Are You Looking For An Affordable Partscaster Neck?

BillDL

The other day I bought two necks from Partscaster, which seems to be a small (perhaps one-man) operation in the North of Scotland near Inverness that's been going since 2004.  I had never heard of them, but it came up in web searches.

https://partscaster.co.uk/

There is also a Reverb and eBay store according to the website, but I haven't looked at them.

They / he / she has a limited range of items and unfortunately no bodies or hardware other than own-brand and Wilkinson pickups (at the moment anyway), but they have 22 fret Satin Nitro finished roasted maple Tele and Strat heel fit replacement necks with truss rod adjusters at headstock or heel and with rosewood or maple boards.  Three unfinished necks are also available with half-paddle headstocks: rosewood or maple board for Strat, and maple board for Tele.

I bought the unfinished half paddle one for Tele fit with maple board for £109:
https://partscaster.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/unfinished-roasted-maple-half-paddle-guitar-neck-with-square-heel-for-tele

and the Nitro finished Tele fit one with rosewood board for £129:

https://partscaster.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/roasted-maple-rosewood-telecaster-neck-nitro-satin-headstock-adjusted

The first is described as having "hidden fret ends" and the second as having "semi-hemi frets".  I assumed that the "hidden ends" would just have colour-matched infill or even a very thin binding of maple or rosewood to cover the tangs, and that the solder blob "semi-hemi" ones would just be better finished bevels than on most affordable necks.  After really close inspection neither is true.  The "hidden" ends are actually the same as the "semi-hemi" ones in that the slots appear to have ended just inside the wood of the fretboard.  I can't see binding or infills.  The ends are indeed polished to solder blob shininess.

Here's the stock photos of the fret ends, and the necks I received are exactly as shown.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I bought them, but I am VERY pleased with the quality of the necks.  I don't think you can buy anything as well made for that low a price anywhere else, but I haven't shopped around extensively.  They aren't hand made by the seller, because they came in boxes with the same kind of sticky yellowed sellotape, protective thin foam bag, elastic bands, and Allen key in pouch, as Far East guitars.

There are two very slight issues, but neither is significant enough to cause any problems.

The top edges of the fretboard are at a fairly sharp angle.  The extreme sharp edge is sanded off, but it itsn't rounded.  Some fine emery paper run down the fretboard edge will round them over as long as I'm careful not to scratch the nice shiny fret ends.

The frets end very slightly in from the fretboard edge.  This will be beneficial to sandingg the fretboard edge less sharp without leaving islands where the frets normally have a bevel, but they aren't far enough in as to necessitate using a nut with closer string spacing or a narrower spaced bridge.

Although the spec on the website says that the heels are 55.6mm wide, I measured the unfinished one at 55.1mm wide.  If lacquered that would increase it by a hair, but I am oiling this one, so to fit it to my 55.5mm neck pocket I will have to shim it either side with wafer thin wood veneer to take up the very slight slack of 0.2mm either side.  That's about the thinnest wood veneer you can buy, and fortunately I have some.  The heel of the finished neck measures exactly 55.5mm, which is perfect.

The upper side of the half paddle headstock is an exact outline of the top side of the finished neck, and has enough wood to cut it to a Strat or a Tele. [EDIT] You will NOT be able to cut a large '70s headstock from the half-paddle.  It won't fit.  Only a standard sized one can be cut from it, or a Tele (obviously).  You could JUST cut a 70s Strat headstock outline on the unfinished neck I have if you reduced the width of the widest point by about 4mm.  The bulbous end would fit.  I don't know if the unfinished necks for "Strat fit" would have a slightly wider half paddle, but I don't think so.  I think it's only the heel shape that is different.

The unfinished neck is fine sanded perfectly where I could start applying lacquer or immediately oil it after wiping off some very fine dust.  The fretboard surface of it and the rosewood one are perfectly sanded and the Nitro finish on the "finished" neck feels quite thin and has a lovely satin feel.  The roasted maple on the unfinished neck is a nice shade that will darken fair amount with oil and, although it has a darker "knot" spanning the bass side of the first two frets, the grain is quite nice and the darker bits don't detract from the appearance.  The rosewood board on the finished neck is unexpectedly nice and quite close-grained rosewood, and the lacquered neck and headstock are a lovely biscuit brown shade.

