Strat rehab

  • Thread starter Thread starter cephus
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cephus

cephus

Slow Children Playing
I have a '62 ri strat that I bought in like 1988 that has 100,000 miles on it. I haven't used it much in the past few years because of my gimmick homemade thing, but I am shitcanning the recyclo-caster for a while and need to get my strat sorted out again.

I have one issue that I am unsure about. At one time I had a maple tele neck on my guitar. It wasn't a real fender tele neck, but I'm pretty sure the neck pocket had to be reshaped by the guy who put it on. I put the strat neck back on it a long time ago, and never thought about the sloppy neck fit.

Is it a big deal to get the neck pocket fixed, or should I just consider buying a tele neck? Is the slop in there enough to affect tone/sustain or is it just a structural issue?
 
cephus said:
I have a '62 ri strat that I bought in like 1988 that has 100,000 miles on it. I haven't used it much in the past few years because of my gimmick homemade thing, but I am shitcanning the recyclo-caster for a while and need to get my strat sorted out again.

I have one issue that I am unsure about. At one time I had a maple tele neck on my guitar. It wasn't a real fender tele neck, but I'm pretty sure the neck pocket had to be reshaped by the guy who put it on. I put the strat neck back on it a long time ago, and never thought about the sloppy neck fit.

Is it a big deal to get the neck pocket fixed, or should I just consider buying a tele neck? Is the slop in there enough to affect tone/sustain or is it just a structural issue?
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IIRC, the only issue is that one of the tele neck at the bolt area isn't rounded, so you've got to either round off the neck or sharpen the corners at the socket.
 
The body has already had the pocket squared off. I doubt it could be rerounded and squaring the strat neck would introduce that much more slop into the interference.
 
Cephus, the neck pocket could be reconstituted with plastic wood - that stuff bonds well and is much stronger than the wood itself. You'd never see it.
 
cephus said:
The body has already had the pocket squared off. I doubt it could be rerounded and squaring the strat neck would introduce that much more slop into the interference.
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Oops, the way I wrote that sounded backturds.

I've never seen a neck that fit so tightly into a socket that you'd have to hammer or press it in, so I'd suspect that it's the screws that are doing all the work anyway.
 
apl has posted twice in this thread and hasn't yet mentioned Carvin!
LOL,that's hilarious! :D
 
beezelbubba said:
apl has posted twice in this thread and hasn't yet mentioned Carvin!
LOL,that's hilarious! :D
Click to expand...
Now you've gone and done it!
 
This neck has alot of fret wear, too. I was gonna pay some buku bux to have it refretted and started thinking that it may not be worth the dosh if the fit was sloppy. Since you can order a new replacement neck - a really kick ass one if you have the refret budget - it's really sentimentality more than anything to rehab the strat neck.

I can talk myself into a nice boatneck rosewood tele and have a good amount of cash left to pay a real guitar guy for the setup afterward.

I might as well say it. The good guy in town said a refret was like $500. At least that's what I remember from when I aksed when I was poor and said "fuck that!" Warmoth necks are less than $300 right?
 
Carvin sells some very nice necks and there are lots of options. I'd recommend ebony and stainless steel frets.

(There was no point in mentioning Carvin until cephus said he might be considering another neck.)
 
A generic tele neck is as good as another I think. As long as it costs enough, ya know? that's how you can tell how good something is in america. How much does it cost?
 
Cephus, I would really recommend www.usacustomguitars.com. I bought a neck from them and they made it to my specs for less than what I could get it from Warmoth. I think I paid around $200 for it. Tommy Rosamond from USA always answered my emails, talked to me on the phone, and helped all the way through the process and was extremely patient w/me. Check them out first. Oh, and the luthier who worked on my project guitar (which I screwed up) commented on how he loved the neck every time I talked to him.
 
just throwing a thumbs up for warmoth necks. i've played a few and was pleased each time.
 
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