Anyone ever change the scale on their strat?

funny_polymath

funny_polymath

Fractal Fanatic
I notice that Warmoth makes conversion 'strat' necks that have gibson scale length. After getting this SG, I am reminded how much I like both the gibson scale length and the rounder/chunkier neck profile as well. Much to my utter surprise, I think I even like the small frets better.

Has anyone here done this, and if so, how did it effect playing, tone etc.

Thanks.
 
I did exactly that for a buddy of mine. Pretty easy as the necks are made to do all of the conversion, although, you'll still need to perform a good setup just like any neck replacement. I personally don't care for the shorter scale but my buddy loves it. He said the harmonics changed quite a bit and the tone changed a bit but he went from a maple neck to rosewood so that would be expected.
 
Still on the fence about it. When I used the Warmoth site to spec out the neck I wanted, it became monstrously expensive. At the price ($400.00 plus), I was thinking I might just get my friend to loan me his 1959 ES-345, which has my favorite neck ever, and have a luthier measure it out precisely and get a couple of 'em made - one to try on my Strat, another for one of my Danny's that has a crap neck. I know I'll need to re-do intonation with the new neck (I'd need to regardless of the nbeck because I'm also thinking of getting an Earvana nut while I'm at it), but it's the questions of tone and, yes, harmonics, that haunt me. Will I lose the chime etc.

Thanks.
 
I think you have to consider the the placement of the pickups too because the string nodes change physically as a result of the shorter length. Longer scales require higher tension and makes them a little more chimey sounding as opposed to the warmer sound of shorter scales. This is a major reason why players tune down to Eb - to lower the tension. The harmonics are physically closer together on shorter scales than longer ones, makes sense. I like the comfort of shorter scale but the chime of longer scale.
 
bobby_g said:
I think you have to consider the the placement of the pickups too because the string nodes change physically as a result of the shorter length. Longer scales require higher tension and makes them a little more chimey sounding as opposed to the warmer sound of shorter scales. This is a major reason why players tune down to Eb - to lower the tension. The harmonics are physically closer together on shorter scales than longer ones, makes sense. I like the comfort of shorter scale but the chime of longer scale.
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Very, very useful info! To be truthful, I've never known the difference, or the reason for preferences for longer scales - always seemed to me I was nimbler on a shorter scale, even with fairly large hands. You've made up my mind: I'm going to Peekamoose Guitars tomorrow and getting my 3 new Zexcoils put in with 500K pots, a Plek job, and a full setup - but I ain't switching necks - don't want to lose that chime at all!
 
bobby_g said:
I think you have to consider the the placement of the pickups too because the string nodes change physically as a result of the shorter length. Longer scales require higher tension and makes them a little more chimey sounding as opposed to the warmer sound of shorter scales. This is a major reason why players tune down to Eb - to lower the tension. The harmonics are physically closer together on shorter scales than longer ones, makes sense. I like the comfort of shorter scale but the chime of longer scale.
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+1 on all of that! Except that I wouldn't worry too much about pickup placement. The biggest shift will be at the neck pickup, where the node will shift less than 1/4". There will be little or no audible difference there, and the difference is even smaller at the other pickups.
 
i did this with a mexican strat i had several years ago. totally pimped that sucker with a humbucker in the bridge, new single coils, new scratchplate, new knobs, new 24.75" neck from warmouth, strap locks and new vintage trem. lovely guitar.

changing the neck was great - jumbo frets, flatter radius and nicer profile. didn't change the sound as much as changing the pickups, probably.

here's a shot before i put the humbucker in the bridge...

strat2.JPG
 
I haven't done that conversion, though I have four short scale Strats, three Gibson 24.75" scale (1 Warmouth, 2 Fender Japan), and one Fender Mustang 22.5" scale (Fender Japan used for alternate tunings).

Everything works great as you'd expect except that the shorter Gibson scale loses some "chime" if you will with it's reduced tension, and while it's noticeable to some degree it'll still sound like a Strat with single-coils in the mix. I used to switch off between Les Pauls and Strats a lot and it always took a couple of tunes to get comfortable, so I got the short scale Strats to ease the transition.
 
maschoff said:
The Earvana nut looks interesting ... Earvana - Compensated Tuning Systems for Guitars
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I was interested in it too. Just had a talk with some folks I trust, but who will remain nameless, who feel that if a neck had a proper G&P (especially a PLEK job), and a normal nut is well cut, and the bridge is set up properly, and the action isn't so high that you're pulling notes sharp, and you don't grip the neck like a man hanging by one arm from a ledge (Buzz Feitan is reputed to grip the notes sharp this way), your intonation will not be materially improved by either the FEitan or Earvana. Their $0.02..
 
If your goal is to reduce string tension, just drop a gauge, like from .010 to .009.

Of do what countless others before you have, including Hendrix, VanHalen and SRV, tune down to Eb.
 
funny_polymath said:
I was interested in it too. Just had a talk with some folks I trust, but who will remain nameless, who feel that if a neck had a proper G&P (especially a PLEK job), and a normal nut is well cut, and the bridge is set up properly, and the action isn't so high that you're pulling notes sharp, and you don't grip the neck like a man hanging by one arm from a ledge (Buzz Feitan is reputed to grip the notes sharp this way), your intonation will not be materially improved by either the FEitan or Earvana. Their $0.02..
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I can't agree with the people you spoke to. I recently got an Earvana nut on my Roadstar. The intonation improvement is noticeable, especially with chord voicings on the lower frets. The usual G-string weirdness that comes with most guitars is noticeably reduced.
 
Rex said:
I can't agree with the people you spoke to. I recently got an Earvana nut on my Roadstar. The intonation improvement is noticeable, especially with chord voicings on the lower frets. The usual G-string weirdness that comes with most guitars is noticeably reduced.
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I had some compensation installed on my strat too because it was too out of tune when playing open chords. I am not sure if I just suddenly started to notice or it happened when I had the frets re-done, but it was really annoying. The compensation thing (I have no idea what it was called) was a great help. It is kind of the same system as the Earvana nut, except you can glue it infront of the nut so you don't need to cut into the wood.

The heavier the strings the more likely you are to have problems with the intonation of the open chords is what my tech told me btw..

Jens
 
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