Luthiery Laboratories

A conversion neck is one that can convert an instrument from one scale length to another with no other modification. A common conversion is 34" to 32". By overhanging the 20th fret, or leaving it off, you can use the stock bridge location on the body, just adjust for intonation. Such a neck will work on any standard bass body. A conversion from 34" to 30" requires overhanging two frets, or losing one or both.

Another useful conversion neck is 25.5" to 30", or guitar to bass. A 24-fret 30" neck will line up perfectly on the bridge of a guitar body. Of course, you'll want to use a guitar-width heel, and bridge to match. A Bass VI can easily be made from any guitar this way, using the stock bridge. Note that most tremolos will be over-stressed by the extra tension, and not work well.

The really nice thing about 32" is that you can generally use regular long scale strings, available anywhere. The relative change in pickup location is only slight, so the tonal character of the instrument is not noticeably changed. The drop in string tension is also minor - it feels more like a long scale than a short, just more comfortable.

Uh, not really.

The original conversion neck was invented by Danelectro many years ago. The same body could be a bass, a baritone, or a guitar, just by swapping out the neck and bridge. I've built a number of Stratocaster bass conversions - it turns out that a two-octave 30" neck installs with no modifications, just mount the appropriate bridge. And Warmoth never 'invented' that!