# Strat Neck Suckage



## Falcatarius (Apr 23, 2006)

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


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## rhh7 (Mar 14, 2008)

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


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

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.


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

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-S...ryZ41423QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

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


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## Lowtones (Mar 21, 2006)

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


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

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


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## Falcatarius (Apr 23, 2006)

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


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## Robert1950 (Jan 21, 2006)

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.


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## YJMUJRSRV (Jul 17, 2007)

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 ....


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## Falcatarius (Apr 23, 2006)

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


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## bagpipe (Sep 19, 2006)

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

I think theres another one called ReliableFender ?


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

Falcatarius said:


> 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


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## YJMUJRSRV (Jul 17, 2007)

gone fishing


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## Joel Rainville (Apr 21, 2008)

YJMUJRSRV said:


> 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.




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.


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## Apostrophe (') (Dec 30, 2007)

bagpipe said:


> Heres the neck section from one of them:
> 
> The-STRATosphere Necks


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


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