So I've kind of started shopping necks for my next ground up build and found myself wondering.... Are necks (right handed) with reverse headstocks just left handed necks? will a lefty neck work for this application or do the angles and such not match up?

If anyone spots an all maple 7.25" radius reverse neck (or lefty should these work) please let me know!

Also, I'm not opposed to using an after market neck, but would prefer an authentic Fender neck if possible.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Try Warmoth (http://www.warmoth.com/). I believe they are affiliated in some way with Fender -- at the very least, many Parstcaster builders here rave about the quality of their merchandise. I know they carry a strat neck with a reversed headstock. By the way, they look wicked cool. I want to put a strat neck with a reverse headstock on my Tele!

A left handed neck will work just fine. You will have to change the nut.

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Chet Feathers

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I didn't Lose my mind, I traded it for this guitar.

Chet is correct a left hand neck will work but the side marker will be on the wrong side if the bothers you. If you buy a reversed headstock thats made for a righthanded player the side markers will be correct.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Yes, all you should have to do is swap out the nut.

I have thought for years about how the reverse headstock affected Jimi Hendrix's sound. Since the Stratocaster is a six in line headstock, the machine for the low E is close to the nut and the high E machine is furthest away. That means that if you hit the whammy bar the change in tension is greater for the low strings than the higher, so the lower strings go down in pitch the most. But if the headstock is reversed, the machines for the higher strings are closest to the nut, so they go down in pitch more than the low strings.

You can't just think about the effective length of the string between the nut and the bridge. You have to think about the entire length of the string between the machine and the bridge.

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James Burton Upgrade Telecaster
Hot Rodded Am Fat Strat Texas Special (now featuring Kinman Traditional II pickups)
Fender Blues Jr.
SWR California Blonde
Pedals Pedals Pedals

Check out Coco Montoya's strat.

easy enough! now that I have experience shaping and installing these.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

The body for this build will be a Warmoth, but I would like to stay with an authentic strat neck if at all possible.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Its an interesting debate, this reverse headstock business...

I had one on my partsocaster, and would have sworn it made a difference...however, when i got my new, actual Fender neck, it doesn't seem to sound any different, despite the fact that it is non-reverse. I wonder if it makes an audible difference, or it is just psychological...although it does change the effect of the whammy...

Oh, and while a lot of people don't realize it, the side dots are very useful! I found myself regretting not having them on my reverse neck! (it was just a lefty with a right-handed nut)

The timbre of the guitar is being created along lenght of string from the nut to the bridge which has not changed.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

That said timbre of string is affected by length from end to end not break point to break point. Theres no conclusive proof that it affects tone but it does affect tension.

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No no and no

For the string to be in tune the tension of the string from the nut to the bridge has to be the same either way.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Yeah but i'm not talking of tone more tension and feeling of the guitar. As we all know certain guitars feel different to others in play because of tension

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No no and no

What I was saying is that for the guitar to be tuned to the correct pitch the tesion of the string will be the same for the scale lenght no matter which way the headstock is. The change in feel between the two only happens when you bend a string because of the force requierd to change the tension differs because of the overall lenght of the string.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Reverse headstock junkie here:





I absolutely love them. The look, the feel, the MOJO. Ever since I first laid hands on my Voodoo Strat I've been in love with the reverse headstock. So I decided to throw a Warmoth AAA Birdseye reverse headstock neck on my JM Cypress Mica project strat. The debate about tone is all up in the air, as is the tension, but it's different for me, even if it's all mental.

There's just something about that awkward oversized headstock pointing the opposite way up in the air, that somehow looks so suprisingly right.