Replacing the entire guitar neck

[Sylash]

Hello all,

Just out of curiosity and I may even do it: Change my american deluxe stratocaster's neck.

Is the process of changing a neck as easy as it is? Un-bolt your neck, take out tuners, slap on a new neck, re-install tuners, restring.

Just a few questions

1. Must I buy a neck with the same no. of frets? [I want a thicker one, fret count doesn't matter for me] Will it fit onto my guitar?

2. Neck profile. My current is a modern 'C', let's say I want a 'V'. Or does neck profile even matter while changing?

3. Resonance of wood with the body

4. Warping

5. Cost

6. Where to get authentic fender necks?

Cheers!

 

[lightice]

Buying necks from fender will have no decals, it's like getting from warmoth.
The decal is applied at the service centre.

Fret count doesn't matter as long as it's 21 or 22. They will fit.
The american deluxe has 5 mounting holes, 4 standard and 1 in between 2 holes on the side to accommodate the contoured heel. 1 standard hole is not used.

Neck profile matters, you get what is comfortable for you.

warping - usually unlikely

cost - check around USACG and warmoth

 

[kahuna]

you can get authenthic fender necks either from Guitar connection or ebay, both imo i feel is very ex.

be prepared to pay $250 and up for each neck.

Reliable sellers on ebay for fender necks are people like reliablefender or stratosphere or something along those lines.

 

[Sylash]

Thank you very much for the information Now maybe I know what NOT to do :X

 

[kahuna]

hahah yeah! if you really want a V shaped neck, consider selling your Am Deluxe and get an Am deluxe V neck instead

 

[relinquish69]

You could get an allparts neck from guitar connection. Price range around $300 +/-. They are licensed by Fender and would most definitely fit Fender bodies. IMHO no point getting an authentic Fender neck unless you broke one on yours and have the intention of selling that particular guitar in future.

A few things to note though.

- Big or small headstock?
- Finished or raw wood?
- Rosewood or maple fretboard?
- Scalloped or non scalloped?
- quarter-sawn or rift-sawn

Last but not least, the size you are looking for.

Feel free to ask Kelvin if you have any questions. However, I would advise you not to ask him if you do not have the intention of buying .

 

[Sylash]

Haha... Because... I really dig the 70s headstock and stuff like that yeah... O WELL!

 

[fgl]

cHANGING NECKS MAY NOT BE AS STRAIGHT FORWARD AS SUM PPL THINK IT IS ..

WHY R U CONSIDERING CHANGING NECKS ANYWAY IF THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THE ORG NECK?

 

[Sylash]

Nah like I said first off I'm just curious and I really dig the 70s headstock that's all

 

[Vip3rFyre]

Nah like I said first off I'm just curious and I really dig the 70s headstock that's all

If you're curious and want try something out, do check out mighty mite necks on ebay. They stack up pretty well against fender necks. Not the deluxe series tho.

But as bro fgl mentioned, swapping a neck isn't as straightforward as it seems.

 

[fgl]

yeah .. high chance of snowballing problems & farkups ...

my personal advise if U really wanna change

warmoth - they can do the finish, fret radius, choice of material, inlays, etc etc and are ender licensed

ex though ...

 

[Sylash]

Haha yeah that's why I posted this thread! Cos I didn't know if it was that straightforward.

Now I know what NOT to do. Most probably I'll just get another guitar hehe...

Thanks guys

 

[fgl]

alternatively you could just save the original neck in case of any kok ups & get a replacement neck to see how .... go with established licensed by Fender brands ... safer ...

ah then if dun work out can lelong to us regular softie buyers cheap2 lah .. lolz :mrgreen:

 

[Ized]

alot of ppl are missing out the point of real fender necks...something very good... :mrgreen:

 

[hub37]

I had once changed out a V-neck to a asymmetrical C neck from USACG

The neck was of excellent quality. The good things are u can choose what u want, especially profile and finish.

But I do face a few problems like

- the neck doesn't exactly tight fit the neck pocket of my fender japan body.
So when I drill the neck plate holes, I have to spend some effort trying to make sure
the strings spacing are correct

- there isn't a nut on it. So I got to find a nut, file and fix etc

- the tuner holes are a little small, so I got to enlarge them

Not very very tough, but probably gonna spend some time fixing the little challenges