This was a very well edited/paced video. You covered so much in such a small window of time, and none of it was wasted. This should help me a lot in my first neck swapping project!
when people say "it's a bolt on so you can replace the neck if it breaks" make it seem so easy, like it just a matter of screwing 4 screws, while it's almost as hard as gluing a broken neck if you can't find a perfect fit
Got linked this vid after asking the Thomann guitar department about a potential neck swap of a Fender MiM neck onto a Squier Telecaster body. Decided to roll the dice anyway, and boy did I luck out. The Fender Roasted Maple Telecaster neck (22 frets) fits perfectly in the pocket of my Squier Cabronita Thinline Tele. Now to take care of that unfiled nut, right now the action is about that of a slide guitar.
Hes right folks pay close attention to what he said ,I have a kramer striker I bought a neck from Amazon once because my original neck was unplayable, when I got the new neck I had to sand measure sand measure and sand again and again while checking the fit between sandings ,even if the neck is just 2mm off from fitting if you sand one side of the neck more than the other it wont go in the neck pocket properly it will be cock eyed so to speak which now you have a string spacing issue ,you have to do all these things and then double check your work it may take a few mins to a few hrs to get this right,the thing that's important is take your time and check the fit and make sure it goes in the neck pocket right if it's off by 1mm the more it will off near the 3rd 4th even 1st fret at those frets it could be off triple that number, it's a very tedious thing to do I've been through it but by taking my time I got my new neck to work it took more than a few hrs roughly 2 days and it was good, word of advice if you dont need to change the neck on your guitar dont because its alot of work,great video
Fender sells their replacement necks with these ma-hoooo-sive nuts. I'm not too shabby when it comes to guitar setup but this is one nut I don't want to bust 😉 So I took it to a shop when I replaced the neck on my Tele recently
I bought a maple 'Tele neck from a Chinese company. It fitted perfectly ! I had to bore the 4 screw holes in it & I was careful to measure it exactly. The playability was excellent. It takes 2 people to do this job. I was well pleased with the result.
Hey Kris, you are right about pointing out the difficulties and problems that might occur while swapping necks. My main Tele has had 6 neck changes until I've found the right one. I can't play thin necks and I dont like baseball bat-types either. From my experience, I'd say you can't go wrong if you choose either Fender originals, or mainstream brands like Warmoth or Musikraft. Beware with Asian made bodies, as the specs are different from the US made and will need adaptation for most. Other than that, it's a bit of a lottery. I am very happy with a neck I purchased in UK from NorthWest guitars, to mount on an homage Blackguard of the Jeff Beck Esquire/Tele I have assembled recently. Maple semi-satin finish, just the right depth and profile for my hand: vintage nitro tint, 12 '' radius, medium jumbo frets, C .83 / .92 profile, (similar to Custom Shop CS-1 dimensions), 42.8mm bone nut, top trussrod adjustment , which avoids disassembling the neck each time. VERY comfy ! The choice of woods, fret type, carve are very important: try a lot before you order. Cheers Kris !
As I recently shimmed a Squier Bullet SSS HT. It originally had a piece of paper taped at the butt of the neck pocket. The material of the shim really doesn't matter. I used the backing of a hardwood flooring sample made of plastic. And I put that on top of the taped piece of paper. No change in sustain. It makes sense to have as much contact of the heel & neck pocket and the harder the material for a transfer of vibration the better. I think you could spread aluminum foil or even copper shielding tape and it would be hard enough to transfer vibrations for sustain, probably better than wood on wood contact, metal is harder than wood. The plastic shim was flat, as the neck pocket & neck angle were fine from the tape shim that was already installed by Squier. 10-12 seconds of sustain is overkill and even the cheapest guitar gets that, shimmed or not. My guitar is Baltic Blue, used black plastic because it closely matched the body color. I thought about using wood, but it would not match the tinted gloss polyurethane of the maple of the neck. It's visible,but you have to make an effort to see it. Plays infinitely better from a perspective of action height. sustain, that's debatable whether there is any difference. Tone, I think it's actually better, raising the fretboard at the heel required raising the pickups. But my saddles are properly leveled when they were slammed before to the bridge plate. Who knows if that's even the original neck ? It was 14 years old when I bought it.
Good to know! I was toying with the idea to replace a vintage style neck on a Mexican Jazzmaster with a modern Fender US neck. Thought this would be a piece of cake, but I should probably do more research first.
I had a body with an angled neck pocket. So I routed it straight and filled it in with some scrap wood. The new neck fits great and the vibration transference is unreal! I really lucked out
I had occasion to try a neck swap earlier this year. Thanks to you, I now know that I did the right thing to stop the instant I realized I was having problems. Had I continued, I would certainly have damaged something. As it was, I was concerned that I had. Everything seems fine, though. I was right to abort because I have none of the tools needed to do this job right. Thank you for the confirmation.