The fretwork is excellent.  I have found only three frets on each up above the 10th fret that are high, but that's being very, very nit-picky and precise with a fret rocker because it's almost undiscernible and probably wouldn't make any difference on a normal setup.  The fretwork feels luxurious for the price.  As best as I can determine with my vernier caliper, the frets are 2.7mm wide by very approximately 1.2mm high, although they may be 1.1 to 1.3mm high.

I would say these necks are a real bargain and perhaps something any of you might want to consider if you're building a partscaster and want a good neck for minimal outlay.

Neilybob

This is really interesting and useful write up thanks. 

I've just recently purchased a Guitar Anatomy Roasted Maple and Rosewood Telecaster Guitar Neck Unfinished Paddle Headstock neck https://reverb.com/item/36637044?utm_source=android-app&utm_medium=android-share&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=36637044. ;

I paid £132.99 (originally £139.99) after adding it to my shopping cart on reverb for a week before getting an offer come through.  The neck is excellently crafted and a great quality. 

Would be great to meet up and compare our necks (bahaha, that's the weirdest thing I've typed in a while) but it appears you are the other end of the country from me. 

DiscoStu

Partscaster are in Forres, which is 20 mins from me. I've not had a need to use them yet but good to know that they've got decent stuff. I could probably go and pick my own if I needed a neck.

BillDL

My guess is that there will probably be quite a lot of necks out there being made in exactly the same factories, with some being specified with minor differences by importers, but probably many exactly the same.

I added fret dimensions in my original post in the 2nd last paragraph.

I would guess that Partscaster have probably chosen the best examples of their imported necks to photograph, but the rosewood (it's most definitely rosewood) freboard on my finished neck is superior quality compared with many of the fretboards on guitars I've handled and bought recently that sell for even around the £500 mark.  It's got the usual very thin almost crack-like grain pits of rosewood when you inspect it very closely, but the graining and pitting is very close and smooth unlike a lot of the rougher timber that's available to mass builders more recently for a reasonable price.  It's very possible that Partscaster have had a stockpile of these necks for a while now and the rosewood is therefore "older stock", but I'm only guessing.  The Reverb photos of the fretboard on the neck you bought is probably exaggerating the shadings of the wood grain and potentially making it look rougher and more grainy than it actually is in the hand, but I would say that based on the photos the fretboard on my neck is of a slightly better quality or has been sanded more finely.  It would be interesting to compare our necks.

DiscoStu

FWIW their newer Shopify web page is far better than the one they had a few years ago.

BillDL

DiscoStu said:

Partscaster are in Forres, which is 20 mins from me. I've not had a need to use them yet but good to know that they've got decent stuff. I could probably go and pick my own if I needed a neck.

If you do decide to arrange a personal visit in the future could you possibly PM me before you go, because if I am looking for another couple of necks it would be useful to have somebody select them for me.  I'm not sure how amenable the proprietor would be to opening the boxes though.  They are sealed up just as they came from the factory, although one of them did seem to have been re-sellotaped at one end and one elastic band was missing from the thin foam wrap.  I was wondering about going up to the big caravan park at Nairn or the wee one at Hopeman for a week in late April with a friend (nudge, nudge), and if I do I might be inclined to ask if I could visit the place.

DiscoStu

Well if you do come up for some nudge nudge action, Nairn has the Sun Dancer near the caravan park and Hopeman has the Bootleggers Bar & Grill in the park itself. Both excellent for food. Bootleggers is owned by the folk who have The Bothy bistro in Burghead.

Kittyfrisk

BillDL said:

DiscoStu said:

Partscaster are in Forres, which is 20 mins from me. I've not had a need to use them yet but good to know that they've got decent stuff. I could probably go and pick my own if I needed a neck.

If you do decide to arrange a personal visit in the future could you possibly PM me before you go, because if I am looking for another couple of necks it would be useful to have somebody select them for me.  I'm not sure how amenable the proprietor would be to opening the boxes though.  They are sealed up just as they came from the factory, although one of them did seem to have been re-sellotaped at one end and one elastic band was missing from the thin foam wrap.  I was wondering about going up to the big caravan park at Nairn or the wee one at Hopeman for a week in late April with a friend (nudge, nudge), and if I do I might be inclined to ask if I could visit the place.

