Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

[lhrocker]

Are the necks on Japanese Jackson bolt-on's interchangable? Can a Kelly neck go onto a DK onto a RR?

Thanx,
Peter

[kuerbo]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

On Ebay, i saw a Kelly KE3 with a DKMG neck, definitely and improvement over the original neck. [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

[lerxstcat]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

Well, 22-fret and 24-fret necks wouldn't be interchangeable, and a Fusion neck wouldn't be right for any other model because it's 24.75" scale where the rest are 25.5". So it's not just whether it'll fit the neck pocket on the body, it's whether the scale length is correct
for the guitar to intonate. Since a RR has 22 frets, you can't put a DK-2 neck on it without modifying the neck or body.

Edit: Actually, I wonder if a 24-fret, 24.75" scale Fusion neck would work on a body designed for a
22-fret 25.5 scale body, like the RR?
Seems like those 2 extra frets would
about make up the 3/4" scale length
difference. Anybody know if THAT would work?

[ March 07, 2003, 08:36 PM: Message edited by: lerxstcat ]

[kevhogAZ]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

Kuerbo, that way my Kelly. The neck bolted right on, and actually fit in to the neck pocket a little better than the stock neck. As long as the fret are the same numbers, it should go right on.

[toejam]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

I always thought number of frets didn't matter. Scale length is measured from nut to bridge (or I've also heard nut to 12th fret and then double that). So the necks should probably be the same length, no? The frets on a neck with 24 would be spaced closer together than with 22. Then again, if it's a Warmoth fret extension, they say the extra 2 frets get in the way of the neck pickup. I guess the best way would be to see if it fits the pocket first and then see what the scale lenghth is. [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

[shadowcat]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

But I thought a 24 fret neck is longer, so if you put it on a guitar body that was made for 22 frets the neck would stick out to far... [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

On the other hand I just noticed on my DKMGT that the fretboard sticks out a little over the neck... I wonder if that's the same way on 22 fret necks.

[Sunbane]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

Originally posted by toejam:
Scale length is measured from nut to bridge (or I've also heard nut to 12th fret and then double that).

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Correct.

So the necks should probably be the same length, no?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">That doesn't make sense. Think about it. The frets need to be in the right places for you to get the correct notes. If you slap on a neck with the frets spaced differently, you've altered the fret positions, so then it wouldn't intonate any longer. A 24 fret neck needs to be longer to have place for the 2 extra frets. You can't just squeeze all the frets together - by doing that, you're altering the scale length: the 12th fret wouldn't be in the center of the string anymore, so you'd have to move the bridge (i.e. alter the scale length) to make it work.

The frets on a neck with 24 would be spaced closer together than with 22. Then again, if it's a Warmoth fret extension, they say the extra 2 frets get in the way of the neck pickup. I guess the best way would be to see if it fits the pocket first and then see what the scale lenghth is. [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The reason the warmoth fretboard extension intrudes into the neck pickup area, is that the fretboard needs to be longer to accomodate the 23rd and 24th frets. It's simple. If the frets are spaced differently on a 24 fret guitar than your 22-fretter, you're having a guitar with a different scale length, period. The 12th fret should always be in the middle of the string (give or take a small distance due to the different guages intonating differently).

'bane

[ March 08, 2003, 02:29 PM: Message edited by: Sunbane ]

[kuerbo]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

Originally posted by kevhogAZ:
Kuerbo, that way my Kelly. The neck bolted right on, and actually fit in to the neck pocket a little better than the stock neck. As long as the fret are the same numbers, it should go right on.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Thanks Kev,

It sure looks nice, I have a KE3 too and i was thinking on putting a DXMG neck on it.

Dou you have some pictures of yours you can post here?

Enjoy [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[toejam]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

Originally posted by Fifth_Horseman:
But I thought a 24 fret neck is longer, so if you put it on a guitar body that was made for 22 frets the neck would stick out to far... [img]graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

On the other hand I just noticed on my DKMGT that the fretboard sticks out a little over the neck... I wonder if that's the same way on 22 fret necks.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually, you're right. I never noticed before, but my guitars with 24 frets always seemed like they had the frets spaced a little closer together than with 22. I just measured a couple guitars with 22, and from nut to end of neck they're about 18.75". The 24 fret necks are aboout 19.5". The guitars were 25.5" scale lengths.

I also just measured my Hamer which is 24.75" scale, and from nut to end of board it's 18".

[ March 08, 2003, 03:59 PM: Message edited by: toejam ]

[toejam]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

Good explanation, Subane! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Sunbane]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

Oh, thanks! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

I was afraid that I'd hurt your feelings with that rant (that tends to happen in discussion boards for some reason), so I'm glad you liked the explanation. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

'bane

[toejam]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

No hurt feelings here. I just never really thought about it and was just curious and questioning it. I figured I was probably a little wrong on it anyway and glad you could clear it up a little. I just play, but it's cool to learn more. I've heard some of some people who swap out 22 and 24 fret necks and say they don't have a problem. I never measured any necks until today, and it does make more sense now. [img]graemlins/toast.gif[/img]

[Ace]

Re: Interchangeable necks on Japanese Jacksons

I've done a neck bastardization myself, and the best way is to measure everything out. You can put any neck on any guitar, if you are willing to make the modifications. the last one i did, I had to remove wood from the body to make the neck fit, then move the screw holes, and finally move the bridge back. I measured everything out against guitars that I had with similar necks, and in the end, it wasn't pretty, but I made my own Frankenstein. This works really well if you have about $50 and an eBay account, and you feel industrious. I put a warmouth reverse-headstock 24 fret on a Yamaha(or some damn strat-copy). It isn't gonna be on the cover of any magazines, but it stays intonated, and no one else has one.