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Newbie With A Problem!


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Hello all

Im pretty new to this game and would like some advice on a project that I thought would be pretty straightforward to something that is becomng a bit of a disaster. I decided to have a go at assembling a Strat style guitar for my son from various components (some used -some new) that I managed to obtain over a couple of months. I found a strat style body already fitted with a single schaller humbucker and routed for a Kahler 2300 style tremolo (The original owner had fitted a Kahler). I obtained a nice quality 22 fret maple Strat type neck which fitted perfectly and managed to obtain a kahler tremolo which fitted into the route and lined up well with the original screw holes. I fitted some vintage gotoh locking tuners and finished the guitar in an EVH early frankenstein scheme as my twelve year old is a great Eddie fan. All great- except I now have a problem with the scale length? The guitar is impossible to intonate as it would appear that the bridge/trem unit is too far forward as the saddles are at their rearmost limit and the 12th fret notes are all sharp with no further adjustment available. Why should this have happened? Did the original guitar have a shorter scale neck do you think? Would this make a difference? I am sorry for my ignorance in these things , but any help and advice would be gratefully received. Thankyou

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Did the original guitar have a shorter scale neck do you think? Would this make a difference?

It could have, and it would make a difference.

What is the length from the fretboard side of the nut to the saddles?

Hi Rick

Thanks for the reply. from fret side of the nut to the rollers on the kahler is 25". I dont think that is correct.

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now, what is the distance from the fret side of the nut to the center of the 12th fret. if its 12.5" it is the right scale, if its 12.75" you have the wrong scale neck, the one you have is 25.5" and you need a 25"scale neck. or the kahler was installed wrong.

Being as accurate as I can-the measurement is 12 3/8" .

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The problem is that the neck doesn't fit the guitar ...(I'm editing this because I think I got it the wrong way around last time). You don't say if the neck has an overhang or not --I'm betting it does. And I'm betting the guitar was originally routed for a 22 fret neck with NO overhang (in other words, this body probably came from an Asian strat copy, they seem to use that kind of neck a lot).

Although it's possible that the neck you have is a shorter Gibson scale.

In either case, there's the same result: the nut ends up too close to the bridge --and that's why you're not able to get it intonated.

So if either is true, then your easiest option is to just get a new neck that will fit the body.

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I am more inclined to think its the scale of the neck, as the body simply would not look correct with the tremolo moved far back on the body. Neither would the pickup.The routing was professionally done so someone had a solution to this problem. Could it have been a specially made neck with a unique scale?

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Strat style guitars are nearly always 25.5" scale, it would be extremely unlikely that the original neck was for 25" scale.

The neck that you have measures 12 3/8" from the fingerboard side of the nut to the 12th fret?...that makes it a 24 3/4 scale which is the most common Gibson scale. It seems very strange that a strat style neck would be in a gibson scale but you never know! What make was the neck & where'd you get it?

My first thought was that the original owner of the body might have made a mistake when routing for the bridge (which is why he sold it) but the nut to 12th fret x2 measurement is definitely wrong...re-measure & check.

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Exactly what body/neck are you using? You said "Strat-style" but that doesn't help much. You didn't state whether the 22nd fret is on an overhang or is flush with the end of the heel. Before you automatically assume the neck is wrong (most "Strat-style" necks are 25.5" scale) you should post some pics, give some details, and let the more experienced see if they can spot the problem.

My guess is that the previous owner put the Kahler in the wrong place throwing the scale off, but without more info it's just a guess.

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I am more inclined to think its the scale of the neck, as the body simply would not look correct with the tremolo moved far back on the body. Neither would the pickup.The routing was professionally done so someone had a solution to this problem. Could it have been a specially made neck with a unique scale?

I edited my earlier post. Doubtful that's it a unique scale. The problem is that it's very difficult to build a parts guitar because it takes a lot of homework to make sure that all your specifications will match each other.

The solution to this problem is to find a neck that matches the body.

If it's true that this neck is a Gibson scale, then that's your problem right there--those necks are significantly shorter, bringing the nut too close into the body, and making it impossible to intonate (because the saddles can't adjust back farther).

And if it's a case that the guitar was set up for a 22 fret neck with no overhang and you're using a neck with an overhang, that can produce the same problem. The nut comes in too close, the saddles can't go back far enough.

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Link doesn't work--that's the link to your login page.

Try checking the box on the photo you want, then scrolling to the bottom of the page --hit the 'generate html tags' option...you'll get a thumbnails link (use that if you want to post more than one photo) and just paste that directly into your post.

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now, what is the distance from the fret side of the nut to the center of the 12th fret. if its 12.5" it is the right scale, if its 12.75" you have the wrong scale neck, the one you have is 25.5" and you need a 25"scale neck. or the kahler was installed wrong.

Being as accurate as I can-the measurement is 12 3/8" .

You will find your answer in checking accurately whether or not the 12th fret is equal distance from the nut and from the bridge(remember saddles adjust so you need to consider this). If you are not even close your neck is not correct for the routes. You will have to evaluate your options- new neck, relocate the neck, relocate the bridge. That is about it.

As far as the 12 3/8" (2x 12.375=24.75"). A true "24.75"" Gibson scale is rare. The "advertised" 24.75" Gibson scale is most commonly 24.625" in true length, and sometimes 24.5625". Very confusing. The true 24.75" length I believe was used on older instruments.

Peace,Rich

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Based on that last photo of the neck, it shows that your neck is a 25.5" scale neck.

That means that the bridge is 0.5" too far forward, being that it sits at 25".

I think you mentioned somewhere that the measurement to the 12th fret was 12.375.

That is to the center of the "fretting" area (Where the dots are).

What you needed to measure, was to the actual fret itself, and that is at 12.75.

To support my theory that bridge is the problem, just look at the pics where you can see the bridge, is it just me or does the bridge seem to be way too far in?

I mean, it looks to be a standard Strat pickguard, and if that's standard, then that bridge is definitely too far forward.

When looking at a Strat with a vintage trem, the saddles barely reach the edge of the pickguard, and these saddles are deep in there...

It may have been a professional job, but me thinks they screwed up........

Edited by RAI6
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No doubt, you got screwed.

Professional, my arse, they routed the bridge 1/2 inch too close to the neck pocket. Unless they really intended for a 24 3/4 scale or a 25 scale, it's just not going to work unless you re-rout the bridge and pickup pocket back another 1/2 inch.

I'd just pick up another cheap body off the 'bay, preferably a good MightyMite body or NOS Fender body, and just use that.

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Well, reading back over the original posts, I see that your parts were obtained from all over the place.

It's quite possible that you just happened to get a body that was intended for a custom scale, instead of the typical "Strat" 25.5.

So, while there is nothing wrong with your parts, they simply don't belong together...

This is a perfect example of how hard it is to "Frankenstein" a guitar. Even if parts are "supposed" to fit together, if they come from different manufacturerers, they probably won't.

Heck, sometimes parts from the same manufacturer don't fit.....

C'est la vie!

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