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Post subject: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 1:01 pm
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Folks: if you happen to catch Fender signature artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd on his current tour, chances are that you might see him playing this unique one-off Fender instrument at some point during his set. Kenny recently spent the day at the Fender factory with Fender CEO Larry Thomas and discovered this prototype guitar with a "reverse" channel-bound fingerboard. He was blown away by the feel and sound of the instrument and asked if he could take it out on the road with him during his current tour:

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If you look closely at it you’ll see the neck itself is actually rosewood and the fingerboard is maple.

Compare it with our normal channel-bound configuration (maple neck and rosewood board) as appears on the Fender Select Stratocaster® HSS and Fender Select Carved Maple Top Jazzmaster® HH.

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The channel-bound board is a new innovation that we're proud of, and we're excited that Kenny is digging it too. More detail: "[the channel-bound fingerboard is] a brand-new Fender innovation in which the compound-radius (9.5"-14") rosewood fingerboard is 'inlaid' into the thick modern "C"-shaped maple neck. In addition to creating a stylish new look, it imparts an amazingly comfortable fretting-hand feel in which both edges are pleasingly rounded, with no side seam between neck and fingerboard."

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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:15 pm
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Thanks very much Brad, beautiful look/innovation!

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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 3:40 pm
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This should do away with binding issues common on block inlaid necks. Sweet idea. Can't wait to see it on a bass! I also estimate that the more wood and less plastic or celluloid then the better the tone.


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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 7:29 pm
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cool....I guess the prototype he was playing had a walnut neck and an unlaid maple finger board


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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 9:40 pm
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mxvin wrote:
cool....I guess the prototype he was playing had a walnut neck and an unlaid maple finger board


No.

Brad Traweek - Fender wrote:
If you look closely at it you’ll see the neck itself is actually rosewood and the fingerboard is maple.

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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 10:40 pm
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Awesome look, and I bet the feel is superb also. I want one! Maple neck, rosewood fret board. :D

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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:02 pm
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Very interesting innovation there but how easy would it be to refret in a few years when the frets are worn out? Necks with bound fingerboards are notoriously tricky to refret, just wondering if this would make the job easier or harder.

On the subject of frets, are they anchored into the wood all the way across the neck or just into the inlaid fingerboard?

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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 6:00 am
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Thanks for informing Brad!

Can you give us a 'sneak peek' on the sonic differences compared to a one piece maple and/or a maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard?

Does the channelbinding widen the neck or does it retain the same width as a "regular" Strat neck?

B.


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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 6:19 am
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GilgaFrank wrote:
Very interesting innovation there but how easy would it be to refret in a few years when the frets are worn out? Necks with bound fingerboards are notoriously tricky to refret, just wondering if this would make the job easier or harder.

On the subject of frets, are they anchored into the wood all the way across the neck or just into the inlaid fingerboard?

Hi Frank: I believe I can answer all of that.

Refretting necks with any kind of binding is a bit of extra work, but not awful. You just have to trim the tang off each end of the fret where it passes over the binding: you can do that with tang nippers designed for the purpose, or you can just grind them off, which is what I do:

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They then simply hammer home in the usual way, and trimming off the overhanging fret end is actually a little easier now the tang isn't there:

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Easy-peasy.

What's brilliant about Fender's system is that the fingerboard is slotted first and then installed into the cavity in the front of the neck. That means the outline of the 'board and cavity have to fit each other absolutely perfectly, and the manufacturing challenges of that are where the innovation comes in. In practice it couldn't have been done on a mass production scale before CNC techniques, and even now it's a pretty good achievement.

And it looks fabulous! A big LIKE! from where I'm standing. :D

Cheers - C

PS Off-topic: is anyone like me finding Photobucket an absolute pain in the backside these days? Time to jump ship, I suspect...

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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 9:03 am
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Ahh, now I understand how it's done. Every other repair man I asked told me never to buy a bound fingerboard guitar. Clearly some people don't enjoy that little bit of extra challenge.

I think an acoustic guitar with that channel-bound fingerboard would look fantastic, are we taking bets on how long before some other company copies it?

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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 10:54 am
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GilgaFrank wrote:
Very interesting innovation there but how easy would it be to refret in a few years when the frets are worn out? Necks with bound fingerboards are notoriously tricky to refret, just wondering if this would make the job easier or harder.

On the subject of frets, are they anchored into the wood all the way across the neck or just into the inlaid fingerboard?


Ceri covered this one nicely for me. I love it when others do work so I don't have to! LOL. :D

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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 11:11 am
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I really, really like that. Nice to see something new. :mrgreen:


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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 2:27 pm
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GilgaFrank wrote:
Ahh, now I understand how it's done. Every other repair man I asked told me never to buy a bound fingerboard guitar. Clearly some people don't enjoy that little bit of extra challenge.

Though they may be thinking of those little binding "nibs" across the fret ends on a lot of Gibsons. To be fair, those really are a heap of hassle: come refret time most people just file those off and then put the new frets over the top of the binding the way I indicated.

But whatever you do, never let a tech saw slots into the binding. That's the big lazy no-no, fretwise.


Brad Traweek - Fender wrote:
Ceri covered this one nicely for me. I love it when others do work so I don't have to! LOL. :D

Image ... :D

A-a-anyway: how 'bout this? Tell me this ain't one of the most beautiful neck and body combos ever to come out of Corona:

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Oh boy!

8) - C

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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Tue Apr 02, 2013 3:33 pm
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Ceri wrote:
GilgaFrank wrote:
Very interesting innovation there but how easy would it be to refret in a few years when the frets are worn out? Necks with bound fingerboards are notoriously tricky to refret, just wondering if this would make the job easier or harder.

On the subject of frets, are they anchored into the wood all the way across the neck or just into the inlaid fingerboard?

Hi Frank: I believe I can answer all of that.

Refretting necks with any kind of binding is a bit of extra work, but not awful. You just have to trim the tang off each end of the fret where it passes over the binding: you can do that with tang nippers designed for the purpose, or you can just grind them off, which is what I do:

Image

Image

They then simply hammer home in the usual way, and trimming off the overhanging fret end is actually a little easier now the tang isn't there:

Image

Easy-peasy.

What's brilliant about Fender's system is that the fingerboard is slotted first and then installed into the cavity in the front of the neck. That means the outline of the 'board and cavity have to fit each other absolutely perfectly, and the manufacturing challenges of that are where the innovation comes in. In practice it couldn't have been done on a mass production scale before CNC techniques, and even now it's a pretty good achievement.

And it looks fabulous! A big LIKE! from where I'm standing. :D

Cheers - C

PS Off-topic: is anyone like me finding Photobucket an absolute pain in the backside these days? Time to jump ship, I suspect...


Great design, love it, Brad!

Yes Ceri, Photobucket's new interface can be somewhat of a PITA. :!:

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Post subject: Re: Kenny Wayne Shepherd on tour with a Fender prototype ...
Posted: Wed Apr 03, 2013 9:27 am
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Brad Traweek - Fender wrote:
Ceri covered this one nicely for me. I love it when others do work so I don't have to! LOL. :D

Aren't you glad someone asked :?: :wink:

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