Changing a Strat neck

jaymenon · February 2018

I recently picked up a Stratocaster (a Partscaster really) from Andy Preston at WudTone - which is by far the nicest sounding Stratocaster I have ever played. It features his wonderful 'constant pivot' tremolo (which really stays in tune) and 'proper' single coils by Wudtone with A5 / A3 magnets - as opposed to the Kinmans I usually play. Andy has done a beautiful job with this guitar - and he's a great guy to deal with too, a real gentleman.

The guitar had been pre-assembled - I asked him to send it over so I could get an idea of how his guitars sound prior to placing a custom order. But this one is really special - and I'm keeping it...

Everything except the neck is perfect for me (I prefer a slimmer profile, flatter radius and jumbo frets).

I'm very tempted to pick up a neck from Warmoth - of similar woods etc. But I'm a bit worried that it might drastically alter the sound of this guitar - should that be the case, I'd be happy to live with the current neck - the guitar really does sound that good...

One option is of course to re-radius the current fingerboard and re-fret it - but it's an awful lot of work.

Expert opinions deeply appreciated...

sweepy · February 2018

Changing the neck would alter the tone, sometimes drastically and sometimes not, it’s one of “those” things iyswim

Funkfingers · February 2018

jaymenon said:

this one is really special - and I'm keeping it.

This is the smart way to choose guitars.

If the original plan was to place a custom order with Andy Preston, ask whether he thinks he could get the same sounds from a similar guitar with your preferred neck profile by changing other components to compensate. (I suspect not.)

prowla · February 2018

I've got a partscaster with a Warmoth neck - it is really good!

ICBM · February 2018

If you want to try it, change the neck. The worst it will do is cost you money and time - you can always put the original one back on.

Never irreversibly alter a guitar you love - changes to the wood, even quite small ones, can drastically alter the resonance. If it’s great now it can only go one way...

It *may* not do, but you only find that out when you can’t go back.

jaymenon · February 2018

All good and thought provoking points, Thanks guys…

I have two telecasters on which I swapped the necks around to see what the effects would be. I was to admit that the tonal effects (unplugged/ acoustically) are very subtle indeed...

Perhaps I’ll try that Warmoth neck after all

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Changing a Strat neck

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