Mustang body, full-scale neck?

Doug

Even the longer Mustang neck is a bit small for my fingers when I play close to the body. If I have a Mustang body made for me, will I be able to use a full-scale neck?

cwilliamrose

I don't see why not. You just need to get the bridge in the right place relative to the 12th fret. Since you're doing a custom body, you have all the freedom you need to get it right -- move the bridge, move the neck or move both as needed. A 25-1/2" scale length will require the bridge to be 3/4" farther from the 12th fret than it is with a 24" scale length. You may not need to move the bridge so much as to make it look obviously different than a stock body. Maybe a 22 fret neck would keep the look right for that part of the guitar too.

I did some very quick measurements and it looks like the distance from the mounting screws to the 12th fret is close to the same on the 24" Mustang neck and a 25-1/2" Tele neck.

Something like this might work -- Move the neck mount about 1/2" towards the headstock. An additional fret would get the fretboard closer to the neck pickup by around 1/4". Maybe move the neck pickup position a little towards the headstock as well. Then move the bridge 1/4" farther away from the headstock. That should get you close and kinda' preserve the Mustang look too. Carefully shaping the new body and pickguard will help too. Of course you'll need actual measurements to do this properly.

Good luck...........Bill

Doug

Verrry helpful, Bill. Thanks. I need info like this. I've never hot rodded much less built a guitar.

OceanTurquoiseMetallic

crazy! I want one!

cwilliamrose

Doug said: Verrry helpful, Bill. Thanks. I need info like this. I've never hot rodded much less built a guitar.

I'm very happy to help. Sounds like a great build. One other thing I should mention is that the balance will change if this is done. It will probably not be a problem but it will be different (more weight towards the neck) than a stock Mustang.

If I were doing this, I'd make a CAD model of a stock Mustang and start modding it to see what my options were going to be. I could look at the CG change vs the stock guitar too. When I had something that worked, I'd compare to two for any obvious visual differences and try to hide the changes as much as possible. It seems like everything I build these days starts with a CAD model. I'd rather build it ten times in CAD and then once with real parts, like this;

This is my aluminum archtop. It has been through a bunch of necks and neck mount designs. I've kept an eye on the balance and the total weight. Some of the stuff in the model isn't visually accurate but it is accurate in terms of weight. But the main purpose for this model was to make sure it was possible to build as I envisioned it.

Best of luck on this project. Please keep us updated on your progress.........Bill