Caravan park, oh aye 

 

fretmeister

I wonder if they do any Scale Conversion necks.

I'll have to email them. Might as well before sending money to Warmoth!

Sporky

The hidden tangs like that are generally done by routing the slots on a CNC machine with a very small bit at very high rpm. 

partscaster

BillDL said:

The other day I bought two necks from Partscaster, which seems to be a small (perhaps one-man) operation in the North of Scotland near Inverness that's been going since 2004.  I had never heard of them, but it came up in web searches.

https://partscaster.co.uk/

There is also a Reverb and eBay store according to the website, but I haven't looked at them.

They / he / she has a limited range of items and unfortunately no bodies or hardware other than own-brand and Wilkinson pickups (at the moment anyway), but they have 22 fret Satin Nitro finished roasted maple Tele and Strat heel fit replacement necks with truss rod adjusters at headstock or heel and with rosewood or maple boards.  Three unfinished necks are also available with half-paddle headstocks: rosewood or maple board for Strat, and maple board for Tele.

I bought the unfinished half paddle one for Tele fit with maple board for £109:
https://partscaster.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/unfinished-roasted-maple-half-paddle-guitar-neck-with-square-heel-for-tele

and the Nitro finished Tele fit one with rosewood board for £129:

https://partscaster.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/roasted-maple-rosewood-telecaster-neck-nitro-satin-headstock-adjusted

The first is described as having "hidden fret ends" and the second as having "semi-hemi frets".  I assumed that the "hidden ends" would just have colour-matched infill or even a very thin binding of maple or rosewood to cover the tangs, and that the solder blob "semi-hemi" ones would just be better finished bevels than on most affordable necks.  After really close inspection neither is true.  The "hidden" ends are actually the same as the "semi-hemi" ones in that the slots appear to have ended just inside the wood of the fretboard.  I can't see binding or infills.  The ends are indeed polished to solder blob shininess.

Here's the stock photos of the fret ends, and the necks I received are exactly as shown.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I bought them, but I am VERY pleased with the quality of the necks.  I don't think you can buy anything as well made for that low a price anywhere else, but I haven't shopped around extensively.  They aren't hand made by the seller, because they came in boxes with the same kind of sticky yellowed sellotape, protective thin foam bag, elastic bands, and Allen key in pouch, as Far East guitars.

There are two very slight issues, but neither is significant enough to cause any problems.

The top edges of the fretboard are at a fairly sharp angle.  The extreme sharp edge is sanded off, but it itsn't rounded.  Some fine emery paper run down the fretboard edge will round them over as long as I'm careful not to scratch the nice shiny fret ends.

The frets end very slightly in from the fretboard edge.  This will be beneficial to sandingg the fretboard edge less sharp without leaving islands where the frets normally have a bevel, but they aren't far enough in as to necessitate using a nut with closer string spacing or a narrower spaced bridge.

Although the spec on the website says that the heels are 55.6mm wide, I measured the unfinished one at 55.1mm wide.  If lacquered that would increase it by a hair, but I am oiling this one, so to fit it to my 55.5mm neck pocket I will have to shim it either side with wafer thin wood veneer to take up the very slight slack of 0.2mm either side.  That's about the thinnest wood veneer you can buy, and fortunately I have some.  The heel of the finished neck measures exactly 55.5mm, which is perfect.

The upper side of the half paddle headstock is an exact outline of the top side of the finished neck, and has enough wood to cut it to a Strat or a Tele.  You could JUST cut a 70s Strat headstock outline on the unfinished neck I have if you reduced the width of the widest point by about 4mm.  The bulbous end would fit.  I don't know if the unfinished necks for "Strat fit" would have a slightly wider half paddle, but I don't think so.  I think it's only the heel shape that is different.

