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Post subject: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:55 am
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I recently bought a stratocaster made of parts from different guitars. Plus body and Japan neck. But I cannot find any serial or anything that confirms that. There is a faded "ok" stamp and something written on the heel.

Any ideas on this neck? Is it a Japan neck or something else?

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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:48 pm
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Look a mid '59 to '60 Fender real vintage neck with slab rosewood fret board :D
Wrong string T
A.R Duchossoir, The Fender Stratocaster pag 48

Congrat


Last edited by stratele52 on Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:35 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:17 am
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of course, here it is:

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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:35 am
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Bieku wrote:
of course, here it is:

Image


I edit my first answercause I was wrong :oops:

Look a mid '59 to '60 Fender real vintage neck with slab rosewood fret board :D
Wrong string T
A.R Duchossoir, The Fender Stratocaster pag 48

Congrat


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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:48 am
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Too close to call I think. String tree and machine heads aren't original but then they look like a legitimate change as if the originals were removed.

The finish looks too original to be a fake which would put it right on the money.

"If it looks like a duck...." etc.

If it plays as good as it looks you have a pretty awesome neck.

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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 4:19 am
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Thank you both for your help.
It's a great neck, smooth and fits really well in my hand.

A label/serial won't improve my playing but it would have been nice to know;)

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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 12:43 pm
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Headstock shape is Japanese.

White fretboard dots instead of clay.

No pencil date on heel.

'50s & '60s typically have a more "blended" smoother transition from back of neck to back of headstock.

Might not be Fender Japan. But Japanese. You could buy those back in the '80s finished with no decals and just slap on a real Fender decal (still can, but real decals are much harder to come by).


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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 1:22 pm
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Hmm, the fretboard dots are much brighter on the picture. Do clay dots have some kind of texture? Like mother of pearl but not so shiny?

edit: They are white and feel like plastic


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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 2:54 pm
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Clay dots start off a very light tan color. But they're slightly porous and get darker over the years.

That's a great looking neck and good quality.

The unbranded '80s/'90s non-Fender necks were made by the same companies that made Fender Japan necks, so you got pretty much what it was advertised as.

You just didn't win the lottery by buying a partsocaster with a preCBS neck.


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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 3:59 pm
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Aftermarket Japanese neck fun trivia:

Stevie Ray Vaughan took the preCBS rosewood fretboard stock neck off of his "Lenny" Strat and replaced it with a maple fretboard Japanese neck with a Fender decal on it. (The neck is rumored to have been a gift from Billy Gibbons.)

A while back Fender made a batch of "Lenny" replicas with exact copies of the Japanese neck.


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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2017 4:27 pm
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Yep looks like a fake fender logo to me.
Alas the necks are easy to fake these days and because of that any time I see vintage gear these days I would want history and proof before laying money down.
Thinking further who would sell a vintage neck without the rest of the vintage guitar generally the body outlasts the neck not the other way around ... agreed they may exist but they are few and far between.
:D


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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 4:19 pm
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So, it is almost certain that the neck is Japanese?
But not a real fender, due to logo placement?

Age and origin is impossible to know.


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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 8:53 pm
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To the best of my knowledge, Fender Japan models exported to the US all had the Fender decal under the finish. Plus either "Made in Japan" or "Crafted in Japan" under the finish on the back near the neck heel.

However, Fender Japan has made a bewildering number of guitars solely for Japan sales. It's possible they made vintage correct necks with nitro finishes and Fender decals on top of the finish.

It's also possible that it started off as a typical Fender Japan neck and 25 to 30 years ago was stripped, refinished in nitro, and a decal put on.

Or it may be a Tokai, Fujigen, Dyna neck (suppliers to Fender Japan) that never had a decal. Or had a Tokai decal that was peeled off and replaced with a Fender decal.

I can't tell from the pics if the decal is real or a repro. In the '80s and '90s many Fender Authorized Service Centers sold real decals (I bought one from Veneman in DC in '81, to put on the blank Japanese neck I bought from them -- they had all eras of decals available and I chose an incorrect era for my neck style to make it less likely to pass as the real thing.) Real decals were still common on eBay in the early 2000's and high quality repros are currently available.

Everything screams Japan to me, and the finish looks decades old. But narrowing it down to a specific factory or year is unlikely.


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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 9:29 pm
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For reference, here's a 1960 (mid '59 to mid '62 similar). Note location of string tree, recurve of the treble side "swoop", the way the end of the fretboard appears curved because of the way they rolled the drum sander:
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Post subject: Re: Need help identifying neck
Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 12:18 pm
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strayedstrater wrote:
Everything screams Japan to me

I respectfully disagree on the 'screaming' part. A silent whisper, maybe, but nothing decisive. :wink:

This neck has no typical Japanese neck stamps/markings (for Fender, or for those multiple copy brands).
Instead there are markings which just don't seem to fit anything.
To me, that results in "unrecognized".

If the price was right for a good quality Partscaster, and the neck is as comfy & likable as Bieku describes, I'd just enjoy the instrument as it is, and leave the neck origins questionable.


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