[SurfGreenStrat]

There's so much wordy BS on the internet about necks. I am trying to find out if the current MIM or at least, the ones from the 90s til now are mostly the same.

If it has a skunk stripe, is it safe to assume it has a one piece maple neck? That's how I'd figure, but who knows what the manufacturing process adds to the equation. I'm sure there's some possibility that because they do the rosewood necks, that the maple ones have a maple neck + board as well.

If I see a used MIM on kijiji and it's a skunk stripe, is there a chance it has a maple board glued on? Or is it going to be 1 piece.

Thanks

Edit: After more searching, seems people are of the opinion that the glued on maple neck is actually more stable or resistant to twisting/bending. Sounds like bunk BS to me, you know just to sell the cheaper/shittier way of making a neck. I have a one piece maple neck and it's the best neck I've ever played. I know opinions, like assholes... but anyone care to chime in? Maybe some old dudes who have seen a few thousand guitars in their time. Thanks again.

I find it amusing people don't want any glue on their bodies, you know 3 pieces as a max type of thing, but no one cares as much about the neck. Guys like Yngwie are pretty adamant about the "tone follows the neck"

 

[Ronbeast]

It's really down to the exact specific pieces of wood used in neck construction; some necks are just more likely to twist and bend based on their natural physical makeup.

That being said, the general consensus is that a multi piece neck is more stable than a single piece neck due to the fact that in 3, 5 or 7+ piece necks the separate pieces of wood are glued with opposing grain directions and this is what gives them their resistance against twisting and bending.

Again, it really depends on the specific neck in question; I own one piece necks that don't move for years at a time. One bass I own hasn't needed a truss rod tweak in the 6 years I've owned it. Either construction method can yield a great quality neck, but it depends on the piece and how well seasoned it is.

I personally have an affliction for G&L and Peavey quarter-sawn necks, and some people don't care for them.

 

[SurfGreenStrat]

Hey Ronbeast,

Thanks for your opinions and experience on the different types of neck construction. Are you familiar at all with the different models of Fender MIM Strats? I guess what I am wondering, are there certain models like the Classic Vibes or whatever else, that will always have a one piece neck? Or is it a total crapshoot and you have to basically check out each guitar individually?

The main reason I am trying to figure this all out, if there is a used guitar somewhere like Smiths Falls or out of the way. If there's an easy way to know (like a skunk stripe in the photos), I can weed out a few that I don't have to burn gasoline or spend time checking out in person. Some people on the classifieds don't seem to know much about what they're selling, and asking them to take specific pictures usually makes them think I want to be their pen-pal or some such shit lol.

On the topic of vintage Strat necks, weren't they all one piece with the skunk stripe, until CBS took over in the 70s and started cutting costs?? Or am I incorrect about this

One more edit. I have had the Strat in my profile photo for 3 or 4 years now. I only have to tweak the truss rod if I change string gauges or drastic tunings (say A432 to A444). That's in Ottawa which is super humid and has fairly big changes

 

[Jimmy_D]

Skunk stripe should generally indicate a one piece, the stripe is there because that's how the rod goes in.

If you have a separate finger board (rosewood or maple) the rod can go in before the board's glued on.

 

[Ronbeast]

+1 to the skunk stripe being at least somewhat helpful when looking for a one piece neck, but other than that I think it's pretty hard to figure out which guitars are one piece necks other than to google specific models on the internet.

I would think that most guitars labelled as renditions of 50s and 60s guitars with maple fretboards would be more likely to be one piece necks, so I'd probably look for classic vibe guitars with maple fretboards. That might be less than helpful, but it's really the only thing I can think of. I'm not well versed in the current squier and fender offerings as I'm a one strat guy and I don't own any teles haha.

I'll have a read online and see if I can dig anything up for you.

Edit: some digging seems to suggest that the squier classic vibe 50s strat with maple board is a one piece maple neck, and it sports some pretty kick ass specs to boot.

 

[GuitarT]

Maple capped necks were offered between 1960 and 1966 as a custom order option. From 1967 to around 1969 or 70 they were offered as standard production. Fender changed their production tooling in 1959 to accommodate rosewood fret boards. There was still some demand for maple boards so it was offered as a custom option. By 1967 the demand was great enough to again make it part of standard production. By around 1970 they again retooled for one piece necks. Since then some re-issues were made with maple cap necks (I have one made in the early 1990's) but other than that I'm not aware of any newer production maple caps.

 

[SurfGreenStrat]

GuitarT that's the kind of info I was looking for, thanks a bunch man! It's obvious the skunk stripe was used to place the truss rod in. What I was unsure of, was the Fender manufacturing/tooling process of their weapons of mass construction. I know a lot of times what makes sense from a one-off guitar construction, doesn't work out for assembly lines or mass production. The tooling info GuitarT provided was what I was after.