I sold a guitar locally the other day, while chatting to the nice chap that bought it, I had blast on a guitar he had sitting on a stand.
It was a Japanese telecaster, I know how they usually feel but this was instantly different, it felt much nicer further up the neck.
The guy had paid a couple of hundred quid to have the fretboard radius altered and large stainless steel frets fitted.
I'm eyeing my Japanese Strat now and wondering if it is worth the investment? It is close to the kind of cash to buy whole new neck and I'd still have the original neck?
My JapStrat is lovely but does buzz and fret out a little under bending at the dusty end, what would The Fretboard do?
Comments
And considered that the sound of your guitar may (or may not) change a bit with a replacement.
If it were me I'd probably just get the work done.
There are a few questions I think you need to ask yourself before coming to a decision:
Before you played the Tele, were you dissatisfied with the playability of your Strat?
Would the playability be improved by dropping a string gauge?
Is the guitar a 'keeper'? Spending £200 on a guitar you might not keep (particularly when it is a relatively inexpensive one) doesn't make sense.
Was the feel of the Tele attributable solely to the fingerboard radius, or were there other aspects of the neck which you found appealing?
Hopefully having honestly answered each of these, the decision should be easier to make.
Really depends on how particular you are and if you can get a new neck to your spec off the shelf. For me it was well worth it as the tele went from furniture to a musical instrument that actually gets played, and I was keen to retain the original fender neck (& logo). To get a neck made to this spec would have had to be a custom build and so was much dearer than the reprofiling.