Fusion neck on a Kelly body??

[ranalli]

Is it possible to put a fusion neck which is 24 frets 24 3/4" scale on a Kelly import body which is 24 frets but 25 1/2" scale??

I dont' even know if the neck pockets are the same but would the scale length work out like a Warmoth 24 3/4" conversion neck?? Just change the neck and voila?? I'm probably smoking crack here but I'm sure somebody has tried this.

What about a DK-2 neck on a Kelly Body..that should work right??

[Jim Shine]

Re: Fusion neck on a Kelly body??

It should work. But only if the 24 fret neck is made longer than a 25 1/2" scale 21/22 fret neck, which they usually are. Look at where the top row of neckplate screws mount behind the frets. If the neck screws are behind the 18th fret (not the usual 17th fret area), a Fusion neck should work. The only time I experimented with this was with early 90's USA components. I am not sure how the import stuff, or even later USA was designed. Experiment at your own risk.

PS- you will need to intonate the bridge for the new neck if the neck can be swapped. Its not a bolt and go type of deal.

[ August 19, 2003, 11:51 AM: Message edited by: Jim Shine ]

[Dave L]

Re: Fusion neck on a Kelly body??

Not sure about the Fusion/Kelly-deal...but a DK2 neck should fit great on for example a KE3.

[ranalli]

Re: Fusion neck on a Kelly body??

Yeah, I finally found one of your other posts on this topic, Jim and it was very helpful.

Seems like the neck pocket and bridge are the key factors in this assuming that the 24 fret neck is not an extended fretboard job like warmoth does for their 24 fret necks.

Sounds like the same deal Warmoth uses for their "conversion" necks where you can put a 24 3/4" scale neck right on a strat and it works fine with an intonation adjustment of course. Looks like the same thing for the DK-2/KE-3 necks and the Fusion necks with the exception that the neck is 24 frets not 22 frets.

If my logic is right that would also mean that the distance from the bridge to beginnng of neck pocket is the same for both a Fusion and a DK-2/KE-3 with the neck length determining the scale length.

[ August 19, 2003, 12:22 PM: Message edited by: ranalli ]

[Jim Shine]

Re: Fusion neck on a Kelly body??

"If my logic is right that would also mean that the distance from the bridge to beginnng of neck pocket is the same for both a Fusion and a DK-2/KE-3 with the neck length determining the scale length."

Yes, that is an important ingredient for sure!

This is all old school technology. Fender began offering two different scale lengths on Musicmaster family guitars (Musicmaster II, Duo-Sonic II, and Mustang) in 1964. They designed the two different scale necks to work on the same bodies.

[Jim Shine]

Re: Fusion neck on a Kelly body??

Another added 'secret' I discovered with old fender necks of different scales is that the company used a certain template of spacing for the frets that applied to all guitar necks. In the pic below the strung up neck is a 25 1/2" Jazzmaster neck, the other neck is a 24" scale Jaguar neck. Nut to nut the frets do not line up at all. Shift the nut on the 24" scale neck to the first fret of the 25 1/2" scale neck and the frets line up perfectly! This ofcourse isn't very precise. Over the years companies (including Fender) have refined fret placement using formulas so now shorter scale guitars actually fret more in tune than older necks.