Hi

This may be a dumb question, but i've been wondering about that brownish strip of wood that runs trough the back of my strats neck.

What is it? For?
Why don't 60's strats have it?
What kind is better? Why?

thanks.

The channel provides access to lay in a truss rod. But you can install a truss rod without a channel by boring a hole the length of the neck.

Doubt there's any real difference as long as the truss rod works.

The darker filler is often called a skunk stripe.

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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

Its walnut I believe. Mostly for looks. Nothing better or worse, except i have heard there has been some issues with the glue giving out and the stripe begins to come out on some guitars. This would not happen without it there. My guess this happens when guitars are subjected to extreme temp changes or extreme exposure to moisture. As long as this does not happen, I think it looks nice and is a nice touch. It certainly would add to the costs and labor involved in the building process

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Guitars:
1. mid 70's Ventura MIJ Gibson l6-s clone (Pre-lawsuit) in Black with Rosewood FB and EMG 81 BR/ 85 Neck
2. ESP KH2 Neck Thru
3. 2008 Am Std Strat in 3 tone sunburst

How does it attach to the end opposite the insertion hole?

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

The truss rod is placed in that channel and a skunk stripe glue in to fill it or the channel is cut on the front of the neck and the fingerboard is placed over it. No skunk stripe then.

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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

Wow! I'd like to see that done...

Cheers - C

I thought the same thing.

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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

It could certainly save me a headache. I'd be very intrested to see how thats done. Im seriously thinking about glueing a maple fretboard on mine just to get round the truss rod problem a bit easier.

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No no and no

Lotta talk all of a sudden about neck construction around the Forum. So just in case someone's genuinely confused about this trussrod channel issue...



Here (at the bottom) is the longest drill bit I own. It is 6 x 450 mm - around 0.25 x 18 inches. That's a mighty long and skinny bit, but you can see by comparing it to the two trussrods beside it that it is not quite long enough to drill a hole for a rod, were you thinking of trying to do it that way.

But even if you had a drill bit long enough I'd take my hat off to anyone who could steer that bit all the way down the length of a neck blank (top of the pic) and have it come out in exactly the right place. Even with a very well made jig fitted to a high quality pillar drill.

And even if you could drill that hole accurately enough it would still do you no good. Traditional style trussrods require a channel that curves along its length, and modern ones, like my two here, need channels that are straight but rectangular in section, as this picture shows:



Which is why guitar makers create the trussrod channel by routing from front or back, and then covering it with the fingerboard or skunk stripe, respectively.

Any help?

Cheers - C

Ceri,
The one thing people don't seem to realize is that the truss rod is fixed to the neck at both ends. Even if you could drill a hole the entire length of the neck there's no way to attached it to the headstock.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

Now that I think about it I don't think people use horizontal boring machines much. You could do it but it doesn't make a lot of sense. You can do without the skunk stripe by coming in from the freboard side of the neck and laying on a separate fretboard. So why does my maple neck with a rosewood freboard have a skunk stripe? Suddenly the world is spinning out of control.

_________________
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

Hi VooDoo: well, in theory if you could drill the hole and make it curve the right way for a vintage rod (which of course you couldn't) then it would be possible to run the rod in and then install the turning nut at one end and a fixed one at the other.

But that's a whole list of stuff we can't do in real life.

This is what routers were invented for.

Cheers - C

That's how they did 'em in the '60s. Take a look at Hendrix's Strats (he is kind enough to show us the backs of his guitars often in pix and vids). Hardly any of them have skunk stripes, whether maple or rosewood fingerboard.

But folks just demand a skunk stripe from a Fender. So they went back to making them like that, their own special way.

Here's another photo (not mine) of a traditional curved trussrod that should clear it all up for anyone that's still in doubt:



Cheers - C

I'm glad I started this topic, there's a lot of clear information here concerning the skunk stripe.

But why would they go from having maple necks with rosewood fretboards without skunkstripes to maple necks with rosewood fretboards with skunkstripes?
Does the way of routing the cavity and inserting the truss rod even affect the sound, feel, or aging process of the neck or was it just in demand again for esthetical reasons?

Because imho it's just a little disturbing...

Ceri those are some great and informative pictures. No matter how many times you log on to the forum there is always something new to learn.