You guys are all hung up on where the bridge sits on the body and at what fret the neck joins the body and none of it has anything to do with the decreased space available for the pups on a 24 vs a 22.
For a 24 you could put the body/neck joint at fret 22 and have 2 frets sitting over the body as is usually done on a double cut. Or, if you wanted the bridge in the same position as it is for a 22, you could have 4 frets sitting on the body with the upper bout neck joint at 20 - you would need to deepen the cut on the lower bout a bit to all easier access to the last frets. Or, you could have the neck join the body way up the fretboard for the upper bout as in the case of a single cut.
My point is - none of that matters -
what compresses the space between the end of the fretboard and the bridge is the two extra frets.
It simply does not matter where you lay the whole thing on the body.
Picture it all happening on a singlecut. You can keep both the bridge and the upper bout neck joint in the same position. You add 2 frets to the fretboard, move the neck pup and deepen the carve slightly on the lower bout for access. You would be moving the neck pup to accommodate the 2 extra frets.
THIS is what I'm on about.
I acknowledge that the bridge on a 24 is moved - that is because we generally only want 2 frets laying over the body for easier access. Thus the whole scale is moved by 2 frets towards the neck end of the guitar.
I acknowledge that the necks are longer on a 24 - by the above mentioned 2 frets.
I acknowledge that the neck pickup ends up closer to the bridge.
I refute that the neck pup is closer
because the bridge is moved on a 24.
I assert it is because there are
2 more frets in the way where the neck pup is positioned in relation to the bridge, while maintaining the scale of the guitar.
Set up your desired scale.
Decide on your bridge and nut.
Decide on the length of your fretboard (22 or 24 or 18 or 5 or 30 - pick anything you want)
Lay out your bridge, nut and fretboard to scale.
The space between the end of the fretboard and the bridge is the space available for pups. If you want more room so you can put a pup farther from the bridge, you are gonna have to get rid of some frets...
You can lay the entire thing anywhere on a guitar body you want.
Moving the entire setup back and forth across the body
doesn't change the space available for pups.
Finally, consider a neck-through guitar. Think of one that is JUST that long single piece that goes all the way from the tuners to through the body to the button for the strap at the end. Think of it WITHOUT any wood added to the top or bottom (body wings). It's just a long slab of wood. There are travel guitars like this, actually.
Now, lay out your 22 fret guitar on it. All the parts sit on that one piece of wood from tip of headstock to nut to fretboard to pups to bridge to tail to strap button.
Make a small change. Add 2 frets to the fretboard without changing the scale length. Are you gonna add wood to the end of the headstock and move the tuners, the nut, the fretboard the bridge pup and the bridge just so you don't have to move the neck pup? Are you nuts?
Take out the neck pup, put down your new fretboard with it's 2 extra frets and rout a new neck pup cavity at the end of THAT fretboard, ummm, maybe like ..
THIS