YANPD - Yet Another New Project Day - Headless edition

[DCikes88]

Played around with the thing today. I can't give it a proper polish yet because of hand problems, but I put in a few light belly rubs just to visualize it glossed, and plopped some mock hardware...

Conclusion: GLOSS is BOSS. CHROME brings it HOME.

ICTGoober, my dude, rest assured, there will be no giving up on this thing.

[JamesPaul]

That mock up looks quite good.

[DCikes88]

but I couldn't get used to the ... narrow neck.

It took me a week, but yeah. I've realized this neck will not do. Just too narrow and flimsy. Honestly, I also hate the feeling of not having a headstock.

The body is getting in good shape overall, and I'm loving it visually,
SO, I've decided to get a neck for this thing. A proper neck. With a headstock.

Leaning towards shortening the scale length also, so 24 fret 25" and 24.75" scale necks are being considered, although I'm not completely ignoring 25.5". I've measured and done the math, I'll do it again a few more times but there seems to be enough room for repositioning the bridge to any scale. Ofc I include the eventual shifting of the "nut-point" from shortening the scale in these measurements.

Maple/ebony, maple/rosewood, maybe mahogany. Visually I'd prefer no inlays, simple binding and a prs-style headstock. I'm thinking shorter and lighter neck, shorter headstock. Trying to preserve balance as much as possible.
Italian and german ebay are brimming with great looking necks at around 150$ mark, so now I'm on the lookout.

Whatever work the neck heel or pocket need doing, will be done properly, but I'll choose a neck carefully to reduce the need for sanding, reshaping or shims as much as possible.

I'll be using a Schaller 3ds bridge, it's decent sized and weight, adjustable everything and string spacing, looks great to IMO
We're going full nickel hardware and covers.

Pickups are a long way from now but, thinking of 59n, a2ph-n or even phat cat (can I get that in nickel? I can, right?) for neck. Bridge maybe jb, c5 or cc,

And, yes, I am fully aware this is possibly very stupid of an endeavor, but I like it. It's gonna be fun, that's for sure.

P.S. mocky mc-mockup with a Dinky neck disastrously inappropriate for that pocket...

[jeremy]

very unique, i like it!

[Mincer]

Is it neck heavy, or does the weight of the body balance it out?

[DCikes88]

Is it neck heavy, or does the weight of the body balance it out?

It's getting there. With the Jackson neck, scale and headstock shape combined with hefty weight of the schaller tuners, it is a tad too neck heavy.
Luckily, that neck is not considered for the swap. Shorter scale, shorter 3+3 headstock, and a bridge heavier than the mock-up one, it should even things out nicely.

This is more along the lines of a neck being considered...


24.75", 24 fret, rosewood on mahogany, it'll need some work ofcourse, but finished product should work nicely.

[ICTGoober]

I'm considering something similar for my headless project. The lack of a peghead messed me up when playing down by the zero fret, and my hand would shoot off the end of the neck. I finally blackened the zero fret with a Sharpie, and that fooled my eye enough that it was no longer a problem. A real nut would work, too.

[DCikes88]

Ok, so after squeezing out a small discount, I've ordered the neck pictured above. It was peanuts, so it's a gamble, I know. We'll wait and see.

It's unfinished mahogany with a rosewood board, 24 fret, 24.75" scale, 42mm at the nut, 12" radius with medium jumbo nickel frets.
We'll see if those have to be resurrected or changed out completely.
The body is alder and it's a bolt on, ofcourse.

Considering the scale conversion and the routes for body-mounted HH config, the neck pickup will almost touch the fretboard, and the bridge pickup will be roughly half to 3/4" from bridge.

My question is: I have a spare JB/Jazz set which I would like to plop in this thing, and considering the woods, scale length and pickup placement, what to be wary of with those pickups in this configuration?
Potential shrillness of trebles in JB, Jazz not sounding "right" because of offset placement? Anything that an EQ or pot change can't solve?

Oh, it's 1v 1t 3way toggle, pots I guess 500k? And preferably two mini 2ways for series/parallel on each pickup.

[Mincer]

A Jazz with a 24 fret neck has its own sound. There really isn't a way to make it sound like it is in the 'right' place. It isn't a matter of EQ or electronics...you can't really replace missing (or differently-balanced) overtones. It isn't a bad sound, but it certainly is not the same.

[DCikes88]

A Jazz with a 24 fret neck has its own sound. There really isn't a way to make it sound like it is in the 'right' place. It isn't a matter of EQ or electronics...you can't really replace missing (or differently-balanced) overtones. It isn't a bad sound, but it certainly is not the same.

You had me at i"t isn't a bad sound".
You did say that at the very end of your post, but just saying, that's were you had me.

It'll take atleast a month for the neck to arrive and to get working on fitment and hardware, but when it gets to electronics stage, I also have a 59n so I'll play around, find what works in this mutant thing.

[Mincer]

It is a clean and clear sound for sure, but doesn't have the 'body' of a guitar with 22 frets. Many people don't mind (or can't hear/don't care) about this.

[DCikes88]

Ordered some non-branded 3+3 locking tuners in chrome for 20$, had good reviews and I'm trying to keep costs low here, where possible.

They're the back-locking kind. Look like they'll do their job. We'll see.

[DCikes88]

Update: neck and tuners arrived.

Tuners could be smoother, but I suspect it's solvable with a little cleaning and grease-up. The locking works so I guess I can't complain for the price. I'll have to slightly widen the holes on the headstock, but so slightly, a piece of sandpaper around a pen and a jerking motion should do it.

Neck. Honestly, quite pleasantly surprised. Wood is great, neck is as straight as could be, the truss rod works fine. Some light sanding and oil and I'll call it a day.

Frets are amazing, not just for the price. Grabbed a fret rocker, couldn't find a single high fret. No leveling, crowning, polishing required.

Fret ends have been worked on, they're a bit rough, but nothing a bit of sandpaper/steel wool won't take care of.

Binding has a few smudges here and there, and the board needs to be rolled slightly, but again, nothing major. A couple of hours of TLC, and the neck will be top notch.

The heel fits great in the pocket. I'll just take a couple of milimeters off the front of the heel to bring in the board snug to the neck pickup. Maybe, just maybe, take a milimeter off the base to lower the board, but I'll decide that when the bridge gets here so I know where I'm at height-wise.

Still can't decide on the pickups. Neck contenders are 59/Jazz, bridge JB/Screamin Demon. There's also a very reasonably priced used DiMarzio Illuminator set for sale locally. But, ya know, cream bobbins.
We'll see.
Feel free to suggest something, we'll brainstorm it out.

And now, the pics...

[jeremy]

looks good! not sure taking a new mm off the neck so it sits further in is a good idea if you want the guitar to intonate

[DCikes88]

looks good! not sure taking a new mm off the neck so it sits further in is a good idea if you want the guitar to intonate

What you see on the pic is a mock-bridge, an actual tailpiece from my 1970 Hoyer 5060.

The bridge I'll actually be using on this guitar still has to be delivered.
It will be mounted according to scale, no worries. Holes have yet to be drilled, bridge yet to be mounted.
I am a huge fan of correct intonation

My idea with taking the few mm off is that I would prefer the fretboard to be practically flush with the neck pickup rather than the bridge being smack right up to the bridge pickup. So if I pull the board in, I'll mount the bridge that much further.