The unfinished neck is fine sanded perfectly where I could start applying lacquer or immediately oil it after wiping off some very fine dust.  The fretboard surface of it and the rosewood one are perfectly sanded and the Nitro finish on the "finished" neck feels quite thin and has a lovely satin feel.  The roasted maple on the unfinished neck is a nice shade that will darken fair amount with oil and, although it has a darker "knot" spanning the bass side of the first two frets, the grain is quite nice and the darker bits don't detract from the appearance.  The rosewood board on the finished neck is unexpectedly nice and quite close-grained rosewood, and the lacquered neck and headstock are a lovely biscuit brown shade.

The fretwork is excellent.  I have found only three frets on each up above the 10th fret that are high, but that's being very, very nit-picky and precise with a fret rocker because it's almost undiscernible and probably wouldn't make any difference on a normal setup.  The fretwork feels luxurious for the price.  As best as I can determine with my vernier caliper, the frets are 2.7mm wide by very approximately 1.2mm high, although they may be 1.1 to 1.3mm high.

I would say these necks are a real bargain and perhaps something any of you might want to consider if you're building a partscaster and want a good neck for minimal outlay.

Hi there, Partscaster.co.uk here! Very pleased to hear your positive comments about the necks you ordered. We've tried to combine the best possible fretwork with quality woods and great finish, fit and 'feel' and a competitive price and so far customer feedback has been extremely good. We're very responsive to emails via our website (it was actually a customer who gave us a heads-up to this thread otherwise we might have missed it) - it'd be great to see the results of the guitar you are building

partscaster

DiscoStu said:

Partscaster are in Forres, which is 20 mins from me. I've not had a need to use them yet but good to know that they've got decent stuff. I could probably go and pick my own if I needed a neck.

Hi there, Partscaster.co.uk here! You absolutely could We regularly send detailed photos of multiple necks to customers to choose from but if you're just down the road you can absolutely come and 'pick your own'. I'd recommend waiting a month though as we have new stock ready in early May. Shoot us a message via our website

partscaster

BillDL said:

DiscoStu said:

Partscaster are in Forres, which is 20 mins from me. I've not had a need to use them yet but good to know that they've got decent stuff. I could probably go and pick my own if I needed a neck.

If you do decide to arrange a personal visit in the future could you possibly PM me before you go, because if I am looking for another couple of necks it would be useful to have somebody select them for me.  I'm not sure how amenable the proprietor would be to opening the boxes though.  They are sealed up just as they came from the factory, although one of them did seem to have been re-sellotaped at one end and one elastic band was missing from the thin foam wrap.  I was wondering about going up to the big caravan park at Nairn or the wee one at Hopeman for a week in late April with a friend (nudge, nudge), and if I do I might be inclined to ask if I could visit the place.

Partscaster.co.uk here! Like I said to DiscoStu, you can absolutely visit in person to pick your own (just shoot us a message via the website) though if you can wait til early May you'd have more to choose from. We have good stock of heel adjusted Strat with rosewood board or 1-piece maple, good stock of 2-piece maple Strat with headstock adjustment, getting low on headstock adjusted rosewood Strat and Tele, and heel adjusted rosewood Tele, out of stock of CBS Strat, headstock adjusted 2-piece maple Tele. New stock will inlcude Jazzmaster and a couple of lefty options. Or I can send you detailed photos of a selection of necks to choose from if you prefer it posted

BillDL

Hi @partscaster.  Great to see your personal responses.

partscaster

BillDL said:

Hi @partscaster.  Great to see your personal responses.

No worries

JD50

Hi @partscaster, any plans to stock 24" Fender shortscale style necks?

partscaster

JD50 said:

Hi @partscaster, any plans to stock 24" Fender shortscale style necks?

not this year I'm afraid!

DrBob

@partscaster welcome to the forum and thanks for joining in.Do you carry/plan to carry any necks with different neck profiles ? Also do you ever get any necks in with a 57mm heel ? 

partscaster

DrBob said:

@partscaster welcome to the forum and thanks for joining in.Do you carry/plan to carry any necks with different neck profiles ? Also do you ever get any necks in with a 57mm heel ? 

Hi there! Atm we only offer these necks in 9.5" radius 60s-C shape. We used to sell these neck in 57mm too but haven't done so for some time - it's a possibility for the future. Thank you

guitargeek62

partscaster said:

JD50 said:

Hi @partscaster, any plans to stock 24" Fender shortscale style necks?

not this year I'm afraid!

Please put me down for one or two if you ever do