Was thinking about the ultimate neck and can it be created something special using other materials compounds.

I have an Applause acoustic with a faux plastic neck with an aluminum fret board. How cool is that?

Rock flammed maple with Brazilian Rosewood, stainless steel jumbo frets, compound radius, and soft v-profile. Yep, ultimate neck there... Too bad Fender doesn't make 'em like that!

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Hmmm.

English sycamore, 10 inch fingerboard radius, slim C-meets-V neck carve, 2.5 degree tilted back headstock to remove the need for stringtrees, compensated bone nut, wine red dot markers to match the guitar... Too bad Fender doesn't make 'em like that!





Oh dear. That was just shameless, wasn't it?

Cheers - C

I like my Stagemaster neck - slim, fast, and extra frets

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Stagemaster
Roadhouse Strat
Epi Traditional Pro Les Paul
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Good to be here and see all of you and am happy the thread is popular. I just put a set of new strings and Fender squire electronics in my lonely boy guitar a vintage 69 strat copy and it sings . Am amazed how the neck is perfectly straight and solid and chunky even without a rod in it. Must be good wood. The combination of the old woodeen body and neck and some modern electronics have turned it into a nice guitar, I also replaced the broken scratch plate with a new perloid one. I like the plastic neck and aluminium fret board.

I have a JEM. That neck is probably my fav.

My Peavey Wolfgangs are my favorite necks. The feel of the unfinished Sick looking Birds Eye maple and 15" asymmetrical radius is the best neck I ever played.

IMHO, the ultimate neck cannot be made by Fender. It just isn't economical for their operation in the current sense of how they do things.
I agree that it would be cool if you could have them make it for you and I don't see why they couldn't be custom made for a reasonable price.

Everybody's hands are different and there are certain necks that work best for certain people. However when tone is factored in a perfect physical fit to the hand and fingers may influence the tone to some degree
ie a V neck may tonally sound different from a modern C neck and is preferred but the V neck doesn't fit the anatomic proportions of the player's hand and fingers thus for good tone, the player must suffer physiologically due to anatomical incompatability - a topic that I have noticed seldom if ever discussed.


OK, IF I were the man in charge at Fender who made the big decisions this is what I would do:

True Custom Shop Feature

Custom Neck:
I would propose to provide a set of necks possessing the various combination of woods, thumb contour profiles, Fingerboard radius and fret size options.

The thumb contour profiles would vary from traditional C and V shapes to larger and smaller profiles to accomodate the anatomical variations that DO exist between players.

Neck width and string separation is another consideration and should be
factored in. Players with large fingers may find it difficult to play the narrow necks on the strats - nut and fretboard width could range from it's traditional 1.6"(ex) to 2"-2.25" as found on classical guitars. This is really
a simple matter of tooling design and it would require x number of jigs and fixtures on hand in order to produce the entire neck/fretboard headstock proportionally the same - it would look kinda funny to have a fat neck and a standard size '57 headstock.

It could be done and I would recommend at least 10 different width sizes for each thumb profile this could add up to approximately 60+ necks that would be on hand at the dealer who would also have standard bodies made of different traditional woods with various standard SSS HSS HSH HHH etc pickup combinations.

Now the place looks like a guitar center with one dedicated wall of custom sized guitars to choose from but not for sale.
The well configured guitar shop would also have a selection of demo Fender, Vox, Marshall (as a standard brand) to choose from or allow the customer to use their own so the customer can find his/her anatomically compatible guitar according to the amp he or she desires to use.

Your experience:
Step 1
You come into the store, and request a purchase of a custom strat.
Via a medically and scientifically proven size sheet book, you place your
hand on a series of hand outline patterns which fit your hand. thumb and
finger joints and thickness will vary and be marked accordingly and there
may be a 100 hand sets that you will find but only 3 will be your closest match.

Step 2
Once you have found your hand size, you will then be instructed to try out the various profiles that fall within the specific 3 hand sizes recommended.

