So I have a 99 MIA Strat, and I have a 99 MIA Tele. I love the way they both sound. However I am a bit partial to the strat tone over the tele. My question is... What is different between the 2 necks? I know about c shape, soft v, etc.. and as far as I know, they should have the same neck contour considering they were not special editions.
With that said, the tele neck just fits me. I have dedicated myself to the strat in an effort to famiarize myself with its neck, but it feels like work compared to the tele.
Any insight on this? Are the strat and tele necks in fact different?
Regards, Jason

Traditionaly tele necks are thicker than strat necks. Whether thats the same with modern guitars is a different matter.

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No no and no

To me, on the American and Mexican Standards of late, both necks seem to be pretty much the same.

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You dig?

There is no difference between "Strat and Tele" necks. You can find similar neck construction on either guitar, and the scale length is the same.

As you know, there are huge differences between one neck and another. Any given neck - Strat or Tele - may have radius from 7.25" to 16", it may have a back shape ranging from a shallow "C" to a huge "D" shape, it might have a "vintage" style truss rod, or a double-action rod reinforced with graphite, it may have small, flat frets or huge railroad frets. Also, even if the neck are run on the same CNC program, they may feel a bit different, as I believe they are hand-sanded to final shape.

Finally, your guitars may have very different necks, but the guitars may be set-up very differently, which would account for the difference in feel... minute changes in action and relief produce radically different feel in a Fender guitar.

Thanks for the info guys.
Despite the facts, the tele neck feels like its almost 2 inches shorter than a strat neck. Maybe the body of the tele just extends further forward? Maybe I will take them both into a guitarsmith and have him give me the breakdown on the different action setups between the 2. Thanks again.

It must just be the models of my guitars but my strat necks feel chunkier than my teles. The thing I had to get used to after playing teles so long was the knobs on the strat it used to annoy the $@!& at of me till I finaly got comfortable slipping my pinkie between the 2 voulume knobs but that was many moons ago. I still love the tele volume tone configuration the best out of any guitar period.

'Thinkin' Slapchop nailed it.

Tele necks are thicker, different headstock, etc. They're just different necks altogether. Which one you like is a personal preference.

I believe you can swap necks on them too. My buddy had an MIA of each and swapped them just for that reason - to have a strat that had a thicker tele neck.

Yes, though the end of the neck pocket is shaped differently on the two guitars; squarer on the Tele. So you have to round off the corners of the Tele heel before it will fit into a Strat neck pocket.

BTW: thewood1987, you said the Tele neck feels almost two inches shorter? That's just speaking figuratively, I presume? They have the same scale length...

Cheers - C

It's simple really: Tele always wins

But I really believe one guitar compared to the next usually has a different feel.

What the OP must recognize is that other than the subtle variations in neck profiles supplied on these guitars in the past 50 years one almost has to specify a particular model at times. Generally not caring for Tele neck profiles, I had a '93 Tele Plus which was quite different. Compare the "V" necks on the MIA Deluxe, '57 Hotrod, and Clapton as another example of variations of a theme.

Doc

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"Another day in paradise!"

Just like any preference. Which style of jeans is "better": straight leg, boot cut, carpenter, acid washed hair metal stretchy, or skater baggies hanging off yer rump?