No laughing--neck length adjustment

This is a hypothetical--maybe
My assumption would be if you put a soprano neck on a concert body the sound will be changed because if the strings are shortened, they won't vibrate the same, etc. I don't know how much it would change, but I would assume using the same body with just a neck change it would sound closer to a soprano.
So if there were an extender block between the neck and body so the strings are the same length. Yes, I understand I wouldn't be able to play up the neck as high (I don't anyway), but how would the sound be affected?
Just curious. Have an idea bouncing around in my head.
Thanks

captain-janeway said:

This is a hypothetical--maybe
My assumption would be if you put a soprano neck on a concert body the sound will be changed because if the strings are shortened, they won't vibrate the same, etc. I don't know how much it would change, but I would assume using the same body with just a neck change it would sound closer to a soprano.
So if there were an extender block between the neck and body so the strings are the same length. Yes, I understand I wouldn't be able to play up the neck as high (I don't anyway), but how would the sound be affected?
Just curious. Have an idea bouncing around in my head.
Thanks

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JThe scale length will change, so, the bridge will be in the wrong position

DPO said:

JThe scale length will change, so, the bridge will be in the wrong position

Click to expand...

On a banjo uke as well? Based on that, I guess I've since I've made the length to concert scale maybe I could balance it? I know bridge and nut should be equidistant at the 12th fret. I don't know how the 12th fret on the blocked setup I mentioned would line up against a standard concert uke.

Again, just something I'm bouncing through my head. Looking at the way I fret, my index fingers go more parallel than perpendicular on some chords. Example on an Em, the ring and middle are square on the keyboard and the index leans to the side. What I'm bouncing in my head could make that worse, but I like to think out of the box.

On a banjo, you can move the bridge a bit to fit the new scale length. On a uke with a bridge already in place, the neck length would have to be juggled to make the scale correct. But no one ever said the neck had to join the body at a certain fret. Its just a custom.

captain-janeway said:

This is a hypothetical--maybe
My assumption would be if you put a soprano neck on a concert body the sound will be changed because if the strings are shortened, they won't vibrate the same, etc. I don't know how much it would change, but I would assume using the same body with just a neck change it would sound closer to a soprano.
So if there were an extender block between the neck and body so the strings are the same length. Yes, I understand I wouldn't be able to play up the neck as high (I don't anyway), but how would the sound be affected?
Just curious. Have an idea bouncing around in my head.
Thanks

Click to expand...

Are you assuming that the saddle is already placed on the concert body?
If you are then forget it because it won't work. If anything you will need to push the Soprano neck into the body and NOT extend the neck. Going the wrong way.

If your attaching a Soprano neck to a Concert body where the saddle hasn't been placed yet then you will/should be able to get it to work. The saddle will be quite close to the sound hole though.

If your just starting from scratch then what your talking about is a big bodied Soprano. It can be done. It will sound somewhere between a Soprano and a Concert.

captain-janeway said:

This is a hypothetical--maybe
My assumption would be if you put a soprano neck on a concert body the sound will be changed because if the strings are shortened, they won't vibrate the same, etc. I don't know how much it would change, but I would assume using the same body with just a neck change it would sound closer to a soprano.
So if there were an extender block between the neck and body so the strings are the same length. Yes, I understand I wouldn't be able to play up the neck as high (I don't anyway), but how would the sound be affected?
Just curious. Have an idea bouncing around in my head.
Thanks

Click to expand...

As I recall Uncle Rod Higuchi did something similar with a Luthier friend of his. It might be worth sending him a pm or trawling back through his posts. Concert body and Soprano scale IIRC.