Hey guys. I was hoping to get some of your opinions on this. I bought my first brand new American standard strat a few years back and have loved it ever since. It's comfy, nice weight and easy to play.

Now, I'm not the strongest guitar player, so there are techniques that I have always had trouble with. In particular, big bends. The strings would sound as though they fret out or I'd get my fingernails caught in the upper string I was bending into (if that makes any sense). I always chalked this up to poor technique on my part

More recently I got myself a 72 reissue thinline Tele which is awesome and am now finding things I don't like about the strat. My playing sounds so much cleaner on the tele and I can bend the $@!& out of the strings. Nice smooth bends that have a long sustain. Whenever I pick up the strat though, it's the same crappy bending. My only beef with the tele is that it's body shape isn't very comfortable.

So, my question(s). Does this sound like my hand is just more comfortable with neck shape and radius of the tele? I believe its got a U shape neck and 7.25 radius. The strat neck feels really thin compared to the tele and I think the radius is 9.5. Are there strats that come with the same tele neck specs? I want to keep my strat and if I can just change out the neck for something more comfy that would be great.

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance.

The original fretboard radius for the Strat was 7.25 inches. Fender still offers necks with that spec on the MIM Classic '50s, Classic '60s, and Classic '70s (3-bolt neck) models. As well, many of the MIA Custom Shop re-issues of those eras replicate the original radius and the MIJ/CIJ re-issue necks are some of the best I've ever played. You can usually find a neck to your liking on Ebay -- The Stratosphere always has a nice selection.

Best of luck, 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

Hi porkus, welcome to the Forum.

It's odd on this Forum how the same subject comes up repeatedly in a flurry for a period, and then isn't heard of again for a long while. Just recently we seem to have been talking about the shape and thickness of necks a great deal, particularly comparing Strats and Teles.

Only to save myself typing it all out exactly the same twice in two days may I refer you to what I said to another gentleman in the following post just yesterday?

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... ht=#571640

Virtually ever word of that applies to your situation too. Hope it helps!

Cheers - C

I find deep rounded necks much more vital to comfortable playing and bending, if I can't comfortably get my thumb over the top of the neck, than a flatter radius board. As you yourself have found you find the tele easier to bend on despite it's smaller radius fingerboard.
Always knew I was right about that, thanks.

What I would say is, if you're having excessive trouble bending, focus on improving your technique. Strat's with D or U necks are a bit scarce on the ground. Putting a tele neck on your strat will require hacking a bit of wood out of the body. Despite it being a ball ache, it's a lot easier to address technique.

When I bend on a thinner neck, I keep my thumb high up the back of the neck, or over the top of the neck. Then when I push the string up instead of my finger going under the string above the one I'm bending. It pushes onto the side of it. Then as I bend further it pushes it out the way and mutes it at the same time.
I struggled for years with exactly the same problem you have. I got out of it without realizing I had.
To get out of it, I have developed a bit of a bad technique issue. Instead of fretting the note with the tip of my finger, I fret with the fleshy part of my finger. Where the finger print is. That way all of my wrist strength is backing up my hand on the bend.

It's all down to thumb position mate.

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No no and no

Hi porkus,

Yeah, Teles are great. After I got my first Tele, and experiencing the same kinds of things that you did, as far as bends and feel, I had to deck the bridge on all of my Strats to get that same feel while bending. The Tele of course sounds great, and now the Strats sound and play better IMO. I like it the way Clapton did his strats, deck the bridge by tightening the trem claw screws down to hold the bridge tightly to the body. Wonderful!

As for the strings getting under your fingernails, it is not uncommon for that to happen. I know some players that raise their action so that their fingernails will go under the other strings. That's too high for me, I went the other way and lowered the action so that when I bend a string, I just pickup the other strings along the way and bend them too. If you like your action the way you have it, you can use the old "superglue the fingernails" trick that I've heard of.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

'Course, there's also that neat thing Jerry Donahue does. He bends the B string up a tone and in so doing slips the G string under the fretting finger, collecting it and holding it firm. Re-picks on both strings and bends the other way, so as the B string is down-bending he's also pulling the G string sharp and bending its note up. Bends travelling in opposite directions simultaneously.

You have to do a lot of experimentation to find how to make that sound good and musical like Jerry, rather than just the horrible noise of one cat raping another...

Cheers - C

Ceri, I have that second sound down cold! rrrrrrrrrooooooowww!

_________________
---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

You should have a neck built to your specs. Musikraft offers top notch replacement necks and you can customize the wood, radius, nut width, fret number and fret size. It wont have the ender logo on it but you can easily have a Fender logo put on it.

two piece neck builder
https://www.musikraft.com/product-info.php?pid66.html

one piece neck builder
https://www.musikraft.com/product-info.php?pid65.html

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Blues with a feeling.

GUILD GUITARS: MADE TO BE PLAYED!

Also, if you don't want to go the custom route, you could try the after market Mighty Mite necks, they should fit, and they are a little thicker than the MIM standard strat necks. with the same radius.

Sounds more like a setup issue to me. It seems odd that (all other things being equal) bending would be more difficult and more likely to fret out on a 9.5 radius neck compared to a 7.25 neck.

That said, necks are a very personal issue and I've swapped out a 9.5 radius neck for a 12 radius simply because I preferred the feel, and not because I had any particular difficulty with the 9.5. As others have pointed out, there are a ton of after market neck options available and replacement is an easy job. One of the (many) great things about Strats.

================================================

I have read a lot of people saying that 7.25 neck limits bending and that it becomes much easier the flatter the radius which got me wondering if my tele came with a different shaped neck than the spec sheet said it had. But that's just me being crazy.

As far as it being a setup issue, I've always had the same guy do my guitars but maybe he does something different for strats and telecasters. I'll have to ask him about that.

You're totally right about the after market options. I was looking at the Warmoth website and they offer a ton of options. That compound radius sounds pretty interesting.

The bending ease of neck radius is a greatly exaggerated marketing ploy.

Ever hear Hendrix, Clapton, Blackmore or anyone else struggle to bend on one?

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No no and no

Clapton uses a 9.5 radius neck...

I wasn't aware of the marketing thing but having owned guitars with 7.25, 9.5 and 12 radius necks, I know that bends are easier and, all else being equal, less likely to choke on a flatter radius neck.

Clapton didn't always use a 9.5" radius.

And Rory Gallahger, Randy California, or Hendrix never did.

Arjay

_________________
"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

You'll have noticed the I put in concerning Clapton's necks....

I'm sure those using 7.25 necks do not have a problem with bends - I certainly never have - as long as the setup is right. Which is why I felt that the problem Porkus is having was more likely to be a setup issue.

I can only speak from personal experience, which is that flatter radius = easier bends. I didn't say that you can't bend a note on a 7.25, and I happily push out 3 semitone Gilmour bends on mine.