That's great to hear! Yeah, usually a neck swap requires some modification and it's best having tools for that. Been there, done that, haha! Without knowing how to fix incompatibility and having the right tools, it's gonna be a mess. Cheers //Kris
In the old days... I used to try and nullify (as much as possible), the distance from the strings to the pole pieces. I would try and match the pickup hight and the sideways offset of the low and high E to the pole pieces. It usually ment lowering the pickup a little. My idea was to make all the strings (about) the same distance away from the screws. THIS was waaay back when i used to worry about suck issues. Lol😊
Vielen Dank, ich habe mir das Video nach der Hälfte meiner Reparatur angesehen und bin genau auf diese Probleme gestoßen wollte auch den Hals nicht berühren und habe dann den kompletten Schuh aus gehobelt mit einem Stecheisen, und sehe hier, dass ich alles richtig gemacht habe, und werde Ihre weiteren Tipps beherzigen. Ich hoffe, Sie können das übersetzen und ich freue mich, dass sie dieses Video gemacht haben. Vielen Dank
I have a 23 yr old Fender Starcaster. Not surprisingly, Fender necks don’t fit because of the lack of “lip” at the bottom of a stock neck. It’s far easier to fully rework the original than to mess with a newer neck. Hey I only paid 100.00 US for it so the work is just a labor of love. The frets, after a bit of careful work, are just as good as my new American Professional II. I’m putting a stick MIM loaded pickguard on it. All my other Strats have AM pickups so, it will be a nice sonic difference. Also…surprisingly, this OLD Starcaster ( Strat shape ) has a one piece body! I’ll sand it down and give it a clear-coat as any good hunk of woods hold be clear😉
I put American necks on Classic Vibe bodies, and an Affinity neck on a CV body. The neck pockets were a bit different so I had to get some block saddles to get a bit more height, but otherwise good.
Oh, I used to have a schecter with replaced neck. And it was impossible to set it's scale length. It was 650mm in the shortest 6th string saddle position. The bridge sits with an angle, so 6th string was almost unplayable, 5 - badly playable and others were ok. Never gonna get an used guitar with replaced neck again
Hey man, thanks so much! It's a mixture of guitar, overdrive pedal and amp. There's a reason for always using the same few OD pedals (Honey Bee Double Trouble, Kasleder Toxic Twins, Carl Martin Panama, Wampler Pantheon). These will give me that gritty, sparkly, yet balanced and full "amp like" overdrive. And the Revv D20 is just the best amp I've found for pedals that doesn't cost multiple thousands of euros. Plus it has the loadbox with the cab simulation, which is something I use a lot here in this series. The Yamaha is only there for monitoring the tone. :) Cheers //Kris
Hear me out @ThomannsGuitarsBasses I bought a Fender American Professional II Scalloped Stratocaster Neck, Rosewood, and it says it will fit perfectly on my Fender mexican Stratocaster. I have for the future plan to put a telecaster neck on my Squier Affinity Telecaster, I guess that would need adjustments and wont fit right on the Squier body? Almost asking rhetorical because when I swapped the MiM Strat tuners to locking tuners, it went smooth... when I placed the MiM tuners on my Squier Affinity Telecaster, I had to drill new plugholes as the measurement of the holes that was on the Squier was off, I hand drilled and made it work.. So guessing that I would have to sand and maybe even drill new holes on the Fender Telecaster neck if i want to swap from the Squier neck? Are you also saying i'm loosing warranty on my MiM Stratocaster the moment I swap the neck to another Fender neck? That doesn't sound right, or did you mean that if you placed another NON fender neck on a fender that is breaks the warranty? I swapped pickups on my Tele too lol, those pickups alone has warranty! Also changing the pots to 500K on the MiM when i get them in the mail soon! All original parts. So fun question, will a stratocaster MiM Neck fit the Squier if i wanted to do something crazy like that ( NO I am not going to do that, i actually love the shape of Telecaster head ) BUT I do have a cheap "LA" gear4music guitar that i bought for 130 dollars, it has similar shape to a Fender Strat, and already placed the MiM strat pickups on it lol! Guessing I will have to sand and work on the MiM neck in order to make it fit, because putting the MiM Pao Ferro neck on that cheap gear4music guitar is something I am considering, but is there a chance that this can fit without too much work? ( not that i mind the work but less work means quicker swap ) Now do i care if that cheap guitar looses the warranty? not at all! lol Do i think swapping from a MiM Pao Ferro neck to a Fender American Professional II Scalloped Stratocaster Neck, Rosewood will break the warranty, no sir i don't believe in that, and I also believe that the US neck comes with warranty, am I correct or wrong? Or is it only if you mix brands? Does swapping pots and pickups break the warranty? When I build my computer, every single part in my computer has its own warranty, I would think it would be the same on guitars when modding it, because I don't have Fender pickups, i run Seymore Duncan and DiMarzio pickups :)
I was considering replacing the neck on my '96 USA Standard Strat as I find the neck too thin for me but after watching this I guess an inexpensive neck would be problematic so maybe Ill just look at a trade in for a Strat with a fatter neck, thanks. Also does a reverse headstock on a strat make string bending easier or harder? Cheers.
