Wow, went to pick up guitar and noticed this...
-- a 2006 MIM, Im thinking WTF!!!

Guess the neck is trash....Ideas?
Chance Fender will step up and ship me a new neck!!

Was looking at a nice American Strat, She almost had me!! but now im not so sure.

Not sure where you are located, but as long as you're guitar is still under warranty Fender should replace the neck for you (warranty length varies somewhat from country to country). However, they won't just send you a neck, you'll have to go through a dealer or an authorized repair center to get it taken care of.

Sorry to see that; hope you get it repaired quickly.

Ouch, poor strat. That sucks, dude.

Hopefully its still under warranty and you can get this sorted through Fender.

Let us know how it turns out.

Fender covering it is an a possibility, but as someone who does work on them, I hate to be the bearer of bad words, but I think they're going to tell you you're on your own. They'll only cover something if it breaks due to something that's been deemed defective. From the looks of that crack, they're going to say one of a few things, whether or not they're true.
1) You over adjusted your truss rod
2?)you didnt store it correctly
Anything that they deem to be caused my not maintaining, or owner abuse, they will not cover. If its still even under warranty (time may expire, you may be second owner, etc.)

They may come up with something all together different. You may be lucky (unlucky) to have a neck that came from a bad batch. There werer a large number of American Deluxe necks that were defective, this may be too.

As long as the truss rod isnt broken, the neck can be easiliy be fixed, and reinforced. It will feel different though.

I think thats a hell of an assumption.

It's an assumption that comes from experience dealing with the companies.

All the manufacturers will assume this, unless you can show otherwise. I can't tell you how many guitars come in broken, most will not be covered. Look at the countless Gibson headstocks that break. Even though it's due to a weak headstock and angle, they consider it player error. Thay you didnt take adequite care.
I'm not saying its fair, it's just what happens, again, unless it can be shown it was in a bad batch.

When the Road Worn series came out, practically ALL the necks were defective. They made the necks ahead of time, and stored them somewhere that allowed them to expand and contract. what ended up happening is that all the frets were too short for the fretboard. Dozens came in for setups (a lot from people who normally do their own setups), because they thought the tremolo's were put on crooked, because the E strings were falling off the frets. That's a case of defective equipment (though I dont know if Fender honored it).

We had literally close to a 100 acoustics come in with all sorts of problems that arose from the extra cold winter; cracked tops mostly, but also bindings that came off, necks that needed to be reset. Not one of them, whether they were Gibsons, Taylors, Guilds or Martins were covered under warranty. Most of the guitars were only a few years old too (they're more likely to suffer adverse reactions to cold weather the newer they are).

People think insurance companies try to get out of paying claims, try to get a guitar manufacturer to cover a warranty item.

Like I said, it can be fixed. Gibson headstocks that snap in half get fixed all the time. We've had necks come in several pieces that were madeplayable again.

So what your sayin is Fenders Warrenty is useless.

No, I'm saying they're the same as every other factory warranty; they only cover problems that arise from something that happened before it was purchased. Bad QC, flawed workmanship, flawed materials. They wont cover anything that happens from what's viewed as "abnormal use", and if its deemed that it arised from neglect; like when you dont keep your acoustic guitars humidified, and they get damaged.
The warranties that cover problems that come from use (beyond just manufacturing defects) typically are the ones you have to buy from the merchant.

Hmmm, If thats the case, the warranties aren't worth the paper they are written on.

Had to warranty a BOW last year (different than a guitar i know), but i called the company, explained, and they had no issue, new Limbs sent right out to me..
Bow carries a lifetime warranty.
To me thats how it should work..if not give the generic 90 days and be done wih it..

As to what happened, Im not really sure, but I changed strings and was tuning a day before and heard a little "tick", didnt seem to be anything, until this.

Well still have "Les",
Guess, ill prob look for a radiused "NON Fender neck" on ebay or part the thing out.

Its is stored in case, in same room as my other guitars (Gibson and jackson)
and they are older and have no issues at all..

Some companies are more forgiving that others. With Bow's, there's so much that go into them (more than i thought). I took a few classes at a trade school in Chelsea MA when i decide to become a Luthier (which I still dont consider myself one, just a real good tech, though Im starting an acoustic build soon). THis school had a 2 year violen building class; ONE YEAR WAS DEDICATED TO MAKING A BOW. Who would have thought that much work goes into it.

ANways,its not just Fender. Martin, who has a good stable of owners, are pretty beurocratic when it comes to warranty work. THough they take many precautions, so I guess they expect their owners too as well.
For example; they will not ship acoustics in the winter time to cold climate areas. If your local Guitar Center in MN doesnt have the model you want, you have to wait until spring. Cold dry air is a bigger threat to acoustics than Pete Townsend ina rage on stage.

With that crack, some tite bond and lots of pressure while it dries should clear that right up. Personally, it looks like the skunk strip expanded in the maple and cause the neck to crack which should be a warrenty issue. Most likely you're screwed though.

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+1, that's probably the closest to a reasonable answer. It can be fixed, we fixed a Les Paul Jr with a neck broke in 3 pieces. It plays perfect now. But its a black neck, with white where the adhesive was used, but it was cheaper than buying a new one.

Ive heard of skunk stripes doig the opposite, contracting and rattling around.

If you think it might still be under warranty, call Fender Customer Relations and find out. There are plenty of stories on this very forum of them happily replacing necks and other major parts within the warranty period. Don't start fretting about the warranty being useless until you actually ask someone who might know.

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Jim Bordner
Gravity Music - www.gravitymusic.com
Composer, producer, Egnater Artist

+1

A formal inquiry is the first step of this "journey". Anecdotal tales of dissatisfaction and discouragement are meaningless until FMIC makes a determination one way or the other.

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