thebeat Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 If i put 20 fret neck on a body that originally had a 22 fret neck will this cause intonation problems? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 Yup. The frets will be in the wrong place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Protium Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 (edited) Yes, but you can move the bridge towards the neck (I think) to compensate. Edited November 7, 2008 by Protium Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 dont think so, they are placed as a sub division of the intended scale elgnth, I think [i]some [/i]of them will be in tune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassmandan Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 (edited) [quote name='Geek99' post='324477' date='Nov 7 2008, 08:40 PM']dont think so, they are placed as a sub division of the intended scale elgnth, I think [i]some [/i]of them will be in tune.[/quote] I was about to confidently write plus one here..... but after a lot of head scratching I think Protium's right, because what ever the intended scale length was, if the bridge ends up being that far from the nut then all the frets [i]should[/i] all be in tune..... I think unless of course the 20 fret neck was made by [name removed (well it would have been if I'd had the balls to write it here in the first place!)] cough cough [size=1]EDITED: because my bonkers computer posted this twice before I'd even started writing my post![/size] Edited November 7, 2008 by bassmandan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexclaber Posted November 7, 2008 Share Posted November 7, 2008 If the 20th fret is in the same place relative to the bridge as the 20th fret was on the 22 fret neck then it'll be fine. Or to put it another way, if the bolt holes are in the same place relative to the frets on each neck then it'll be fine. Or another way, if the distance from 12th fret to bridge is about 17" then you'll be ok. Do Fender basses with more frets just have a longer fingerboard but the same neck length / bolt position? (Asks the man who's never owned a Fender-alike...) Alex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebeat Posted November 7, 2008 Author Share Posted November 7, 2008 [quote name='alexclaber' post='324517' date='Nov 7 2008, 09:29 PM']If the 20th fret is in the same place relative to the bridge as the 20th fret was on the 22 fret neck then it'll be fine. Or to put it another way, if the bolt holes are in the same place relative to the frets on each neck then it'll be fine. Or another way, if the distance from 12th fret to bridge is about 17" then you'll be ok. Do Fender basses with more frets just have a longer fingerboard but the same neck length / bolt position? (Asks the man who's never owned a Fender-alike...) Alex[/quote] Fender basses have extended boards. The bridge on the bass is approx 17 inches from the 12th but i still cant get the bugger to intonate....guess i'm gonna have to get another 22 fret neck from somewhere....this is turning out to be one of theose 'cheap projects' that end up costing bings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 (edited) It's not rocket science The 12th fret needs to be halfway between the nut and the bridge (or some nominal centre point on the bridge it being adjustable). It's not about absolute measurements though it's abut dividing up the strings and the frets are positioned to divide up the intended scale length. That is on a 34" scale the 12th fret is 17" from the nut AND the bridge (or it should be). As long as that is the case or made to be the case then you are laughing. So, what I'm saying is make sure YOUR nut to 12th measurement is the same as the 12th to bridge. What do you mean it doesn't intonate? Are you running out of travel on the bridge saddles? If so, you know you need to shift the bridge. The other thing is that you might end up with the pickups in a bad place and it sounds rubbish. Edited November 8, 2008 by thepurpleblob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tait Posted November 8, 2008 Share Posted November 8, 2008 why put a 20 fret neck on a bass that already has 22 frets? what does this achieve? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebeat Posted November 8, 2008 Author Share Posted November 8, 2008 All the factors say that this bass should be easy to intonate, but as suggested above, the bridge has run out of adjustment. I don't really want to move the bridge as then i lose the string thru option...as it is the intonation is not bang on but it's playable enough for a hack like me. As for the reason for putting a 20 fret neck on a body that had a 22 fret neck...i don't have a 22 fret neck...but i do have a 20 fret neck. Its an American Deluxe jazz body in Olympic white Pearl that i picked up cheap on Ebay. I've just wired it as passive but might go active later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tait Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 ahhh fair enough. i think itd be easier to get a 22 fret neck, it shouldnt be much more expensive than what you could sell you 20 fret neck for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanOwens Posted November 9, 2008 Share Posted November 9, 2008 Bit late, but I just bought a 21 fret neck for a 20-fret Jazz. Today I just shifted the bridge towards the nut and intonated. No worries!!!! Mine's also a cheapo jobby. The neck was 40 quid and the bass 200. I thought I could either source a new neck or just make do. Cheap's cheap. Not fussed about visable screw holes or anything, so job's a good'un!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.