Cpop’s Short Scale Convert Guitars

For some players, less can be alot more

I was 12 years old when I bought my first electric guitar from a neighbor kid for $12.00. It was a Teisco Del Rey. At the time, these Japanese imports were not well regarded, but they were actually quite serviceable.

The problem was that the players, and a great many repair techs of the day, had no idea how to properly set up a guitar. I must have just gotten lucky with this old beater because it was very well broken in and played beautifully, which could have been due to a good setup and/or the fact that it was a short 24 inch scale length, making it a perfect choice for a beginner of limited potential.

In the sixty years since then, I have owned, or at least played, nearly every make and model of guitar without regard, or even knowledge of what their scale lengths might have been. But things are different now.

I’ve got a little stiffness in the hands that can practically be canceled out as long as I stay away from the longer scale guitars. And so I’ve created these, what I call, Cpop’s Short Scale Convert Guitars. It seems I’ve come full circle with my Mustangs, Jagmasters, and my custom “Must-a-Casters” and “Tele-Stangs” – the very type of “student” guitar I started out with so long ago.

So, for those interested in this sort of thing, I’ve got a few pictures showing the details. I would wish you good luck, but you really won’t need much of that. It’s really a very easy process. Just pay careful attention to your bridge placement and string alignment.

The Musta-caster

The neck attached as if made for the body and the strings aligned perfectly.

To move the bridge up into position for a 24 inch scale length, I glued a piece of wood into the pickup cavity to support the new bridge location, which meant I had to get a new blank pickguard and reposition the pickups as well.

The new support block extends the back edge of the pickup cavity by about half an inch.

The Tele-Stang

The “Tele-Stang” is even easier than the Must-a-Caster. This is a Squire Affinity Telecaster body with a Squire Mustang neck, and it’s all done with screws – the bridge stays put.

These M3-0.5 X 40mm screws and springs are made by Musiclily and sold through Amazon for $8.49. Both the screws and springs will have to be cut to size, which is about 35mm for the G and D strings and 30mm for the A and E strings.

The screws can be cut with a hack saw, and the springs clipped with wire cutters. You can also get these screws in 40, 35, and 30mm sizes at Home Depot but they don’t come with the springs, which are hard to find in this size.

I just used a disc sander to square up the curved Mustang neck heel. Once again, like the Must-a-Caster, there were no issues with the neck to body joint or the string alignment. And it’s these converts, along with my other, more traditional short scales, that are my favorite guitars to play.

The Jag-o-phone

This is what I call the Jag-O-phone, which is the perfect mating of a Jagmaster 21 fret neck to an Epiphone S310 body. It works on the Epiphone, but it will not work on the Fender/Squire Strat.

Bonus Build

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