Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi guys! I am really new to guitar-building, but I find it quite fascinating, expecially when it comes to the electronics. I am starting with a cheap little project wih some cheap parts I am finding here and there on the web, as this is my first attempt i dont wanna spend too much money on it, I am doing this just for fun for now. I love playing electric guitar and I really feel Id regret if I dont at least try to assemble one ahah

I got a strat replica body (because they are the easiest to find for cheap and easiest to work with, it seems like.)
and I though I'd try to put a LP neck on it. I know purists would kill me, but I'd love to have a little fun with this and do something weird.

Do you think a LP neck would be possible to fit on a strat body?

specs of my body

Body Wood: Alder
Weight: Approx. 4.2 lbs
Neck Pocket Width: 2-1/4"
Neck Pocket Depth: 5/8"

specs of the neck

Neck Wood: Mahogany
fretboard: Rosewood with Binding
Inlay: White Dot
Scale Length: 24-3/4"
Width at Nut: 1-5/8"
Width at Heel: 2-1/4";
Frets: 22 Heavy Jumbo Nickel/Silver Frets (Size: .103" x .046")

I've done it both ways.
Purists be damned.
Build it and have fun getting all the music out of it.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

What mods?
Either bolt a LP style neck on, or glue it in ala Gibson.
You simply have two choices of neck attachment (with considerations towards bridge placement).
It ain't rocket science.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

If you have a body from a strat, and the neck off a Les Paul, as manufactured by the companies (I'm assuming you are talking about authentic parts and not parts you have made yourself) theres really no practical way to mate the short scale neck to the long scale body without heavy modification, as Verhoevenc has stated.

You COULD design and build a set-neck strat, with either a long or short scale, or even an in-between scale, and it would play and sound great!

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Oh ye of little faith.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Glue cheeks onto the LP tenon to make it a block. Lop off the heal and shape it ala' Fender. Recut the neck pocket with a Myka style jig. I believe the taper and width on an LP is greater at all points than a Fender in the area of the pocket, so you may not need to fill anything. For a first attempt, it's quite a bit of rework to get right. None of the pickups will really be in the right place. The neck may overhang the new neck pocket, and you may take off enough wood that it no longer has any lateral support. Good luck finding a case to fit it. As a first attempt at assembling a guitar, I think you will have bitten off too much, and no doubt you will run into unexpected problems that you'll have to work around. Experience is your friend when things go wrong.

All done back in the 70's and 80's - the pix are in my scrapbooks.
Scanner doesn't work, but if the OP wants more info - PM me.

Oh, yeah - no "s", just Pile.
I don't misspell your name....

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Been doing repair work & refinishing since 1977. Haven't built anything new since 1992. Currently planning a chambered electric.

It's my experience than many who only build often underestimate what is possible in luthiery. Repair guys often find a way (sometimes unconventional), to "work the prolem" and make the client happy. I never said it would be easy.... but putting a LP neck on a Strat (or vice versa) CAN be done. I've done it, but a long time ago.

And yes - building such a beast from raw materials is easier.... for some.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

He used to work on my guitars back in the 80's before he got fed up and went back to being a machinist. He's not a poser

That being said, i think that it's a lot of trouble for a first build. It would be a heck of a lot easier if you start with a neck and body with the same scale so you don't have to move all the pickup routes and the bridge.

Thanks, Danny.
I'm getting tired of dragging out my bonafides for self-appointed whatevers.....

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Gee, Filippo - I wasn't talking about you, but if the shoe fits....

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

What's a caveat emptor?

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Ah.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

You know what, I'm pretty new here, but if you have a difference of opinion, just state it, argue it and fight over it. I don't see anyone on this thread at the moment that's in any position to discredit or demand anything of anyone....don't really care who you've studied with or how great you think you are. Frankly, I think think Chris is a little off base underplaying how difficult the task really is, but we can debate it like gentleman without having to get into some competition about who has cred and who doesn't.

You seem quite talented, Chris...and you too, Filippo. I've gotten some great tips from you, and I enjoy your videos, Chris. I'm not a great luthier, and I may never be as I'm getting older, I started this late in life, and I'm still a beginner IMHO, but I know great luthiers and they are far more humble than anything I'm seeing here. I wonder if your ego and arrogance will stunt your obvious talent, and I do think that would be a shame.

I would put it this way. If for example my 20 year old son brought me those two parts and asked me the same question, I would try to talk him out of it. Then since 20 year olds need to learn themselves and some are pretty head strong, I would help him do it. But in the mean time, being headstrong myself sometimes I would offer to help him build a proper fender neck. He is much smarter than I so he would probably win out and we would start the modifications, some of which have been discussed here in this thread.