I was wanting to do a neck swap on a couple harley benton guitars because I'm a lefty and looking for a raw maple finish with reverse headstock.. It's like Bigfoot, so I then must create my own mythical creature.
Very informative Chris. I live in the US and took the Harley Benton challenge- my ST came in pretty good shape but NOT the frets! They are heavily Unleveled. I know this is a really affordable instrument but the Leveling quotes Ive gotten are as expensive as buying a whole new ST 62. The body and neck are very nice but these frets ugh😑👎🏻. I would have glady paid a bit more to have nice frets. Im guessing this video basically states I should NOT buy a replacement for it. Im glad you put this out!
Plus one on first comment. You can learn to do it. You will have to learn to level, then re-crown the frets but it's not rocket science if you're handy and have a leveling file, and a crowning file.
I’ve change my strat neck and the neck pocket was way more deeper and wider than the neck heel. I have to properly aligned it before screwing it and i also had to put shims
LOL.. I buy random guitar bodies and necks all the time. It's super complicated fitting the necks. Re-routing the neck pockets to fit with a custom jig if the neck is bigger. Layering in super thin wood veneer slices with glue until it fits perfect then sanding and refinishing until it fits a neck that's too small.. Or worst case... Rerouting a square. Gluing in a full piece of wood into the neck pocket.. (So it's now part of the body).. and re-doing the entire neck pocket into the new piece of wood glued in where the pocket used to be. If the neck is swimming from being WAY too small. Re-doing the center line.. and maybe.. Re-doing a bridge now to wide. All of it... A super pain in the ass.
I have a Washburn N2 with broken neck. I searched for Identical replacement and I found a neck from the same model but different year. The fretboard is higher so I had to rise the Floyd post and now it looks too high (the floyd rose). this video helped me to understand what is going on.
Love your Channel, what would you suggest for putting a Tele neck on a Strat (both Fenders). Would you route the neck pocket out or, reshape the heel of the Tele neck to match the body? I do have a Fender speck Template for the neck pockets.
another really cool guitar tech tips video thanks for sharing :D have You ever tried fitting a 28 inch neck on a conventional jaguar body (24 inch)? I´m wondering how much modding one has to do to make it work.
Hey great video. thanks for sharing. I have a question for you. I have some 21 fret squiers. Is it possible installing a 22 fret neck and have no intonation problems? Greetings from Colombia.
I just wanted to install a Floyd Rose to my first guitar (2004 Squier Affinity) I thought replacing the neck with with a Fender one with the locking piece space but I guess the don't sell those... Any ways, I might get a reverse headstock with the locking system from other brand and just print the Squier logo on a water decal. Thanks for the info, cheers.
Hi thank you so much for this video, excelent Job. I Start a project with a Squire Classic Vibe 60's, the truth is that, since I bought it I loved it just as it comes from the factory. However, I continued with my project and changed the entire pickguard for a pre-wired Shawbucker HSS fender, and changed the bridge for a wide tailstock fender. My question is: do you think that the original Fender American 60¨s neck fit in to that Squire? thnak you so much, again.
If you dont know how to set up a neck it WILL need setup when you swap necks or else it will buzz like crazy. Cheapest neck setup ive seen is $40 professionally. You can screw it on yourself to save a little money then take it to store to set up neck correctly. Not a bad price for a needed upgrade.
How do you know if shimming is needed? To give me question context, many years ago I converted an Ibanez bass to left hand (these used to be quite rare). I built a mirror image body to the original and used the original neck. I tried my best to keep everything the same, but with the tools I had I'm not sure how close I got. I haven't played in a couple of decades, looking to pick it back up again and want to make sure I start with a properly set up instrument.should the fretboard be perfectly coplanar to the body? How far should the strings be from the last fret?
Kris , my Neck has Arthritis is it worth trying to change it or should I just put up with the twist and be warped as normal ? I have no truss rod !! My pocket is also empty ! Sorry man couldn’t resist being daft!
