Would you change a radius on a Fender Custom Shop Strat?

crunchman

Part of me says get it re-radiused, but that's a lot of money with the refret afterwards.

Now the lockdown is easing, it might be better to get out and try a few 7.25" radius guitars.  If you find one you like, then buying it and selling your current one might be a better option.

WezV

ICBM said:

Do it. It's just a modern Fender, no matter how good - it's not like modifying a vintage one. If you have someone like Feline Guitars do it you know the work will be flawless, which is all that really counts.

It's also not as if you're going to do something out of keeping with the guitar, like a 16" radius and jumbo frets. The only caveat would be if it's a round-lam rosewood board - that would make it a difficult job to do right.

This, it's totally in keeping with the style of guitar, so why the hell not

stickyfiddle

If you’re happy with the loss in value then I’d definitely do it. If not, then try another neck. There are plenty of builders who could copy a neck profile and finish to deliver you something that would feel very similar with the different radius. But a different neck won’t sound identical, so I’d go for the re-radius subject to the above

RaymondLin

I'm inclined to get a new neck from Fender for about £300 and try that first, surely a re-radius and refret will cost that much and there is no going back afterwards.

If you still don't like how the new neck feels., then you can think about doing that to the CS.  On the grand scheme of things, it's going to be like 10% of the guitar cost, and you can always sell the neck you bought earlier.

ICBM

RaymondLin said:

I'm inclined to get a new neck from Fender for about £300 and try that first, surely a re-radius and refret will cost that much and there is no going back afterwards.

If you still don't like how the new neck feels., then you can think about doing that to the CS.  On the grand scheme of things, it's going to be like 10% of the guitar cost, and you can always sell the neck you bought earlier.

I think a CS Fender neck is likely to be a lot more than £300 or 10% of the cost of the guitar, even if they would sell you one - which I don't think they will - a standard rule of thumb when pricing parts is that the neck is worth a third of the value of the guitar. (Body another third, hardware and electronics the remaining third.)

Zoolooter

If you really like it that much, yes, get a proper good job done on the radius. It will be very hard to find another one that you are as happy with. It will always be different and, that will bug you.

RaymondLin

ICBM said:

RaymondLin said:

I'm inclined to get a new neck from Fender for about £300 and try that first, surely a re-radius and refret will cost that much and there is no going back afterwards.

If you still don't like how the new neck feels., then you can think about doing that to the CS.  On the grand scheme of things, it's going to be like 10% of the guitar cost, and you can always sell the neck you bought earlier.

I think a CS Fender neck is likely to be a lot more than £300 or 10% of the cost of the guitar, even if they would sell you one - which I don't think they will - a standard rule of thumb when pricing parts is that the neck is worth a third of the value of the guitar. (Body another third, hardware and electronics the remaining third.)

I am talking about the neck i linked to earlier, I am not claiming that is a CS neck, I know it's not but on the theory that "why not give it a go" and you can always sell it afterwards, that £300 neck is 10% of the original CS guitar cost.  If it doesn't work out, go back to the original neck.

Is that not clear from the start from what i posted? 

ICBM

RaymondLin said:

Is that not clear from the start from what i posted? 

No .

RaymondLin

ICBM said:

RaymondLin said:

Is that not clear from the start from what i posted? 

No .

RaymondLin said:

There are 3 ways...

1 - take sandpaper to it yourself - I'd try this, doesn't really matter if it goes wrong. 
2 - play it liked you've never played it before and wear it out
3 - get a roadworn neck

https://shop.fender.com/en-GB/parts/necks/?rl=en_US

You can even get the neck from Fender direct, not worried about fakes.

Glad we got that clarified. 

guitarmangler

If the frets are high enough, get them radiused to 7 1/2. 

thebreeze

I’d just keep it, play it and enjoy it.  There’s not that much difference between a 9.5” and 7.25” radius.
I like CS pickups generally too and never feel the need to change them, whatever they are.  The only exception was a h/w Texas Special neck pick up on a Tele (otherwise I’ve liked all the other TS’s too).

tony99

can it be modded into a twin neck? one with 7.25 and one with 9.5?

Ben_McCarthy

I know the radius effects the feel but 9.5 isn’t a million miles away from 7.25. I wonder if it’s not the radius that’s bugging you and something else which you aren’t aware of. 

Screw it...have a go and at least then you’ll know. Feline are great and I’m sure it’ll be done very well indeed 

Barnezy

I'm in the same boat. All CS's seem to come with bloody 9.5" radius', apart from the Time Machine's and are so rare. I don't understand... Everyone bangs on about how lovely a vintage Strat is to play etc, and people pay £15k+ to get one, yet they change the radius for supposedly era specific CS Strats? 

