Hi, I was recently given a MIJ Standard 57 Neck and the one I currently have on my guitar is a MIM 50's Road Worn Stratocaster Neck. I want to replace the MIM neck with the MIJ neck, but I want to use my existing machine heads from the MIM neck on the MIJ neck. I have never changed a guitar neck before, so are these kinds of parts interchangeable?Is there anything I should look out for other than setting up the guitar (Innotation ETC...)? Thank You

Cooper

Hi Cooper~Tomi,

Most of the time, the parts are interchangeable, depending on the models and which parts you have installed on each. Just measure the width of the heel of the neck that you want to use (the wide part at the body end), and the width of the neck pocket on the body that you want to use, both should be 2-3/16 inch wide and should mate up. You can compare neck plates on each guitar to make sure the hole spacing is the same between the two guitars also. The tuners require different size holes in the headstock wood, depending on which tuners that you have. Simply remove one tuner from each neck and compare the hole size in the wood on the back of the headstock on each, and compare the way that each tuner mounts (screws on back, or nut on front). After the tuner is removed, compare the ferrules (metal inserts) in the holes on the front of the headstock on each neck, they might be the same, again depending on which tuners each has. The ferrules are pressed in from the front, and can be pushed out from the back if you need to change them.

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Theoretically, the MIJ and MIM are built to the same specs. However, based on my experience building two guitars using the Japanese necks they seem to fit more snugly into a standard Fender neck pocket than their Mexican-made counterparts. It may be necessary to "hand-massage" the parts to achieve a compatible interface between the two.

As for tuning machines, they may be directly interchangeable. However, recent Fenders I've examined have been equipped with a Reliance-built vintage-style tuner rather than the previously-used Gotohs. The Reliance tuner bushing requires a slightly larger hole (about 1.1 millimeter). Installing Gotohs or repro Klusons in one of these necks requires the holes be shimmed with some sheet brass or copper to properly seat the bushings.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Thank You, the MIJ I received doesn't come with the machine heads but from what I know both of the necks are using the vintage style kluson tuners?