(If you haven't noticed by now, a lot of guesswork has been removed from the sales representative and the customer)

You will now choose from the various neck shapes (thumb surface profile)


Source: http://www.stratoblogster.com/2009/07/f ... ntour.html

You find the right fit but now you are interested in tone....
Fret board Solid Maple? Rosewood? Ebony? (or ??)
You would have a nice selection of pickup/wiring choices to choose from.
This helps you to track down your tone.

Finally color You decide what color you want the body to be and you place your order.

I would apply this premium custom neck to all American Standard, American Deluxe and above guitars at additional cost which "may" be
an additional $200 which isn't much but when you consider all the work involved to get you the best fitting Fender guitar you can afford the price
will be worth it as you experience less fretboard hand fatigue which in
turn implies hours of playing enjoyment and less risk of developing carpal tunnel due to repettitive motion particularly when it includes ill fitting.

While one size may fit all and be economical, it doesn't fit all very well.
And.......... having this as an option at additional charge is worthwhile in
my mind and I think it would definitely be revolutionary for Fender and the
guitar manufacturing/playing scene.

What's good for the strat is good for tele and bass.

That's my idea of "the ultimate neck" What feels right and what sounds right to YOU! It's your money, and it's your experience.
We all want a pleasant experience when we buy a good product and when
that product's manufacturer steps out on a limb to offer something that
fits like a glove or broke-in shoes hey.... the experience can only be better.
Rememeber we cannot all wear the same size shoe.

(In case I forgot to add this in earlier, a shop might have well over 100 sizing strats (etc) to choose from they may or may not even need to be playable but more like a simple sizing sample)


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Hi Twinhit: matter of fact, this and related subjects have been discussed here on the Forum endlessly over the years in fantastic detail.

Far as most of the rest of what you say goes: you just described what the Fender Custom Shop does. Time for you to visit a CS Authorised Dealer and get started!

Please show us pictures when you're done.

Cheers - C

This is easy. CF reinforced 5A flame maple shaft with shallow D profile and burled camphor fretboard with 22 Dunlop 6105 SS medium jumbos, abalone dot inlays and LSR nut. Glossy poly on the board and headstock face, hand rubbed satin tung oil on the maple. That type of neck would easily go for the price of an AS Strat from a supplier like Warmoth, so ya best make it yourself.

Cheers!

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60th Anniversary AD Strat, Deluxe Nashville Tele, Player's P Bass. Mesa/Boogie Mk IV combo, Marshall JCM800, 1960A cab, Genz Benz El Diablo 60, Genz 2x12" cab, too many neat little practice amps and kit projects!

My neck would be a Birds eye maple neck of the finest select, add titanium frets, add 21ct gold fret inlays, add 21 ct gold nut,
add gold titanium Fender Decal with "Custom Titan: as the Strat Series....

ps; Copyright "Custom Titan" Neck...

The only problem I can foresee with CS necks is the room for misinterpretation between the buyer and the shop assistant. Let's face it half of these people get a notion in their head then try and enforce that on you as your decision. The best bet is to reference to a existing model.
Then you have a potential problem with the shop's communication to the CS. Though I can imagine that is only a small niggle once the order form is filled out correctly to your requirements.

Of course all those potential problems can be dismissed when/if you get to speak to the builder.

Does that happen, can we have some master built one off buyers share their experience?

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No no and no

Twinhit

Just a word or two about your idea, and to reinforce what Ceri had to say...Fender's Custom Shop will absolutely make you just about anything you would like...you can have a neck made out of plutonium if you would like...any length, any radius, any fret size, even painted if you like. Gibson will also do this for you in Nashville (solid bodies) or in Memphis (semi hollows) any color any size that you desire. Almost all Pro Players have their guitars done this way.

There are also a slew of custom builders like Victor Baker, Crooks, Anderson, McNaught and the like, that will also do this for you...exactly to your size, shape, and spec. Here's the hook...there's always a hook unfortunately...grab your $@! now because you will be giving up your arms and your legs to have this done. Really, in the big picture, it's not "that crazy"....I have looked into this extensively and have found that around $5K US is about where you will be at. Many "stock" guitars sell for this much off the rack.

Good luck and have a great day! (Just my 2 cents)