Strat Neck Suckage

[Falcatarius]

Dearest forumites,

So the final component I need for my guitar build is a Strat neck. I want to purchase a professionally made one, be it from Fender or another company. I've been putting in a lot of research and I've been pretty damned disturbed by what I'm seeing.

All I want is a standard strat neck, with a gloss finish, a 9.5 radius, and a soft "V" shape. Simple stuff.

Here's the options I've run through so far...

Note: companies marked with a '*' are ones were the neck would be custom made to my specs.

Fender - Atrociously expensive, it'll cost me at least $350 for the neck I want. (coming from the cheapest model possible)

B.Hefner Company * - Horrific reviews on their necks.

Musikraft * - More terrible reviews.

Warmoth * - Wildly fluctuating in quality, horrible customer service.

Mighty Mite - Cheap, but not the type of neck I want to put on a guitar that I've spent $900 on so far.

Allparts - Close to what i'm looking for, but they don't stock 9.5" radius maple strat neck.

Guitar Mill * - It looks like I'm gonna end up going with these guys simply because I haven't really seen any reviews of their stuff. Outside of one forum members good recommendations.

Now I know that theres no way your going to get a strat neck online without there having to be some work done on it. But is the situation really this grim? Does anyone have some further options?

Thank you in advance for your help.

Yours in dismay,
-Tom

[rhh7]

AllParts# SMO-FAT
Strat® Chunky Maple Neck, this neck has a 9.5" radius, finish it yourself...

[suttree]

there's also USCG, i don't know if they custom spec necks though?

i'm interested to hear someone say that warmoth has poor quality control... i've played maybe a dozen of their necks in the last couple of years (a good friend has bought 3), and they were all very well made, indeed... also over the years, my impression of people's satisfaction with their customer service has been good as well.

[shoretyus]

There is two mexican strat necks on fleabay in Canada. Buy one and reshape the back to a soft V then spray
http://cgi.ebay.ca/Genuine-Fender-Strat-Stratocaster-rosewood-Neck-NR_W0QQitemZ140237367718QQihZ004QQcategoryZ41423QQ ssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


send the extra money that you'll save to me .... or donate it to the board

[bagpipe]

With Warmoth, their customer service might not be that good, but I've mostly seen good reports on the quality of their necks. I have an Allparts neck on my Tele and a Warmoth neck on my Strat. Both are awesome - I think you'd be happy with either one. You might want to be careful with the size of the necks though - those Allparts xxx-FAT necks are huge. Similarly with Warmoth necks - I have the 59 Roundback on my Strat, and its massive. It feels way bigger than the numbers below would have you believe:

http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/necks.cfm?fuseaction=back_profiles

[Lowtones]

StewMac necks are supposed to br pretty decent. Not sure about the price for their licensed Fender Necks.

[gtrguy]

I've seen lots of Warmoth necks- and while I'm not a fan of all their neck shapes, the quality has been very good on all of them.

Bang for the buck is definitely Allparts.

gtrguy

[Falcatarius]

Hey again folks,

Just as a heads up, most of the reviews I looked at were from Harmony-Central.

But thank you for the heads up about Warmoth, i might reconsider using them.

Cheers!
-Tom

[Robert1950]

If by chance you can find a neck that was on a Jimmy Vaughan strat, it has the specs you are looking for. 21 frets.

[YJMUJRSRV]

I second the Allparts FAT reccomendation. Allparts necks are great quality and you can shape the back to your liking. the SMO FAT has a huge baseball bat profile ready for you to go to work.

Anyone who thinks Allparts are not very good cuz they are made in Japan needs a head exam. The maple is imported from us Canadians and shaped in one of the finest factories in the world. Same factory that produces Fender, ESP, Kramer, Charvel ....

[Falcatarius]

Whoa, didn't even notice the Vaughan strat had those specs. Thanks Robert!

And i'm only 18 with no woodworking experience or resources at my disposal. Hence my reluctance to just build the neck myself. Although i'm sure that just reshaping an Allparts neck is the best option.

Thanks for everyone's help so far. I'll keep you guys posted with what happens.

