Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

Desert

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Tonal differences?

I keeping that the two piece construction is warmer than the one piece skunk...fact?
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

which ones have two piece? I dunno if I've ever seen what you're talking about.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

slab-neck, I Meant, for two piece. One piece is the fingerboard, the other is the neck.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

Well if by slab-neck you mean with a rosewood fretboard, then definitely. The one piece necks are all maple, which is a much brighter wood than rosewood.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

Fender were necks with a separate fingerboard, be it rosewood or maple, somewhere back in the late sixties.

Don't know what it does to the tone in theory, but I get the feeling that in practice most of us won't notice a big difference...
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

I have always wanted to try a maple-slab-board Strat neck.

The easy way to tell if a neck has a slab board is the absence of a skunk stripe on the back of the neck.

On a rosewood boarded neck, you can tell because of the, uh, rosewood board. :laughing:

Clarification: there is no skunk stripe on slab board necks because the luthier can insert the truss rod before the fretboard is glued down. On a one piece, the luthier must cut a channel to install the truss rod, and, of course, they do this on the back of the neck, then replace the lost material from the route with a "skunk stripe" of darker wood.

I have had both a rosewood slab boarded maple neck, and a one piece all maple (with skunk stripe) neck on my Strat and liked the one piece all-maple better.

It was always fuller, more energetic, despite being a tad thinner / less full bodied than my rosewood slab neck.

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Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

Odd... My rosewood-board Squier neck has a skunk stripe... but I think it looks pretty cool so what the hell!
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

I kinda like the "hand feel" of maple fretboards, and they're easier to refinish. I'm dreading the first time I'm gonna have to mask off a RW fretboard so I can nitro the sucker.

Skunk stripes just look "right" as well.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

I think he's asking about a one piece maple neck or a two piece maple neck...one 50's style and one late 60's style but not the rosewood fingerboard deal.

I have heard that a 2 piece neck it a little brighter than a one piece neck but the truth is you;d have to build 2 necks as close to each other as possible, AND use them on the same guitar to really tell.

This rumor started a while back and a lot of new country players have said that they prefer late 60's Tele's to 50's Tele's because the 2 piece neck makes them brighter...

BUT...a 50's Tele and a late 60's Tele are worlds apart in far more ways than just the neck construction...

-body wood
-neck construction
-neck size
-pickups
-wiring set up
-bridge saddles

All these things make up the difference we hear between say a 1952 and a 1968 Telecaster.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

according to tommy of usacg, a maple/maple neck is snappier in response as opposed to a 1-pc maple neck.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

Thank you for the great responses. I had been under the impression from a couple of people that a 1-piece M/M was brighter and not as warm as a 2-piece M/M, but it seems that that may not be the case. :)
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

maple cap necks ( like necks on Hendrix's blond and black beauty 1968 strats) are warmer sounding than 1 piece maple - more glue - darker tone.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

Not true...if there is a difference, it's the other way around.

I would tend to agree but this is all speculation, as we can't really try this out and it would depend on the maple the necks are made from. maple is pretty consistent for board to board much more so than other woods now but it can still vary a great deal in terms of tone.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

Not true...if there is a difference, it's the other way around.

That's what I heard and red and it sounds right to me. Did you have a chance to play a maplecap neck or you intuitively know it's the other way around?
I didn't unfortunately..but I'm shure the glue from a cap so close to the fretboard dampens the high end frequencies
 
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Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

I started this thread because this builder I spoke to, http://www.stonetreeguitars.com/ , told me that he tended to use the 2-piece over the one-piece, because of the warmer sound. I've heard it elsewhere, too, though.

He also said that, on two identically constructed necks, a rosewood board was brighter than a maple one...in other words, a M/R is brighter than a M/M (both being two piece) I was REALLY surprised at that statement and told him so, and he explained that he was just as surprised, but it's always seemed to be the case since he began building.

He's done a few guitars for Joe Bonamassa as well as others.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

Like I said above and Scott said as well it's REALLY hard to put this to a real test...

I have never done any testing I am basing my info on someone I trust...Tommy at USACG told me that to his ears a maple cap board neck is a tad snappier/toppier than a one piece maple neck of the same size and shape...

Now, Tommy has built thousands of necks over the years so I trust him on the subject but even he said it's a small difference...
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

To be honest I don't think anyone actually knows what anything sounds like guitar-wise. It's 60% speculation, 30% snake-oil and 10% desperately wanting to have some sort of opinion.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

Like I said above and Scott said as well it's REALLY hard to put this to a real test...

I have never done any testing I am basing my info on someone I trust...Tommy at USACG told me that to his ears a maple cap board neck is a tad snappier/toppier than a one piece maple neck of the same size and shape...

Now, Tommy has built thousands of necks over the years so I trust him on the subject but even he said it's a small difference...

Thank you, I agree, he would know.
 
Re: Fender style neck: One piece vs/ two piece

There is probably a difference which is measurable somehow but is more than likely inaudible to the ear. Glue darkens things so I can get that but I don't know. It's like comparing a 3 piece, 2 piece, or 1 piece body. There's really not a ton of difference. It just comes down to what you want it to look like or how much money you have in your wallet. I would get a 1 piece if it was all maple just for cosmetic purposes. I wouldn't care because its all maple anyways and I would want it to look neat. Like I said there is probably a difference but too small to really notice which is why I'd get a one piece all maple neck no matter what.
 
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