Hey yall. Here's a couple pics of my 09 mexican strat (stock except for the pickguard).




I'm planning on doing some work on it and making it more functional and purty. One of the things I wanted to change was the fretboard inlay - I was thinking a simple vine on a rosewood neck. Here's the design:



White mother-of-pearl vines on rosewood? Yes, no?

Also, can the fretboard be changed without buying an entirely new neck? Obviously I'd have a professional do it.

Hi Brian, and welcome to the forum. Fancy inlays like that make me think of PRS guitars. They're pretty, but I think they look odd on a Fender. If you go ahead with your plan, would you really do 24 frets like the picture‽

No matter what you decide, make sure you show us plenty of pictures!

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I really like all them "Aster" guitars. You know, like the Stratoc, Telec and Jazzm.

Hi Brian: in theory it is possible to change the fingerboard on a neck by planing the old one off and gluing on a new one, then inlaying it, radiusing it, fretting it, dressing the frets and fitting a nut. Though even then there's problems - was the original fingerboard installed with a couple of metal indexing pins that will wreck a plane's blade and irritate its owner a lot, for example?

Some people might try to delaminate the fingerboard by using heat and steam to weaken the glue. That can be done too - try it, why not?

In practice few would bother to do any of that because it is a mountain of effort and will cost stupidly much more than just buying a new neck with the features you want.

The world is full of makers small and large who will make a Strat type neck to your exact specifications, not always for too much money. Assuming you are in North America check out these two. Either will do custom inlay work at competitive prices:

http://www.warmoth.com/

http://www.edenhaus.com/

Or look up you local independent luthier, why not? The landscape is peppered with small makers who can do anything you ask and sometimes for far less money than people think. Well worth looking into.

Some options.

Cheers - C

I voted dots. I guess I'm old school. That guitar looks beautiful to me just the way she is.

To me, even as some look pretty, I always find a neck with lots of inlays is more difficult to play.

Problem is I like the fender logo on the head. I dont think aftermarket dealers can legally do that. I'm looking into warmoth right now but they look blank.



No I wouldnt do 24 frets, that's just a pic showing the max neck size they'll do. They sell different sets depending on your neck.

Also, funny you should mention PRS. I'm currently going to the college he graduated from

To do this, you'll need:
1) The fretboard inlays (obviously)
2) A brand new neck with a "blank" fretboard
3) A reasonably skilled luthier to install #1 on to #2.

Now, all three of those together must run you around $500. Is that what you are planning to pay to get this done? Or maybe my math is off?

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Laughing out loud with fear and hope, I have a desperate plan ...

http://www.customluthier.com/shop/cart. ... gory_id=73

The site I was going to buy the new fretboard from would charge about $ 250 US to install the inlay on a rosewood board, but that doesn't include a new neck (can you buy a neck with no fretboard installed?) or a luthier fee to attach the fretboard to the neck.

So it's a little more expensive than I originally planned, and it's certainly gonna be the last thing I mod, but even then all my mods together + original cost of strat comes out to about the cost of a stock american.

Hi again Brian: if you must have a genuine Fender logo'd neck why don't you just take your existing neck to a good local luthier and have him take the frets off, do the inlay and refret the existing 'board?

Be clear, you are looking for a real luthier, not a tech, and someone who is good at inlay at that. Doing inlay well is a bit more skilled than changing the oil on your car...

The fingerboard you linked to is for selling to guys building necks from scratch. As I indicated before, in real life you are unlikely to find someone who can be bothered to go through the hassle of retro-fitting that to an existing neck - unless you want to pay him a SHEDLOAD of money.

But hey: if you're paying enough, why then I'll do it for you myself if you like...? It's a BIG bundle of banknotes I'm talking about...

Cheers - C

Point taken. I'm probably gonna wait a while if I ever do do it - too many other electronics mods I want to do that supersede the cosmetic ones.

I like other designs on the fret boards instead of dots. The birds on the PRS guitars are pretty cool. IMO
A Strat with the F logo for inlays would be neat too.

fancy inlays are nice looking but I don't like playing necks with them. I glance at the fretboard when I play and I find the tree of life/vine inlays to be a visual distraction.

Basically I only want crap on my fretboard in the location that God intended it to be.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"