OK heres the deal. I have a 57 AVHR I got about 1-1/2 yrs ago, and I just love the modified Soft "v" neck profile. Fast forward to Feb of this yr, I purchased a Jimmie Vaughan sig series with the soft "V" neck, but its not the same as the 57 AVHR, its quite a bit beefer.
So my question is has anyone ever tried to mod the neck on thier strat to a different thickness/profile? I don't want to trash it, but would like it closer to my 57 AVHR, can it be done? I really don't want to buy another neck off ebay (almost $800) Need some serious input from one of our resident build gurus'

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Hi newwt,

It can be done but personally, if you haven't made or modified a guitar neck before I'd recommend finding a recommended competent Luther to carry out the work for you. I have no idea of cost but I would have thought it would be less than $800.

There's lots involved in reshaping a neck. If you wanted to do this yourself, you'd need timber or some spare necks to practice on, the right tools, spoke shaves etc and you'd have to re-apply the lacquer. After all that its probably cheaper to have a Luther do the work.

Or you can live with your current neck. How much more beefy is it really?

Andy

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Pending Greatness

I did it to a old Mexican neck that I love the fretboard of. Decided it's D shape could be more comfortable if I shaped it to more of a V on the treble side. I was right, by either luck or judgement.
It's not something I'd want to attempt on a neck that I halfway liked. You'll never match it to the Hotrod. You may get close but it's highly unlikely you'll get identical.

On anything worth more than £200, I wouldn't attempt it.

Basicaly to thin the neck out, you're going to have to remove a decent bit of wood, then look to shaping. Rather than just a few rips over with a scraper, then some light graded sanding like I did.
You'll also need to watch how much you remove. Potentialy you can weaken the neck. The truss rod is routed from the rear. 14mm either end, between 8-10mm deep at the center. Then the neck is shaped ontop of that. You could end up going far too close, depending how much was taken from the initial plank after the trussrod was installed.

Try a Baja tele and see just how thin the JV neck is.

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No no and no

I'm seriously tempted to buy a Badger Tele. I love a fatty...

Andy

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Pending Greatness

Andy it's a beast mate, it's a real chubby.
The neck of mine dwarfs anything I've played before. The guitar weighs in at about 12lb too.
I'd like to extoll the benefits of this extra lumber on the tonality of the guitar. But I won't.

You know you're wearing it.

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No no and no

One of the Kids at works got one and I had a go last week. The neck is epic in the best possible way. I didn't notice the weight, but then my Tone-caster is so bloody heavy it makes everything else feel like a toy.

Andy

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Pending Greatness

I tried one in a git shop and really liked it. But then again, with my hands...

I have been wondering the same as the OP. It is possible... I just don't want to try it!

Anyway. Happy days, eh?

It's all that tone stored inside that guitar, mate. Tons of tone! Either that or... the circuit!

Not any more. I took the back plate off to adjust the trem and Eric Johnson crawled in there and stole all my tone.

Apologies to the OP for minor Hijack.

Andy

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Pending Greatness

No No No, it's not that. All you did was spill some tone. You need to order some tone from Warmoth £4999 per microgramm. They'll send a special truck round to pour the tone back into the back of your guitar. Then replace and seal the backplate.

All the tone comes from the back end.

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No no and no

Hey guys thanks for the replies, think I may try to find another neck to try it on(scrap one) before I try it on a good neck. Or maybe even a aftermarket neck to bolt on it. I'll check with some manufactures.

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Hi newwt: nothing here to bring anyone out in a sweat. Provided there is more material in the Jimmie Vaughan neck than the '57 there is no reason in the slightest why you shouldn't reduce the shoulders of the carve on the former till it more closely resembles the latter. Provided you know what you're doing it is perfectly achievable.

I so much don't want to blow my own trumpet. But just to save me typing it all out again here is a link to the neck carving section of a long build thread I did. It'll show you what you need to know about tools, method and such. Obviously, this is carving a neck from scratch. In effect what you have is a neck with the job nearly finished, so it is just the very last stages of the process that will apply to your situation:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30747&start=1200

Alternatively, for much less than $800 you can hop on a plane and bring both guitars to me and I'll copy the shape of one neck onto the other for you!

And more seriously, you will assuredly have a luthier (meaning a real instrument maker, not just a tech) near you who can do the job, and it shouldn't cost silly money.

Go to!

Good luck - C

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Ceri, Hey thanks for the thread. If anyone has done this I should have known it was you.
This may be the route I take on this over the summer. And as far as just flying over, that doesn;t sound bad either, I haven't had a vacation in over 10 years. I'll keep ya-all posted on what happens in the comming weeks

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I'll put the beer on ice!

Good luck with it, whichever way you decide to go.

Cheers - C

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Yeah, I know what ya mean, but I have done alot of woodworking in the past. And I do have almost 30 yrs experience in the construction trades(concrete to cabinets) its just a case of going slow and checking often. You know what they say "You can't un-ring a bell" So I'll just do more research, and keep my options open.

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