22 fret strat necks

Hi. I am looking at putting together a Strat style guitar for a friend of mine. however after looking at the after market strat necks I noticed they tend to have 22 frets instead of the usual 21 frets. will the extra fret cause any intonation problems etc when fitted to a standard strat body? will this actually change the scale length? will it still be in tune at every fret?

TIA.

If I understand correctly, the 22 fret neck has a slight extention of the fretboard to accomodate the extra fret.....The positioning of the frets are identical to those on a 21 fret neck, but the timber that makes the fretboard itself extends about a centimetre further than the heel of the neck.... I shouldn't imagine it will make any great difference.....I may be wrong

Nah - the extra fret is (usually) on a little overhang that extends beyond the end of the neck. The neck itself is the same usually lengh, you've just got an extra bit of fret board to accomodate the last fret. It's usually looks something like this:
http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/2224fret.htm

I bougth a £70 strat neck from WD Music Products and it was done in the same way.

Daniel C.

And if it were not, the fret spacing would be fractionally different to compensate for and to give correct intonation on the slightly longer scale length ...

Think of it this way. If you were to put 22 frets on a 21 fret neck you'd have to move all the frets a wee bit closer to the nut to fit the extra fret on the end. Then you'd also have to move the bridge closer that way as well. The result would be that all the frets would be more squished up; thus the distance from the nut to the 12th fret doubled (a.k.a the scale length) will be shorter.

'tis confusing. The argument only stands where the neck is being kept the same size just with a different scale length. Unless you meant that the *neck* would have to be bigger?

Daniel C.

My brain hurts......Will I still be able to play Frampton songs on it?

So.......... Would the guitar still play in tune if all the frets were squashed up to the neck a bit to accomodate the 22nd fret and the bridge was left were it was?

would there be enough adjustment at the bridge on a standard trem to make up the distance?

if it's an aftermarket neck designed to replace a strat neck then it will do that without any problems, all they've done is extend the fingerboard slightly so it overhangs the point where the neck joins the body, the dimensions of the neck remaining the same.

On a recent telecaster style guitar I built, the neck was fretted to a Gibson scale (24 + 3/4' , but you could fit a standard Fender scale neck (25 + 1/2' to it and it would intonate perfectly, as the bridge is placed on the body at a point optimum to both.

In your case the scale length will probably be exactly the same as a 21 fret neck but with an extra bit of fingerboard to hold the extra fret

was?

No - if the fret positions are changed, the bridge would have to be moved also. The 12th fret must always be located exactly half way between the bridge and the nut, so if '... all the frets were squashed up to the neck a bit to accomodate the 22nd fret ... ' then it would be in the wrong place, making the intonation wrong at every fret position.

Don't know, but I doubt it. To get anything like reasonable intonation on a cheap 'n cheerful vaguely Jaguar-shaped thing (which is the only 6 string I can afford) I've had to pull the individual bridge pieces back as far as they'll go, and it still needs a bit more, so I doubt there would be enough adjustment to take up the 'squashed' 21/22 difference.

However, all this is irrelevant for the original question... as a strat neck with 21 or 22 frets has exactly the same dimentions, save for the extra bit of fingerboard housing the 22nd fret. Intonation, scale... etc, are all unaffected.

Yep Jose , if its for a strat whether 22 or 24 fret its the same scale length and fits a standard strat pocket.