Allparts necks - your experience/thought?

[jtougas]

Sooo... I've never bought an Allparts neck before earlier this week, and wanted to check with y'all... How good are they usually, and how much work do they need before assembly?

I bought it from a guy on Ebay, who claimed it as new/unmounted, and would need some final sanding and finishing before The Final Build. Okay, yeah, sure, might need to sand the heal a little to fit, maybe a little tweak to the back profile.

Nope. Fingerboard feels like it was fed to a woodchuck for a light snack. More accurately, it feels like it skipped a step at the factory, and went from rough sanding to getting the frets pressed in.

Which leads to my question: does Allparts usually roll the edges of the fingerboard, or are they sharp and crisp like Warmoth and Mighty Mite?

Because the edges of this thing have definitely been rounded over, and not particularly even. In some spots, as you rotate the neck, it looks like a very shallow scallop, at the edge of the fingerboard.

I've emailed the guy (during which I made it clear I thought the issue lay at Allparts feet), and he's not taking returns, but while he has offered some cash back, it's probably not enough to cover a re-fret and fingerboard profile.

I do have to say that the neck profile feels great - very comfortable, full, without being too thick, like a medium 'C'. It's a baritone neck, btw.

 

[BrianS.]

Re: Allparts necks - your experience/thought?

The Allparts necks I've used have been very good, with none of the issues you describe. I've never seen one with "rolled" edges, either. WD also makes very nice necks for a reasonable cost. I must say that the Mighty Might necks I've used and have seen on customer guitars have all been quite nice as well.

I think ebay is a terrible place to buy a guitar neck. I had a customer bring me a "made in USA" (hooray!) strat style neck that was purchased off ebay for a very good price. It looked to have been made by someone who knew just enough to make it look like a good neck in photographs, but once in the hand, had several issues that made it not worth putting on a guitar.

TLDR: I think the neck you received was messed with by the person who sold it to you.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Allparts necks - your experience/thought?

The 'him not taking returns' (ie cancelling the transaction) is a decision out of his hands. If the neck is 'not as described' then you will get a refund. Actually if he doesn't want it back you might get the neck and the refund

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Allparts necks - your experience/thought?

Yep, that's pretty uncharacteristic for an Allparts neck, unless he bought a factory 2nd, which is possible from time to time. If that were the case, it should have been disclosed.

Simply put, if you bought it through eBay and it's not right, submit an "item not as described" claim and get your money back. As long as the item wasn't listed with the condition "for parts/not working", he'll have to accept the return and refund your money. If he doesn't comply, eBay will step in and do it for him.

No way I'd be content with a neck like that.

Edit: Also, depending on how he stored it and where he resides, if it wasn't sealed with some kind of finish early on (Allparts does not seal them), all sorts of issues could creep up over time.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Allparts necks - your experience/thought?

He offered me a partial refund, claiming "I described it as needing final sanding and finishing" (*snort*), which I decided against accepting.

Lo and behold, sitting in my Message Box this morning is a shipping label to send it back to him. Which I shall (after I take pictures of the condition it is in, so he can't turn around and claim I modded it).

Yeah, he was trying to pull a fast one.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Allparts necks - your experience/thought?

I know Musikraft (think USACG does as well but not positive on that off the top of my head) offers varying levels of "rolled edges" but I'm not aware of any replacement necks coming with that feature.

A. I've used 2 brand new Allparts necks, the edges on both were square and crisp
B. The above two had the edges rolled to my specifications (not by Allparts)
C. The above two both required very little fret work to be incredible players
D. I agree with the above that the seller messed with the neck

Sorry you had to go through that man, sure sounds like the dude messed with the neck. On eBay I've had great experiences with thestratosphere. They were super friendly and accomodated my request for a darker board by giving me the darkest Roasted Maple neck they had in stock (I asked about it and got a super quick reply as well as a super fast delivery.)


Best of luck, Allparts is a great company to use IMO.

EDIT: A couple of reasons I would suggest not using Allparts is if you wanted a very specific radius spec or stainless steel frets. But other than that I've been very pleased with the Allparts necks I've owned and played.

 

[Shooter.556]

Re: Allparts necks - your experience/thought?

File a complaint with Ebay and Paypal.. You'll get the neck and your money..
Do it before his funds are delivered to him and Ebay will freeze them. I had to do that over a pedal one time.

 

[jtougas]

Re: Allparts necks - your experience/thought?

Sorry you had to go through that man, sure sounds like the dude messed with the neck. On eBay I've had great experiences with thestratosphere.

Eh. The guy's not being an ass about it - he's already sent me a return shipping label, and said he'll refund my money as soon as he gets the neck. He lives near Athens, so I'm going to check with some builder friends of mine in the area, see what they would charge for fixing the neck, and send him to them so that he doesn't just toss the thing in the trash (the back of the neck really did have a comfortable profile - would be a great player. If I weren't confident it would cost me a lot more to get the work done here in Atlanta, I'd've kept it and taken the partial refund).

I also ordered the same model from Stratosphere this morning.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Allparts necks - your experience/thought?

A. I've used 2 brand new Allparts necks, the edges on both were square and crisp
B. The above two had the edges rolled to my specifications (not by Allparts)
C. The above two both required very little fret work to be incredible players
D. I agree with the above that the seller messed with the neck

+1

I acquired an Allparts 22 fret, 12" radius, cut for Floyd string clamp, neck as part of a Bitsacaster. Fingerboard edges were as sharp as you like. (I couldn't stand them!) I have since tumbled the edges and fret ends to my tastes.