Just sittin around thinkin about having one of those "custom builders" build me the perfect guitar of my dreams, and a thought popped into my head...as rarely as that happens, I wanted to share it with you.

I can't think of any other musical instrument that you can have "fitted" to your wants and desires. We are all different sizes, shapes, lengths and width's and we can have a guitar custom built (with relative ease) to fit us. With necks to fit our hands, bodies to fit our bodies, colors and finishes to fit our tastes.

The piano...one size fits all...5 year old Asian girl, and Fats Domino...same piano! Do they space the keys of a trumpet differently for thin long fingers and fat short fingers...they do not. Sax, clarinet, harp, organ, drums, violin, cello, xylophone, and anything else you can think of requires that the player adapt to the instrument....as guitarists we are a very privileged bunch that actually gets to have our instrument made to adjust to us.

I think that we all should have 1 guitar custom built just for ourselves. Is it expensive? Yes, but we have all spent tons of money through the years on guitars and guitar stuff...don't stop buying stock guitars...we can never have too many guitars IMO...I just think we should all have a one off built just for us...why?...because we can!

My choice....Custom Shop Todd Krauss Fender Strat...9.5" radius maple neck, John "Crash" Matos custom graffiti paint job #51. Anyone have something they would love to do?

Yes!

Muhahahaha...

Ceri, jrornanov,
Thanks for your responses.

I guess I am just trying to dream up a little side business for Fender and
how I imagine it might work.

After further thought on it, I simplified it to this:

=== Fender Custom Neck Shop ===

Authorized Fender Dealer and Repair facilities are provided with a size
book in which hand outlines are drawn, including finger joint points.
Accompanying these size sheets are necks possessing various profiles,
wood combinations, Fretboard radii, and fret sizes.


1) you find the "hand" that matches your hand
2) you choose the neck/fretboard construction
3) you choose the radius of the neck
4) you choose the size of the frets


--Standard Neck Wood Combinations--
Solid Maple
Maple with Rosewood Fretboard
Maple with Ebony Fretboard

-- Optional Neck Wood Combinations --
Mahogany Neck East Indian Rosewood Fingerboard
Mahogany Neck Ebony Fingerboard

-- Premium Neck Wood Combinations --
Choose from a selection of exotic woods

All information is translated into a code system that tells the Fender Custom Neck Shop what you want.
You must also provide the serial number of your guitar to and it must
be validated by the authorized dealer tending to the customer who
also ensures that the body is indeed a genuine Fender.

Also, when the neck is produced, there would be a forge-proof mark
that accompies the serial number.
Example: Serial No. 7283992-FCSN-01-xxxxx

The customer will receive the custom fit neck with a certificate of authenticity that would state something like
This is a Genuine Fender Custom Fit Neck that was made especially for "John Doe" on "Date" then the neck's detailed specifications.
Any future owner of the guitar could easily find out what the neck's specifations are by referring to the code.

For example: 7283992-FCSN-04-MSE95J-082410

This code would tell you the neck's specification as follows:

7283992 = the original Serial Number
FCSN = Fender Custom Shop Neck
04 = the fourth neck made for this unit
M = Maple Neck
S = Scalloped Fretboard (-extra charge - omission of S = non-scalloped standard fretboard profile)
E = Ebony Fretboard
95 = 9.5 Radius Standard Fretboard (a CR suffix would denote compound Radii that would include the two radius extremes - extra charge-)
J = Jumbo Frets
082410 = Date which the order was received or date order was completed.

In this guitar's case, the "04" code suggests that there have been at least 4 necks made for this same guitar by the Fender Custom Shop.
This doesn't tell you how many owners this unit has seen.
I would imagine about a $300-$400 price tag for a custom fit neck 600+ for extra charge for details such as scalloping, compound radii and exotic wood combinations that are outside the common standard wood choices.

I think it would be an excellent way for Fender to support it's customers
And because the Fender Necks are bolt ons, it would be easier to actually do than for a company such as Gibson who's guitars known to be glued on.

Anyway, I think that would be a neat thing and I think there would be a market for it once word got out that Fender was offering this service.
Fender would be a rare bird that could honestly say they can custom fit your guitar neck like a custom tailored suite.


(hmm just felt an earthquake @ 9:35pm PST)

I have to agree here, if only it was like 1/16th of a inch wider it would be perfect, but it is the best to date I have ever owned.

Speaking of custom shop and neck etc....


My dream guitar would be a Fender stratocaster JR with a maple neck ( maple fingerboard ) . made in usa ... same quality as a american standard or a deluxe but 3/4 size ( size of the squier mini ) .

can fender do that ???

do you think they still have the pattern for the 3/4 size guitar .

i love 3/4 size guitar .... but the Squier mini isnt very good wish they had a great quality 3/4 guitar ) and the Fender stratocaster JR is impossible to find .

I would pay top dollars for a fender stratocaster JR ( the one they mad ein 2004 i think ) .

I WANT THAT GUITAR

http://hippiejams.com/hackolutions/gear ... 281%29.jpg

You know,
I wonder if the custom shop really would make me a custom neck for my American Standard.
Just the neck - I'll drive up to Corona(?) and go over the details with em.

Would they do it for a fair price or would they charge extra just to do such a thing.

They won't do it at all.

The guitar is more than just a neck, body and a set of pickups. It's a complete instrument, that in CS cases is greater than the sum of its parts.

If you look on CS instruments, the body and neck codes match. Their made for each other. Unlike productionline instruments that have a load of necks and bodies shaped then thrown together in any old order.

this code (middle digits blocked out)



matches this blocked out code.



Neck and body made for eachother. And thats just a relatively inexpensive run of the mill custom classic.

_________________
No no and no

Yep - like Nick says, the CS only make whole instruments. That's the deal I'm afraid.

However:

I have no idea of the answer to that. But we know a man who does. Why don't you ask Mike Eldred (head of the Custom Shop) about it on his pages, elsewhere on this very Fender Forum?

Cheers - C

The carbon fiber necks on the Parkers are pretty nice.

_________________
Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Due to the fact Fender does not offer replacement necks, they license other manufacturers so end users do have a viable alternative:

http://www.warmoth.com/Pages/CustomNeck.aspx

ORC

That's the part I cannot figure out and is why I was proposing the concept.
they'd make a few dollars more, unless, Warmoth is paying them royalties.

They are.

Also, if kids could buy aftermarket Fender necks they'd shove 'em on cheap Squier bodies or even cheaper imitation Strats made by other manufacturers and everyone would think they had an actual Fender. No need to buy the real thing - and so lots of lost revenue for the company.

Rest assured, they've thought all this stuff through long ago.

Cheers - C

For me, take the original neck that came on the JB strat and fatten it a little

_________________
The mind is like a parachute; it doesn't work unless its open-FZ