[yardlettuce]

I'm building a guitar from stock fender parts and I decided that I wanted to put together a Mustang, I really like their shape and sound. Although I really like the Mustang, it's a short scale guitar and I don't think that the neck scale is right for me. Does anybody know how I can put a normal scale neck onto my guitar and keep the intonation good? I don't need it to be the perfect 25.5 inches, but I'd like something between the scale length of a Jazzmaster and a P bass since those are the two instruments I'm using at the moment.

 

[Ronbeast]

The issue you will face with this project is that the frets on the neck are at predetermined locations based on the scale length, that’s why necks of different fret numbers and scale length are not directly interchangeable.

Basically the only fix you can do to make this work is to relocate the bridge. The issue with that is that your pickups will no longer be in the same location with regards to distance from the bridge and nut; meaning the guitar will sound “like a mustang” but not “exactly like a mustang”. If the bridge is a vibrato bridge, the headache is increase tenfold, and I simply wouldn’t recommend the mod. It’s just not worth it.

My recommendation: don’t do the mod. I know mustangs are cool guitars, but I can’t guarantee you’ll end up with a finished project that checks all of your boxes.

Have you considered a jazz master? Those have the 25.5” scale you’re after, and there are even baritone options on the market if you wanted to get closer to p-bass scale length. Hope this helped.

 

[zontar]

The neck pocket could also be adapted & bridge left where it is--as long as you get the right length between nut & bridge i will work

 

[Hammerhands]

I don't know if anyone makes a conversion neck for the Mustang.
You can buy a conversion neck to go from 25.5 to 24.5.
Warmoth Custom Guitar Parts - Conversion Necks

The distance from the heel to the bridge is 160mm for the Mustang and 181mm for a Strat or Tele.
21mm, about 13/16" is how far you would have to move things.

 

[Hammerhands]

There is some info if you Google about using Ibanez or Jackson necks with modified heels.