I think the OP is gone though.

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Ken

Hi All, been a while and I stumbled on this interesting thread
Firstly, I would like to welcome Andrea to the forum! Your first thread shows you how warm and loving we are in these parts. It reminds me of an old joke: How many luthiers does it take to screw in a light bulb?
3 - one to screw it in and two to stand there and say they can do it better.

I hate to throw in my opinion here, but I am compelled to do this.... the answer is anything is possible. The skill level that may be required may be way beyond what you can handle with your current experience, but it will be a learning experience if anything. Don't let anyone here on these forums tell you which way is the wrong way or right way... all of these builders have their own unique methods of doing things through their own experiences. TRUE, some of them may do certain things the same or similar, but at the end of the day, each one of us has a building technique that will always be changing and no two will ever be the same. There are obviously personality conflicts in here (Sophomoric name calling clearly shows this). But if you are wanting to succeed in your building journey, you may end up ignoring the petty squabbles. The first post I put on these forums took me 2 days to post, because I was already a few months in my build. The interesting part was I felt I was being "jumped on" or "criticized" unnecessarily mainly due to the fact that they were complaining about things *ASSUMING* I was in the middle of the process and the fact was I was posting MONTHS of work to catch everyone up on where I was currently at on my build (http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10123&t=31851&hilit=Dueling+dragons) It wasn't that I disagreed with the suggestions, but they were telling me the things I needed to do that were already done. At the end of the build, the guitar played phenomenally well and I was doing things that allot of the builders simply didn't have experience with (Like how to fret a fingerboard that has inlay going across the fret slots) BUT SOMEONE actually even had a great suggestion for that and it was a great experience at the end and allot of the guys (On this post) helped me along and DID support me - I believe if they put their bickering in PM's to each other and try to stay on focus with helping you, it would be a little more productive and make this forum a bit more useful.

You NEED to get your butt kicked with ideas that you have with the actual "thinking out" what you will have to do to accomplish ANY challenge you give yourself. My guess would be for you to go and buy the neck and the body, have them in front of you and hack away.
Worse case scenario: You will screw up both the body & the neck or the guitar will not be tonally correct. You will lose the money you invested in something that may be beyond your level and you get to have a big slice of humble pie for dinner.
Best case scenario: You will learn several things. Your brain will take a shift in its thinking process.

Becoming a luthier isn't about building awesome guitars; it's about being able to overcome problems. If you are starting your build with a BIG problem, you may be in the right place. I went against every sane thing any normal person would do (What is normal?) on my first build and it is my PASSION to run across these challenges. It keeps things interesting. 2 years ago, I didn't know what the different grits on sandpaper were all about, now I have 60 grit all the way up to 12,000 grit (BTW, I had a luthier of 25 years tell me there was "no such thing as 12,000 grit"). Mmmmm Gogg Like SANDPAPER!

I hope you follow your dreams and pursue this building stuff - it has changed my life and I now spend 40 to 50 hours a week on building guitars and just got my second sale. There's no turning back.... but you have to do it first! Good luck to you and please post your pics - I would love to see them

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"Talking about music is like dancing over architecture".
See the most insane first guitar build: http://www.virgilguitar.com
http://www.youtube.com/VirgilGuitar

DRAMA POLICE!!!


YOURE ALL UNDER ARREST!!!

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Hey Andrea. I did the same thing that you are talking about. I had a guitar body already at home and thought it would be cool to make a guitar with already built parts. So away i went and ordered everything i needed and even went as far as inlaying my name on the fret board. but putting a guitar together of mismatched prebuilt parts really isn't that easy. once i got to piecing it together and realized the importance of scale length it was just one big head ache. So that got me to doing more research. hours of internet searches, reading books and watching videos. trying to get as much insight on building guitars as possible. My tip would be build a guitar from scratch. once you do the research and find out what you have to do IMO its way easier and satisfying to build from scratch. I am about 3/4 way through my first build and loving every minute of it. just wish work would allow me to be home more so i could have more time to build lol.

When it's late and you're in a motel room you don't pay attention to dates as much. Funny how these things start though.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

Do you think a LP neck would be possible to fit on a strat body?

Yes.

I still like the strat-paul lescaster guitars.

Although you know what would be really cool? A les paul with fender jaguar pickups and configuration.

No pickguard though, I don't think it looks right on les pauls.

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http://www.tinyhouseandland.com