bass neck on that body, with the heel against the end of the existing neck pocket, you would need to move the bridge back 10.108" - 7.156" = 2.952".

Do you have about 3" of flat space behind the existing guitar bridge? That's the question.

If you go to a 30" scale 20 fret bass neck, the calculation becomes: 30" - 21.081" = 8.919". The bridge would need to move back 8.919" - 7.156" = 1.763". A little more than 1 3/4". That may be more reasonable.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

In Bruce We Trust. Facts over supposition wins every time!

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I was going to suggest looking up the number on a fret calculator and make sure you have space to move the bridge before you drop any dough but, as usual, Bruce has it all laid out. It sounds like a 30” scale 22 or 24 fret neck, if you can find one, might require almost no bridge movement.

 

[mellowgerman]

With the right strings, it is also possible to pull off a 25.5" scale bass, but it will be limited in terms of what it can do. For example, if you plan to use it on stage in a Red Hot Chili Peppers tribute band, the tone and looseness of the strings would most likely not be compatible with the digging in, more aggressive tones required, and loud mix. For mellower music that allows for playing with a light touch and more bass-frequency oriented tone (folk, blues, reggae, etc.) you would likely be okay.

Anyway, let's see a photo of this guitar and let us know the context and genre you might be trying to use the end product in

 

[ardgedee]

I was going to suggest looking up the number on a fret calculator and make sure you have space to move the bridge before you drop any dough but, as usual, Bruce has it all laid out. It sounds like a 30” scale 22 or 24 fret neck, if you can find one, might require almost no bridge movement.

The bridge will have to be replaced anyway, so moving the bridge location isn't the problem. The problem is ensuring the new bridge's location isn't beyond the end of the guitar.

 

[Max Bogosity]

What about just stringing the regular guitar neck with bass strings, bass tuners and a bass bridge? If I raise the action on the nut?

Sure. It is a fun fact that the fifth fret of a 34” scale bass is at 25.5” from the bridge. So if you want to know how a 25.5" scale bass will sound and play, just put a capo on the fifth fret of a 5 string bass - the lower four strings are effectively now a standard tuned 25.5" scale bass.

The only big issue you're likely to run into is the length of the strings. Standard strings at very short scale length will end up with the fat part of the string going through the post of the tuning machine, and bass strings don't like to bend that way. You could avoid that by wrapping the ball ends of the strings around the end of the body and anchoring them way up the back of the body like on Traveller basses.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

The bridge will have to be replaced anyway, so moving the bridge location isn't the problem. The problem is ensuring the new bridge's location isn't beyond the end of the guitar.

I was merely thinking it might cover the existing holes, even if they’re filled, if the OP was planning on a natural or candy finish.

 

[Cave Puppy]

Plenty of short scale bass necks on Ebay
short scale bass neck for sale | eBay

Some people have converted guitars to basses, youd be replacing bridge, tuners and nut. Pickups might or might not work depending on type. Most guitar necks arent engineered for bass string tension, but it might work......nah. Just get a short scale neck, stil a fair bit of work.

Warmoth make conversion necks. Perhaps not the flavor the op wants. I put a Warmoth baritone conversion neck on a tele. It’s awesome.

 

[tothemax]

I found a short scale neck on Rondo music in the clearance section for about $30, the quality was good and I built a "franken" bass with it. The new site is pretty clunky to navigate I did a search and found these...

Here's a link to their site: Rondo Music Home Page

 

[mapleglo]

This is a standard sized Stratocaster body with a 32" scale neck:

Note the position of the bridge.