Cheers!
-Tom

[bagpipe]

You might be able to find a neck from a Jimmie Vaughan strat on one of the "Fender" specialists on Ebay. These guys buy Fender strats and Teles and then parts them out on Ebay. Heres the neck section from one of them:

The-STRATosphere Necks (http://stores.ebay.com/The-STRATosphere_Necks_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ2QQft idZ2QQtZkm)

I think theres another one called ReliableFender ?

[suttree]

Just as a heads up, most of the reviews I looked at were from Harmony-Central.

yah, don't believe a lot of what you read on harmony central. troll village is what it should be called.

the JV strat necks come up used on fleabay fairly regularly, and they're great necks, might just be the solution to your wants.. great suggestion from robert

[YJMUJRSRV]

There are several people out there that can make the exact neck you are looking for. The problem is, todays world is of the lowest price big box mentality. There are companies making great necks for little money in state of the art mass market facilities. Allparts for instance. Obviously they do not offer custom options. If they did the prices would double, triple ... theres is a numbers business.

As for the "custom" companies they often are not better necks but production shops in disguise. The fact of the matter is - if you want a specific thing it requires human attention. If you want that in America than its going to cost a good deal of money. People do not want to pay for that attention. Now if you want really skilled attention ... well someone skilled is going to be in demand and not work for nothing. Go to the big and popular maker websites and notice they almost always are hiring ... for minimum wage.

There is no better neck for the price than Allparts in my opinion. Also the Mighty Mite necks are not that bad, they are better then any Mexican fender neck or crappy US makers such as Hefner or Musikraft. Warmoth necks are as good as Allparts in build. Sometimes when people pay the $ they offer really nice wood upgrades. USACG makes a good neck to but uses a very mass market truss setup. Obviously this is to keep prices low. They do their best at the market prices.

I could probably write until I am blue in the face as people dont want to hear it. But if you want a custom neck and want it cheap than you are chasing your tail. I get requests for necks all the time. When I tell people how much it will cost they think its to much. Well, if I am going to measure everything and get a neck shape down to exact specs thats going to take a week.

Neck makers are not bad guys although many are jaded. They simply have to provide product at prices the market will bear. Each city probably has at least one person that could make you the neck you want. They wouldnt be able to do it for a mass market price though and thats what people usually want.

Besides, if you want an exact neck profiles there is nothing like doing it yourself. Especially if its a feel thing that you will explain to a luthier like "an SRV sorta thing with a Chunky fast slide" This may sound funny but I hear stuff like that all the time. Translated it means I have no idea what I want but may know when I feel it. Arriving at that result could take 38 tries and still be wrong ... oh and I can pay $200.

This isnt meant to diss anyone in particular, just trying to explain the divide between neck maker and neck user. This also probably explains why companies like Musikraft exist. If they keep offering the moon for little money as they know new suckers will line up to try it. The end result doesnt matter. Real craftsman will not venture into that mess so remain in their workshops, unknown to all but the handfull of clients that keep them busy. Its like buying cheap tools. By the time you buy 3 crappy versions and frustrated yourself you spent what a good one costs and you still need to buy it.

[Joel Rainville]

Translated it means I have no idea what I want but may know when I feel it. Arriving at that result could take 38 tries and still be wrong ... oh and I can pay $200.

:D

I know I would charge around $500-$600 depending on materials, options and finish.

As a side note, I'm surprised to read so much about Warmoth being bad these days. I've bought several times from them between 2001 and 2003, and everything went well and ended up great. True, it gets expensive, but not overpriced in any way IMHO. Just the price to pay for good quality necks and bodies, made to your specs.

[Apostrophe (')]

Heres the neck section from one of them:

The-STRATosphere Necks (http://stores.ebay.com/The-STRATosphere_Necks_W0QQcolZ2QQdirZQ2d1QQfsubZ2QQft idZ2QQtZkm)

Interesting. I have an old Mexi-Strat (95?) that I bought off a neighbour that I wouldn't mind picking up some parts for, but I haven't a clue what they're worth.

Anyone have ball park estimates as to how much these parts are worth?

1) 2008 Fender Stratocaster Standard Strat NECK Guitar
2) 2008 Fender Standard Stratocaster Strat TREMOLO Bridge

And while I'm at it...

3) 2008 USA Fender P BASS PICKUPS Pickup Set American