I forgot to ask on my last post. Does the neck really feel that much different?

I don't know about different, but the 7.25 to me is very comfortable, especially for rythem playing...now for bending strings in a solo, the 9.5 radius is the best (IMHO) as it is both comfortable and flat enough to really do some serious blues bending.

T2

_________________
-----------------------------------------------------------
What time is it? It's Fender Time.

Yes, they do.

But the more significant difference is, most 9.5" radius necks are fitted with medium-jumbo frets (aka "speed bumps"). Personally, I prefer the 7.25" radius with vintage frets, both for chording and picking. YMMV

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

I certainly try.

US deluxe fat frets 9.5 rad vs 50s reissue skinny frets 7.25. Right now the deluxe stays mostly unplayed but times change and thats more to do with the sound than the fretboard.

The neck feels different, but nothing I could not get accustomed to easily.

It does feel a bit different. I didn't like the 7.25 radius when I first got my Road Worn '50's Strat but after playing it for a bit, really got comfortable with it. Now I might go so far as to say I prefer it. I bought a U.S. '57 Reissue Strat later on which had the vintage frets. I really liked the 6105 frets on the Road Worn Strat until I got the '57 Reissue and now I think I prefer them.

I really like the 7.25" radius.......In fact, I'm in love with it! But I have both, and can quickly adapt to whatever. Only drawback, the 7.25 is harder to set up without choking out on bends.....but it can be done with relentless tweaking to find the sweet spot!

I have guitars with both and I don,t have any issues with either of them

I concur. On this track, I used two different Strats, one was an '08 American Standard with 9.25" radius board and medium jumbos and the other was a modified '91 MIM Strat with 7.25" radius board with vintage frets. I find it very easy to adjust to both. YMMV.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=10692294

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

Don't leave home without it!

I prefer the more modern neck, but I have a Tele with a vintage neck an it's pretty nice once I got it set up properly. It takes a little more work to play lead, but I feel more of me comes out the harder I play. I play with a little more passion.

_________________
1975 Sunburst Stratocaster rosewood finger board
1979 Stratocaster with roseowood finder board
2001 Candy Green Clapton Stratocaster
2007 Andy Summers Inspired Telecaster
2007 '51 P-Bass
2012 Taylor 110
2015 Mystic Ice Blue Deluxe Stratocaster Plus

Hi both are cool with me .But 9.5 necks do bend that bit easyer for lead work..Cheers..From..Aus...

Thanks for the input!

I guess I'll have to go against the current here... in saying that I don't find the 7.25in radius on my 62RI particularly comfortable. The guitar is great otherwise, but the fretboard radius was the show stopper for me and the only reason I have now decided to part with this particular Strat.

Others have already commented on the choking when bending the e and b strings. This is just pure physics and there's no getting away from it unless you substantially raise the action or never play beyond the 12th fret.

The other issue that I have encountered is when playing chords up the higher registers. I always end up choking the high e string, when I use the index finger for chords requiring a barre. This only happens with this guitar and I never got used to it. I know it's a personal preference but for me it became frustrating...

If your interesting in selling it, I'd be interested in buying it. If your game please e-mail me at parist1@hotmail.com with the title, "62 Strat for sale" in the subject line.

There's something very few seem to touch on and that's the fact that Fender improved the string spacing on the necks. The old vintage necks of the '50's were spaced such that the 6th string would practically be falling off the shoulder higher up on the neck. And there's another factor...the modern C neck has a fuller shoulder than it's predecessors so there's more than the radius involved with respect to the question you put.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"