Guitar Necks

ball ox

Like many before me I have decided to go down the home-build road using a Mexican Strat body as a starting point. At this stage I have everything the way I want it except the neck. It was the one thing I didn't plan from the outset of the project as I had always intended on just 'sticking a tele neck on it'. Now that I'm at that stage a few things have come up which I have never really thought about, nor do i know much about.

Firstly, the reason I wanted to put a tele neck on it is because I favor the way the neck on my American Standard Tele feels way above the old neck on the Mexican Strat. I always figured this was down to a difference in radius & shape but after checking specs on the Fender web site it would appear that both should be of the same measurements .

I noticed that the edges of the fretboard on the Mexi felt very 'sharp' compared to the tele. But then again, the Mexi was all Maple & the Tele has a rosewood fretboard (would that make the difference?). What I also find confusing is the fact that the specs for American & Mexican Strats/Teles necks on the Fender website are also identical. Does that imply that the only difference is in how well the frets are dressed seeing as the wood is the same?

I suppose what I'm wondering is, if I order an all maple neck from Warmoth will it inevitably sound and feel like the mexican neck or will it have a similar feel to the neck on my tele. Oh yeah, and is there actually a difference, besides the headstock & heel, between Strat & Tele necks?

Oh, one more thing, anyone know of any companies like Warmoth within Europe?

Sorry about all the questions, believe it or not I've read through this 3 times and managed to edit out a paragraph :pac:

NoQuarter

im not even gonna try attempt answer all those questions but for my strat build i got my neck from jcguitars on ebay, cost me 73 euro with shipping and its a really nice neck(maple) they have rosewood too.

there is a lot to necks but basically you just need to find out what size pocket is on your body (usually 2 3/16ths i think) and but a neck with the same heel size, headstock wont make too much of a difference but you should pop into a music shop and play around with a few different necks to get a good idea!

ball ox

thanks Stew, yeah I suppose I should really head into a shop and find what I like most. I'm really curious about this strat/tele thing. I could swear both necks feel different. I wonder if it's just a mental thing because the guitars are so different (in my head anyway). I've been looking at warmoth and I really like the look of a birdseye maple neck with a kingwood fretboard. God, it's a bad state of affairs when your getting GAS over necks
I just dont know if I can justify that much money, its quite alot when you factor in tax. I've seen a few on ebay too but find it difficult to tell what would be an actual improvement on the Mexican neck. Without a brand reputation its pretty hard to judge the build on anything other than the type of wood used

NoQuarter

well i have my strat and my mexican tele here and theres not too much of a differnece!!!

it prob is all in the head!

reminds me of when i changed strings from 9's to 10's....at first i was like, my god they are huge i cant play this but then i realised, hand on a sec, sure 5 out of the 6 strings i play are fatter that 9's and 10's! :rolleyes:


yeah i know i sat in the dunces corner for hours for that one...

Doctor J

Don't be scared to reprofile the sides of the neck to suit your needs. With a small flat file, some sandpaper and some steel wool you can make any neck feel like it's been played for 50 years and take the sharp edges right out of there. Start with the file, round the edges of the fretboard between the frets. Use a medium grade of sandpaper to smooth out and rough bits, then a fine grade of sandpaper to smooth it out even more. Then repeat the smoothing process using a medium and finally a fine steel wool. Go slowly and gently, it's better to have to repeat a step a couple of times to build up to a level of roundness, because you can't undo a step too far. Do it right and you'd be amazed at just how comfy you can make a neck feel.

MattKid

REmember to tape up your pickups when using steel wool!!!

Doctor J

Personally, I'd take the neck off first, they wouldn't be anywhere near the pickups