fender replacement necks

A

apj

New member
I know warmoth and USACG are both popular choices

I'm looking to put a new neck on a tele of mine. I'd like it to feel closer to a gibson so I'm going to go with a 12" radius. Which is the best option to go with. I'd prefer not to have to level the frets but I know it's a necessary evil.
 
Re: fender replacement necks

Warmoths generally don't require a fret level any more or less than most ready-made guitars.

They will need a nut cut, though.

Personally I have become very careful with Fender style necks. I rather have a MIM Fender neck with the "proper" construction and light truss rod and vintage tuners than something heavy-handed.
 
Re: fender replacement necks

USACG is beyond a replacement neck - it's more of an upgrade neck.

They are competitively priced - I got a heavily optioned neck for $250 - ebony fretboard, gigantic "Fatback" 1 inch profile, 6150 frets, reverse Strat headstock, Tele heel, clay dots, etcetera.

That's a lot of good stuff for $250.

The edges of the frets are PERFECT - better than any fretwork I've ever seen, anywhere.

All frets are smooth as glass - they have obviously been leveled and crowned before leaving the shop. I don't know who else, if anyone, does this.

Also, my necks fretboard edges were rolled for no additional cost.

Do you have any idea what an ebony fretboard with rolled edges feels like?

AWWWWWW YEEEEEEEEAAAAAH is what it feels like.

2011-11-29_21-08-26_470.jpg


2011-11-29_21-07-57_960.jpg
 
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Re: fender replacement necks

How are you going to shave it down?
 
Re: fender replacement necks

Kam said:
Is that why the fretboard looks very, very slightly scalloped? Or is that just my eyes playing tricks on me?
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Yes, exactly.

The fretboard is not scalloped at all - that's just what rolled fretboard edges look like.

Picture 1 exaggerates the effect, for illustrative purposes.

Picture 2 shows a little more clearly that it's just the edge that is affected.

Some have never seen rolled fretboard edges because they've never played a guitar with them. Once you have one guitar with rolled edges, you won't go back.

Anyways, USACG is the best, Tommy for president, etc.
 
Re: fender replacement necks

No dude! I just extinguished my unnecessary neck replacement GAS, now I'm thinking about a rolled ebony fretboard and some medium jumbo SS frets.....
 
Re: fender replacement necks

Quencho092 said:
No dude! I just extinguished my unnecessary neck replacement GAS, now I'm thinking about a rolled ebony fretboard and some medium jumbo SS frets.....
Click to expand...

Rolled and ebony are like a solar lunar eclipse on a leap year Feb 29th or something - they are in the same place at the same time so infrequently, that it's astounding.

Especially because both feel so good.
 
Re: fender replacement necks

ImmortalSix said:
@TheProphet: Step 1 Step 2
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Nice ... I use an exacto or similar blade for work like that but that's tje first time I've seen a blade like that for a scalpel handle, cool.

Quencho092 said:
No dude! I just extinguished my unnecessary neck replacement GAS, now I'm thinking about a rolled ebony fretboard and some medium jumbo SS frets.....
Click to expand...

Ah ... does it make you envious to know that I have a wenge neck, ebony board with rolled edges, and 6105's with the fret ends dressed in the rounded over fashion like J-craft. Mmmm yes, it is good.
 
Re: fender replacement necks

TheProphet said:
Ah ... does it make you envious to know that I have a wenge neck, ebony board with rolled edges, and 6105's with the fret ends dressed in the rounded over fashion like J-craft. Mmmm yes, it is good.
Click to expand...

That sounds awesome!
 
Re: fender replacement necks

Once I recharge my good camera I'll send you pics.
 
Re: fender replacement necks

So I6, do you specifically have to ask for those mods (rolled edge fretboard, crowned and pollished frets, etc), or is that just typical quality from USACG? For $250 that sounds like a whale of a deal.
 
Re: fender replacement necks

For a full custom neck, I would go USACG, but you can't beat some of the necks Warmoth has in their showcase for $160.
 
Re: fender replacement necks

ImmortalSix said:
Yes, exactly.

The fretboard is not scalloped at all - that's just what rolled fretboard edges look like.

Picture 1 exaggerates the effect, for illustrative purposes.

Picture 2 shows a little more clearly that it's just the edge that is affected.

Some have never seen rolled fretboard edges because they've never played a guitar with them. Once you have one guitar with rolled edges, you won't go back.

Anyways, USACG is the best, Tommy for president, etc.
Click to expand...

Cool, thanks man. And yeah, evidently I've never played or even looked all that closely at a guitar with rolled edges.
 
Re: fender replacement necks

I had warmoth make a "custom" Strat replacement neck for me. Very nice work, no problems at all. No fret level requried. Mine had a few custom options that I wanted, birdseye maple, thin neck (wizard profile), large oval dots, neck binding, no pre-drilled mounting holes. I'm very please with it. I chose the Warmoth Pro for my build. I also considered the USAG necks. USA didn't want to preview the maple for the build, it was a take what you get arrangement so I chose to go with Warmoth instead.

If you're content with an off the shelf Fender replacement neck they should be fine. I considered the Mighty Might replacement - it was what Fender recommended - but the maple had no character, the neck was thicker than I wanted, and I couldn't get fingerboard binding so I went custom.

Good Luck whatever you choose.
 
Re: fender replacement necks

I hate all of you with perfect neck combos. I stand by my commitment to hold my GAS until I score a Sadowsky, then I will be the one laughing and touting the badass gear with pride!
 
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