Hi,

I have a new American Deluxe Stratocaster with rosewood neck, I love it but something just doesn't seem "right" about it--I'm not getting the sounds I'm looking for, plus it just doesn't feel right. Does anyone know what's involved in replacing rosewood fretboard for a maple fretboard? What are reasonable costs and what could go wrong? Thanks for your feedback!

Hi Doya. I am thinking you are better off installing a new neck, rather than modifying your existing one. Also, I wonder if just by switching to maple you will get the tone you are looking for.

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FIGHT!

It's going to be difficult to find a luthier/repairman with the skills to remove the rosewood board and craft a maple board to replace it. Most currently in production Fender maple board necks are one-piece except for say a maple-board CS '69 that might be round-laminate (which even a round lam isn't exactly the same as the more slab-style boards used on the current Fenders like your Am Dlx). Of course other companies make their guitars with separate boards (like EBMM, G&L, and some others).

Even if you can find someone with the skills it's likely going to cost a lot more to do the job then just getting another neck from somewhere like Warmoth, etc. Your other replacement option would be to try to turn up a Fender neck from ebay.

Frankly the best option might be to get another Strat - if you're just not digging this particular Am Dlx Strat then maybe it's time to go back to shopping for one that just sounds and feels better than your current one - they are all going to be somewhat different. I wouldn't buy any guitar these days without "running the rack" to find on that really just felt right - not that there are necessarily any bad ones out there, just ones that aren't right for me. And what I'm looking for likely isn't going to be what you are looking for in the "perfect" Strat.

hi all,
Thats the weirdest thing ,I had the same thought about the fretboard too.
After not having a Guitar for over 25yrs ( A 1976 Precision and Selmar tubeamp I bought for the sum of 650 GBP in 1980 ) I decided I needed to get one again.
I bought a s/h Ibanez Artcore to get the hands working again. Next, a line6 amp, then changed amp 5 weeks later to a Fender Frontman as it had a cleaner sound but the tone from the the ags was still a bit dull and boring and nothing I tried made it sound better.
I must have tried over 1000 guitars, in every shop in Perth, from Gibson to Gresch,
Ibanez, PRS and countless Fenders new and second hand but I just could not hit that tone I wanted.
Until, one day out with the wife shopping, I see another new music shop and went in to investigate.
Started at the Gibsons and worked my way down to the Fenders. After the 8th Fender... Bingo.... US deluxe HSS, Pearl White with maple fretboard plugged into a Blues Junior.
It's mad how you just know that sound you are after and that guitar combo was just it.
The deluxe with the Rosewood neck just did not sound the same, even the wife noticed the difference.
We left to get the shopping., I was back within 1/2 hr and bought both amp and guitar.... with the wifes beer money, you didn't think I was gonna use mine did ya!.
Best buy I have done in a looong time.
Pity I have to enjoy a beer alone.. lol
Keith

Beyond pickup type, the physical makeup of guitars has far far less to do with the sound than you'd think, especially moot details like neck wood.

"Not getting the sounds I want" = change your signal chain (different amp and/or pedals).

"Just doesn't feel right" = get the guitar set up the way you want.

Changing fretboard will not fix either one of those problems.

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

Solid logic.

I like the way you think.



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

Have you had it long enough that you are past the point of returning it or exchanging it where you purchased it? If so, I would consider seeing if someone with the same guitar, but maple fretboard is willing to trade with you. Best of luck.

Didn't say changing the fretboard would, my Man, I just felt that the maple felt better then the rosewoods I tried and this guitar and amp just hit the spot.
Maybe its all in the head, so there is no diffence between guitars at all and I would
have been better off getting one from the local department store and spending the saved money on more beer!:0

RE the sounds I wanted, I don't have or use any pedals at all and I did change from the Line6 to the Fender Frontman and then to the Blues Junior all within 14 mnths.

And " Didn't feel right was the thickness of the neck on the Ibanez, it was as fat as a Les Paul and tbh the humbuckers on it sounded dead and dull. It did sound good thro the pc when I used software but hey.. Thats not the guitar and amp then is it?

Keith

Buy a different guitar. One with a maple board. If non maple boards just don't "feel right" then I don't know why you bought rosewood in the first place. It must have "felt wrong" in the store.

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Just think of how awesome a guitar player you could have been by now if you had only spent the last 10 years practicing instead of obsessing over pickups and roasted maple necks.

BMW...he might have been like I was with my Strat and the 6105 frets,I thought they were okay and I would like them,after playing it for a good long while I never did get comfortable with it,I had a luthier lower them and recrown and he did a fantastic job,I love the guitar now,I had also considered refretting the guitar or buying a different neck,he talked me into trying this and he knew what he was talking about....you know I'm an old dog,I still make mistakes though....I can't control my GAS.