The Neck

Sorry for my absence from this blog, my writing responsibilities lay elsewhere for a few months. Rest assured: this tele is still getting built.
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Onto the neck.

If you have 2 girls' numbers in your cell phone, and one has runny pimples all over her back, you will call the other girl. Similarly, but less disgustingly, If one guitar's neck does not play comfortably: you will simply always play your other guitar. In my opinion - this makes the neck the most important part of a guitar. All the tone and aesthetic appeal in the world will not make me pick up a guitar that is not comfortable to play. And if I'm not playing it, what's the point?

So, it was with some consternation I went about the task of purchasing a neck I would never actually touch before buying. I was VERY fucking consterned.

Luckily, there are plenty of aspects to a neck that can be spec'd out. If you're diligent about these, you can narrow down the possibility of getting a dud.

1.) Shaft Materials

The same rules apply here as did with my selection of a body. Denser woods resonate at a higher frequency, emitting a brighter tone, blah blah blah. Maple was the way to go. Most Fender and Fender-style guitars have maple necks anyway, so you're more likely to find this than some silly exotic wood. Although I did see some pretty badass looking necks made from crazy woods on ebay

<--- Por ejemplo.
They just weren't the direction I wanted to go in for this axe.

2.) Fingerboard Wood

Alot of guitars will have a maple neck with a darker, rosewood fingerboard glued onto it. I previously owned a guitar in this configuration, and was not a big fan of the rosewood. I prefer a maple fingerboard. To my fingers, they feel smoother and faster. Also, as a rank amateur, I'm often looking at my hands while I play, and it's easier to make out where I am on a bright maple fingerboard. Some people think rosewood fingerboards have a darker sound, and I suppose that might be kind of true, as it is a less dense wood than maple, but most of that is probably psychological. People see the darker color and think darker tone. Guitar racists.

3.) Shaft Shape

Necks have different profiles. Older guitars tend to have larger, clunkier "D" shaped baseball bat type necks. Newer ones are usually contoured to a thinner "C" shape, for faster playing. This is totally a matter of preference. I've played on "V" shaped models (I think one of the Clapton signature series has this contour) and actually found them very comfortable. These are especially suited for rock n roll players, who like to choke up on the neck, and dangle their thumbs over the top, the V really fills in the palm of your hand comfortably for this style of playing. But I don't have such big hands, so I need to push my wrist out in front of the fretboard more, and keep my thumb behind the neck to hit all the notes I need to. Also, anything that helps my speed without requiring hour after hour of running scales over a metronome, I am AAAALLL for. So I'll be going with a thinner modern "C" shape profile.

I had always heard about neck shapes in terms of "C" "V" and "D" shapes, but the below graphic utilizes some different terminology that I've also seen bandied about the internet chat rooms. (Courtesty of some dude @ TDPRI)

You'll notice it's basically as I explained. Ibanez necks are more "metal" and are shaved down closer to be faster. The Clapton neck is very pointed, almost like a "V", etc etc.

4.) Fretboard Radius

This is so important. I would say that fretboard radius, combined with the contour of the neck, is what people are talking about when they describe the "feel" of a neck. Most fretboards have a slight curve to them, the severity of this curve, is calculated as if the curve were extended to complete an entire circle, and then its radius was measured. Thus: fretboard radius. The larger the radius, the larger the "circle", which means the slope of the neck is more subtle, so the larger the radius, the flatter the fretboard.

A curved fretboard is much more comfortable, and makes bends easier, but it has the disadvantage of "Fretting out", where strings won't ring properly if bent too far, especially higher notes. Some modern guitars, especially metal-type guitars, have a completely flat fretboard to eliminate this problem, but I find these very unnatural feeling to play on. I find the happy medium to be at around 10".

There are also new "hybrid" necks, that have a curved fretboard below the 12th fret, but above the 12th fret go flatter, for easier solo-ing. This seems confusing, unnatural, and expensive though. We won't be doing this.

5.) Frets

My current strat (like many newer guitars) has jumbo frets. These are tall frets, that cause enough leverage on the string, that you don't need to fully press the string to the fretboard to get a note out of it. IN FACT, if you do force a string all the way to the fretboard, it plays a little out of tune. Frets are really important I'm sure, but I just don't know enough about them to have a preference. I'll probably get jumbo frets if I see them, if not, oh well.

6.) Finish

Just like with the body, I'll be Looking for a Nitro finish, so it will age nicely.

7.) That's about it. I also want a classic Fender looking head-stock, no weird shapes like so:










aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.....


SURPRISE --> I've already got the neck. In fact, I got it months ago, just haven't had time to write about it. here it is:



Bought it off of Ebay for $300, which is great, cause it puts me under my $350 budget. It's not a Fender after-market, like I planned on buying, those were all very expensive. This was originally from Musikraft, a company in New Jersey. The big names in replacement necks are Warmoth and Mighty Mite. Mighty Mite makes shit. Warmoth is good, but expensive. Musikraft is a well-reviewed smaller operation, and I'm happy with how this neck looks and feels.

The guy who sold it to me bought it for $350 for a project he had to abandon. After he shipped it, he called me up and talked my ear off about telecaster building...then we slowly realized that he was a country music red-neck and I was a funky LA weirdo. Things became uncomfortable as he asked questions like "So, do you play much fingerstyle?" and I would answer "Only when my bassist borrows my pick to snort coke off of."

Anyway, I really like the flamed maple on this, very sharp. The finish is a nice nitrocellulose lacquer, and it feels good in my hand. Calling this a success for now. We'll see how it all comes together.



Until next time...

(I spared you the usual "wood/genitalia" puns in this posting, but just for the record...shaft shape.)