Changing Fender Strat necks

thebreeze

This is probably a dumb question but can I put any Fender Strat neck on any Fender Strat body?  I.e are all the necks and bodies interchangeable from any era and will they just fit or are some necks wider/thinner at the body end than others and there becomes a need to mod the body/neck pocket?

Thanks.

step_hent

They all have the same heel shapes and so will either fit or can be made to fit. However, there are two main designs - four bolt (the original, current and most common version) and three bolt (found on 70s strats). With different hole patterns you would need to redrill if neck and body arent the same type.

If it's a used four bolt neck and four bolt body, they should fit together. However, the holes may be in slightly the wrong place to get a good fit between neck and body, which may mean filling and re-drilling. If it's a new neck, it won't be drilled and you'll just have to drill the holes in the right places.

Another thing to take into account is that a slight change in angle of the neck can make a big difference to a set up. Even a new neck and body could need a little shim in the neck pocket to get the right angle. Doesn't mean it won't work well, it just takes a bit of adjustment to get set up.

Hope that helps!

thebreeze

Thank you @step_hent, that is really helpful.  I'm looking at 4-bolt so hopefully that will be easier to find.  I've come across the shim thing in an old Tele I had so I'll fiddle about with that too if needs be.  I don't think there can be too much a tech can't put right if I can't do it myself/bugger it up?  I'd like to avoid drilling lots of new holes etc. though as I want to keep the old neck and be able to put everything back to stock in the future should I want to.

step_hent

If you're keeping the original body and changing the neck, you wouldn't be able to do anything that isn't reversible by simply putting the old neck back on. Any drilling would be in the new neck, if any is necessary at all (and it may well not be). The rest of it is just set up and if you can't get that quite right then a tech can help.

Good luck! 

impmann

TBH, every time I've swapped necks on genuine Fender guitars - even fitting a 2001 neck to a 1976 body (Precision bass, so four bolt) - everything lined up perfectly and no extra holes had to be drilled. Obviously, each time it will need a set up/time to settle.

When you start using necks from other manufacturers it can get tricky.

randella

Nothing to add to the great advice here other than to say if you can get away without the shim so much the better - I'm convinced the better the contact between the neck and body, the more resonant the guitar is.

Not a huge issue if it needs one like, it's really a 'last 2%' kinda thing.  Also it might be confirmation bias on my part because I was expecting a difference when I was swapping necks and messing with shims on one of my Strats, in which case I'm talking Eric Johnson levels of tosh and should be ignored

WezV

randella said:

Nothing to add to the great advice here other than to say if you can get away without the shim so much the better - I'm convinced the better the contact between the neck and body, the more resonant the guitar is.

Not a huge issue if it needs one like, it's really a 'last 2%' kinda thing.  Also it might be confirmation bias on my part because I was expecting a difference when I was swapping necks and messing with shims on one of my Strats, in which case I'm talking Eric Johnson levels of tosh and should be ignored

I am not sure I totally agree, although  it does seem quite logical to maximise contact to my brain too.  except:

• Authentic pre-CBS tones often involve a shim
• A shim often allows for a better set-up, which will improve tone more than the shim itself takes away
• a shimmed neck join is still very solid and the shim is highly compressed

I tend to  go for a simple paper or card shim when only a small amount is needed.  That's most cases.  I break out the full pocket wooden shim for extreme cases. 

thebreeze

Thanks for all your help everyone.