Help please _ I need a neck

lapua65

I am pretty much finished on a Strat build and just starting a Tele. The Strat I thought had gone well until I tried to adjust the neck relief. It is a cheap neck and the truss rod seems to be only bringing frets 12 upwards up. Basically it is no good. I have a Tele neck ordered but will cancel as it seems cheap necks are not a good idea. Can anyone advise me of a UK (or EU if I must) supplier please? All parts was my first choice but after having one heel adjustable neck I will never have another. I don't really want to spend more than £150 on each but can do £200 if I have to.  Ideally after a 12" with jumbo frets.
Thanks in advance

TTony

@GSPBASSES ; makes *excellent* necks, although his sales are infrequent and very popular, so you have to be lucky to grab something.

But if you're lucky he might be along to comment on this thread ...

SteveRobinson

WD Music necks are great. This is a bit over your buddget but on spec and you won't be disappointed:

Jimbro66

SteveRobinson said:

WD Music necks are great. This is a bit over your buddget but on spec and you won't be disappointed:

This ^^. That particular neck is a 22-fret contemporary version. Their vintage-style 21-fret neck is here:

https://www.wdmusic.co.uk/necks-c60/tele-necks-c215/wd-music-tele-vintage-rosewood-neck-honey-gloss-p4864

Although they seem relatively dear bear in mind that they are pre-finished. That saves at least the cost of a can of clear lacquer and a lot of elbow grease - more if you pay someone to spray paint.

paulnb57

WD are nice I recently got a solid Rosewood Fat Tele neck made by them...sublime!

prowla

My typical choices are:

1. Warmoth (not cheap, though) and Fender (with Fender you get a legal logo included). There's also Status Graphite, but then the question is are you fitting the other bits to the neck rather than vice-versa.
2. After that are the "licensed" brands, including Allparts, WD, Mighty Mite. Another option is compatible instruments which are parted out (eg. Charvel), but fitting may be a lottery. IMHO, they aren't worth as much as an original Fender part.
3. Further down there's Squier; the necks can be remarkably good for the money. Note though that a whole instrument is sub=£100, so beware of over-paying for just a neck (sometimes an instrument can be cheaper!).
4. If you browse ebay you will see plenty of cheap imports, eg. Kmise, which are OK (with the emphasis on "cheap"!).
5. And then there are the smaller companies, as already mentioned, or custom ones, which sit at various price points.

Necks I've got/had:

• A Warmoth Strat - this is simply excellent - cost me £175.
• I have an excellent MM neck on a fretless Jazz bass - cost me £50.
• Fender: I have MIM Strat & Tele necks, which are very good. Also a Precision bass which is absolutely spot-on.
  
• I've got a Charvel neck which I was going to use on a Strat, but days after I bought it the right Fender neck for my Floyd-equipped came up, so I got that instead.
• Squier: I've resurrected a couple of Squiers from parts. I've also put a Squier neck on a Variax guitar whose original neck had failed.
• Status Graphite: I've got two basses with fretted Status necks and have previously had a fretless. All very good, but can be a bit pricey.
• A couple of unbranded ebay necks, I've used as stop-gaps to put on things pending getting the right one.

So, in summary, my go-to brands are Warmoth, Fender, Squier; I guess it's a case of stick with what you know...

prowla

Oh, one consideration on a Strat, but maybe not so much on a Tele, is 21 or 22 frets; on a Strat the overhang of the 22nd fret can cover up a gap in the pickguard or the neck pocket (some Fender neck pockets are squared and do not exactly match the curvature of the end of the neck).

Funkfingers

The flip side of the 22nd fret overhang is that it makes it extremely difficult to remove the pickguard and electronics on any Stratocaster with a conventional single coil neck position pickup rout. 

The only option is to slacken off the strings and loosen the neck fastening screws. Tedious or what?

prowla

Funkfingers said:

The flip side of the 22nd fret overhang is that it makes it extremely difficult to remove the pickguard and electronics on any Stratocaster with a conventional single coil neck position pickup rout. 

The only option is to slacken off the strings and loosen the neck fastening screws. Tedious or what?

I've got quite adept at it on my current Strat project; the pickguard will flex a little bit, but fitting it back on with the humbucker in the bridge position is a bit tight.

The strings do have to come off, though; I've taken to winding them into a coil at the bridge, held in place with a Velcro cable tie.

paulnb57

Squier necks is a good call...

danishbacon

We all need a neck

www

I have a HOSCO neck from Axecaster - really, really good. I'll let @SteveRobinson comment on how much effort it was to set up 

Sarge

I have a 2piece maple 21 fret strat neck from Northwest Guitars I'm really happy with, £109 iirc.
I assume they're made in Asia but the quality is good. 
Saying that I recently bought a new £25 neck from ebay, 2 way truss rod works perfectly, frets all in the right place etc, a fairly flat 14" radius which wasn't mentioned in the listing but suits me fine. Only time will tell if it will warp or shrink, but so far so great. 

prowla

www said:

I have a HOSCO neck from Axecaster - really, really good. I'll let @SteveRobinson comment on how much effort it was to set up 

Hosco are the go-to company for a lot of guitar tools, so they should know what they are doing!

SteveRobinson

Hosco necks are excellent. I'm pretty sure they make at least some of those that WD Music sells.

lapua65

Thanks gents. I was toying with Hosco as I couldn't work out if they were expensive cheap necks or bargain expensive necks (forgive my completely nonsensical statement). I've dealt with WD music on parts and tested their returns process (seamless) so will give that a go.

lapua65

No luck all Hosco necks seem to be heel adjustment. Looks like a WD Music one it is then. Best wait for pay day though

GSPBASSES

I have loads of neck in stock with adjusters at the headstock and at the heel. I’m still make necks, the ones in the photo below will all be finished next week but as I’m in total lockdown I will not be sending anything out till all this madness is over.  

Not sure why you only want a headstock adjuster, as it makes no difference to how the neck responds to the rod being adjusted whether it's at the heel all the headstock. Although it can be a pain having to take the neck off to adjust the rod, but sometimes you can't always adjust at the headstock easily without moving strings out the way on a Fender type neck.

Roland

@GSPBASSES Your picture isn’t showing

earwighoney

Roland said:

@GSPBASSES Your picture isn’t showing

It is on my browser.

GSPBASSES

Roland said:

@GSPBASSES Your picture isn’t showing

Sorry fix it now.

I just realised all the necks bar one are heel adjusters, so I thought I'd better add a couple more photos showing head stock adjustors.