My Silver Sky has a 7.25" radius and I much prefer it. But I like the Strat sound, so want a Strat with that radius.

My plan is to wait for a 59 AVRI in the colour I want and then sell my CS on. Don't change your radius, unless you plan to keep the guitar forever. Firstly it'll cost money to have it done that you won't recoup, it'll devalue it and will make it harder to sell, because there is some belief that 7.25" is bad. All that "my bends choke out" rubbish.

RaymondLin

Barnezy said:

I'm in the same boat. All CS's seem to come with bloody 9.5" radius', apart from the Time Machine's and are so rare. I don't understand... Everyone bangs on about how lovely a vintage Strat is to play etc, and people pay £15k+ to get one, yet they change the radius for supposedly era specific CS Strats? 

My Silver Sky has a 7.25" radius and I much prefer it. But I like the Strat sound, so want a Strat with that radius.

My plan is to wait for a 59 AVRI in the colour I want and then sell my CS on. Don't change your radius, unless you plan to keep the guitar forever. Firstly it'll cost money to have it done that you won't recoup, it'll devalue it and will make it harder to sell, because there is some belief that 7.25" is bad. All that "my bends choke out" rubbish.

Wait, they put 7.25" in the Mexican Roadworn and the new Vintera but they don't put it in most of the CS?

Bizzare. 

Neil

I'd just sell the CS and get something you are happy with (nice AV?) rather than go into the unknown with mods to the neck. 

tone1

I wouldn’t mess with it as I couldn’t guarantee i would like it once it’s done, and selling it may prove tricky...

Barnezy

RaymondLin said:

Barnezy said:

I'm in the same boat. All CS's seem to come with bloody 9.5" radius', apart from the Time Machine's and are so rare. I don't understand... Everyone bangs on about how lovely a vintage Strat is to play etc, and people pay £15k+ to get one, yet they change the radius for supposedly era specific CS Strats? 

My Silver Sky has a 7.25" radius and I much prefer it. But I like the Strat sound, so want a Strat with that radius.

My plan is to wait for a 59 AVRI in the colour I want and then sell my CS on. Don't change your radius, unless you plan to keep the guitar forever. Firstly it'll cost money to have it done that you won't recoup, it'll devalue it and will make it harder to sell, because there is some belief that 7.25" is bad. All that "my bends choke out" rubbish.

Wait, they put 7.25" in the Mexican Roadworn and the new Vintera but they don't put it in most of the CS?

Bizzare. 

I just don't understand why Fender don't sell a range of vintage correct guitars, likr Gobson do, instead of all these hybrids. 7.25" rosewood board, vintage frets, nitro finish, right knob font, etc. Surely there is a market for this?

stickyfiddle

Barnezy said:

RaymondLin said:

Barnezy said:

I'm in the same boat. All CS's seem to come with bloody 9.5" radius', apart from the Time Machine's and are so rare. I don't understand... Everyone bangs on about how lovely a vintage Strat is to play etc, and people pay £15k+ to get one, yet they change the radius for supposedly era specific CS Strats? 

My Silver Sky has a 7.25" radius and I much prefer it. But I like the Strat sound, so want a Strat with that radius.

My plan is to wait for a 59 AVRI in the colour I want and then sell my CS on. Don't change your radius, unless you plan to keep the guitar forever. Firstly it'll cost money to have it done that you won't recoup, it'll devalue it and will make it harder to sell, because there is some belief that 7.25" is bad. All that "my bends choke out" rubbish.

Wait, they put 7.25" in the Mexican Roadworn and the new Vintera but they don't put it in most of the CS?

Bizzare. 

I just don't understand why Fender don't sell a range of vintage correct guitars, likr Gobson do, instead of all these hybrids. 7.25" rosewood board, vintage frets, nitro finish, right knob font, etc. Surely there is a market for this?

That's what the AVRI and first decade or so of CS NOS/Closet Classics/Relics were. I'm guessing they're selling so many more of the more modern-feeling ones that they don't think it's worth doing many, Though I understand dealers can spec whatever they want for a run, so could easily get a bunch of 7.25" radius guitars. 

I prefer 9.5 by a tiny bit, but fret size is massively more important imo.

ICBM

I don’t really care either way about the radius, but treating a modern reissue guitar as some sort of holy relic ( ) is absurd. As long as the work is done to the appropriate standard you probably won’t even devalue it much - you may put off buyers for who originality matters more than playability, but you will attract others who also want the same change you’ve made.

Even if you do want to make some sort of non-period-correct change it’s hardly the end of the world. Make it a 16” radius and fit it with jumbo frets and a Floyd if that’s what you really want...