Neck Madness

[Bigbear]

hey guys... i'm back again... finished a workterm and stuff...and after screwing around with other peoples gear for a year i am finally gona upgrade my own stuff... only i need some of you older guys to give me a hand.

of course I am looking at a warmoth neck
and a 10-16" compound radius is ideal for me.

the thing is i crave vintage specs with modern adjustments

The clapton neck is actually a "V" shape vintage shape but not as thick as i'd like and the offset SRV asymetrical early 60's C-shape also won't do.

of course Vintage frets are in order. and the 59 roundback neck contour... where i am an SRV fan i am going to get the Pau Ferro... fingerboard and things of that nature.

and a 1.75" nut width

Alright guys lets HEAR what your favorite specs are for your guitar necks!!!

and for god sake if you have anything to say about mine.. do so... its a serious investment and i wanta have some input into that also..

But any SRV fans... *hint* should definitely post their favorite neck

[Tone2TheBone]

I'm watching SRV Live at the El Mocambo at this moment. You're wanting a fairly wide neck with a nice wide and flat compound radius. I've had Charvels with necks like this both in rosewood and maple. You didn't mention if you're going to put this new neck on an existing guitar or not.

I really like the medium jumbos on my Fender MW Tele. The MIM Strat I have has smaller frets. I'd probably consider bigger frets on a neck that you're thinking about. They really add a lot to the string tone off the neck IMO. All this is very subjective though based on your own personal needs. Are you going to install the neck on an existing guitar and if so....what body and what type of wood and finish?

PS. Some vintage Kluson tuners would be a nice companion to your new neck.

[Iago]

-rosewood or maple - tough i never owned a maple fretboard guitar.
-vintage frets
- I dont care about the fret radius.. i like the vintage, and my first guitar was a 11'' (I guess) but vintage just feels nice to me... shall be not that great for low action people though.. i like high action.
- fat back.. a well round C or a V. my hands are small but I hate skinny necks, specially those sharp V ones..make my hand hurt!
- poly really doenst bother me on the back.. if you play a 50`s classic (all maple) then its really bad.. the thick poly makes it feel your playing on a piece of plastic!... maybe the best option for a all maple neck would be nitro or satin with a light tint, so it wouldnt look too pale.

[Katastrophe]

I used to like the thinnest, flattest necks I could find. The Ibanez Wizard neck was just about perfect for me... Then I got older. Now my hand cramps up if I have to play songs with a lot of bar chords over an extended period of time.

I've found that a more "substantial" neck does the trick. I like the thicker "C" shaped Fender necks, but I'm gonna try the soft "V" shape in the near future (the MIM Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan, '50s Classic and USA Clapton Strat all have a "V" neck).

[SuperSwede]

I have a hard time playing on V necks, I think it is because I play with my thumb on the back of the neck. It just dont feel comfortable.

[Bigbear]

yea this neck is going to go one a custom strat body, i will be carving myself.

i am going to start a little blues-rock group soon and i wanta have a really nice guitar to bang around with.

Going to either have Texas Specials, Samarium Cobalt or Seymour Duncan(2 APS -1 and one SSL-4 Quarterpound flat)

i have already sold most of my gear except my squier '51 and my solidstate dean markley..

once this guitar is done i have a Fender Blues Deville (the early 90's tweed reissues) in the works.... combine these things with a simple mid-80s DANELECTRO overdrive and i'm gona have a very unique tone.

Thanks Guys... I VALUE all your INPUT.

[Iago]

talking about SRV, the best strat neck I ever played was the SRV model one :)

[Tone2TheBone]

A friend of mine has an SRV signature Strat. Here's a pic of both our Strats at rest on a fine afternoon of jamming in the mountains. (prior to coffee relicing my pup covers)

353

Since having my MW Tele I have grown fond of vintage Gotoh tuners. Here's the SRV with gold ones...beautiful.

352

As Iago noted the neck on the SRV is sweet. Nice and chunky.

[SuperSwede]

It better be chunky if you plan on using SRV´s string gauge (Was it 014 or something like that?) ! :)

[duhvoodooman]

It better be chunky if you plan on using SRV´s string gauge (Was it 014 or something like that?) ! :)
13's on some, 12's on others, I've read.

[Bloozcat]

Bigbear,

Are you planning to emulate SRV's set-up with this guitar? We know that he used heavy strings, but didn't he also have the string action set fairly high as well? And didn't he also use fairly tall frets to facilate string bending?

What I'm getting at is that everything that SRV did with his guitar contributed to his tone. Are you trying to set your guitar up like his, or are you more interested in the SRV asthetics, but with features that are more agreeable to you and your playing style?

I have the same inclination towards a mixture of vintage and modern specs. I like the soft V-shape, a 1-11/16" nut width, on a maple board with vintage amber tint and Kluson/Gotoh tuners. But at the same time, I prefer the headstock truss rod adjustment, a flatter 9-1/2"/10" radius fretboard, and 6150 frets. I have a neck that I'm working on right now to those specs. It's going to go on a USACG Strat body that's a direct copy of a '54 Strat. I'm putting some custom wound '54 pickups in it and finishing it in Daphne Blue. When it's through, it'll have the vintage look and vibe, but with some modern amenities to suit my taste.

Speaking of USACG, have you considered them for your neck? Tommy at USACG is great at working with customers to give them exactly the features they're looking for. It isn't simply choosing from a set list of options at USACG, it's what you want is what you'll get with them.

[Bigbear]

SRV used seriously large strings, they say up to 0.016 in his young days, then from then on when his fingers used to take beatings he used to lighten the gauge so it would be easier on his fingers then thicken the guage when his fingers got healthier. Towards the end he used 0.011s exclusively. I am not trying to capture anything specific about SRV.. he had a real nice Warm tone. and a big piece of that warm tone was the ebony fretboard and him choosing the Pao Ferro for his sig strat.. just shows he wanted even warmer. So where I use 009s-046. Pure Nickel my tone is quite warm but going to get warmer. gona get real smooshy. especially with the Samarium Cobalts and a pau ferro fingerboard. and my early 90s reissue Blues Deville :D

No way you can recreate SRVs tone, but you can try and capture the warm tone from his strat that lead to his smooth sound.

[tremoloman]

I stress using Gotoh Vintage Locking Tuners:

http://www.stewmac.com/catalog/images_1lg/1954_1lg.jpg

They allow you to keep the the vintage look yet utilize the modern convenience of tuning stability and makes it a "snap" to change strings. Hmmm... maybe that wasn't the best choice of words... ;)

You can see what they look like installed on my Mariltn Strat in the "Show us your Strats" thread.