I have a personal project, I bought a mexican strat many years ago, I changed the pickups, bridge, frets, etc, but the guitar still feels stiff. I thought that changing the neck would resolve this problem, but now I realized that I'm done. What can I do? It's a mexican strat HSS with a radius of 9.5"
Man you just told me in a short little video what I've been trying to figure out for months. I have a dime Dean and I've been wondering if the fretboard is supposed to be flush with the body because right now it's about 1 mm off so no I'm going to have to sand it down . The only good thing about this is the fretboard is maple colored and the neck is a a lighter color so I can see exactly how much I have to sand . I'm not too worried about messing it up I paid $50 for it it's not a real Dean from hell but I'm trying to fix it up little by little the longer I own it . I have to put a tremolo on it and move the input jack to the front of the guitar. I don't think there's any way to move the switch to the top of the guitar where it originally should be because right now it's at the bottom I'm not really sure how you would do that without carving up the guitar .but anyways you've answered the question I've been wanting to know I really appreciate it 🤘🏻
Good thing I watched this first before doing something I regret. I wanted to revive my first les paul-type guitar, but it's a lot cheaper to buy a new one. Oh well, I'm just going to hang the body on my wall for aesthetics.
What about removing and reinstalling the same neck on the same guitar? Should I expect any surprises? I'm moving countries and I want to pull apart a few guitars for shipping in the boxes provided by the moving company.
Kris...I bought a mitey mite 22 fret neck to put on my mij strat ...uhh, yea...that didn’t work...the neck pocket was too large side to side...the neck literally wiggled in the pocket...now I have a neck sitting in the closet...good times!!!!
Yeah, my bs alarm was going off there. Show me a blind test of 10 guitars where you shim the neck with business cards on an unspecified number of them, and have this guy sit blindfolded and listen to someone else playing them. And them have him pick them out. That would be a spectacle.
Hellow very valious information... Can you explain the angle for a stratocaster neck, and the shims you can use to eliminate problema modifying this angle too... Thanks
Thanks man, I'm putting a BexGears Electric Guitar Neck Maple 22 Fret Bolt On neck on an OLD Mark2 Guitar and new loaded pickguard, I thought it would be pretty easy...after watching your video now I'm concerned...lol Ill let ya know how it turns out... Thanks again!
Very interesting ! Don't know why , i bought a Mexican custom shop design Stat V neck as spare years ago . On the side of pocket, the neck is so thick that i must leave the 2 points trem totally floating, the saddles are at the higher point and if i lower the bridge the strings touch the neck. It's impossible to lower the bridge flush to the body. You can only block it with pieces of wood in the springs cavity. All is original, i bought it like that and didn't saw the problem to come because i like this neck. Don't know if it's a special feature for a really floating trem ??? By chance it stays perfectly in tune.
Guitar from the early 80’s, heavily played dents and dings in what’s left of the frets… refret or new neck?? Is it more cost effective to have a new neck installed or just have a refret? This was my main guitar for 15 years now it just hangs there’s all sad and in need of some TLC. (83 Yamaha SE300h for reference)
Will dressing the frets help? And is there a good luthier in your area? The luthier in our area retired, and it's a long drive to get to another one. Good luck either way. 🤘😎
Yea I got one a few km away, I’m probably gonna let him have his way with it and just refret what’s needed. She got me through some tough times she’s worth it.
Hi! I just installed an after-market 22 frets guitar neck on my strat. The issue I'm having is the tune of the strings is not on point to its note. Example, the lower E becomes an A when I tune it using the tuner. Then, the A becomes a B and so on. What could be the issue? Im thinking that maybe I bought a knock off strings at amazon or its the neck or how I installed it. I'd appreciate all the tips and help I can get. Thank you
I have an uncle who bought a Squier starcaster semihollow, he doesn't like the headstock, he wants to change it for an Epiphone bolt on neck, do you think it would be possible?
Kris i play with a light touch and don’t see much tuning issue with my guitar. When people have tuning issues with cheaper guitars is it possible they are playing too hard?
That and a lot of cost-cutting in materials and design. The first "new" guitar I had good pickups, but a badly designed bridge. (It was a budget line.)
i play really hard with a dunlop 3mm big stubby i think it´s called. i have no tuning issues. i don´t recommend hard playing though. if you have tuning problems it´s friction in the nut slots most likely. if you pluck really hard it slightly raises the pitch of the string in the very first moment but it doesn´t lead to a out of tune impression. pencil led reduces friction in the slots. that´s the way to go. it fixes tuning issues even on les paul g strings in 99 times out of a 100.
I disagree on not being able to drill straight holes by hand, I can do it with no issues. I do have a drill press but I find it quicker to do it by hand. I do have plenty of experience though, my uncles were carpenters and always gave me scraps to practice on.
resale value? WHO sells their fully modded guitar ever? 😀 I don't think the resale value on my MiM have dropped with the alterations I have done, and I am waiting for the Fender American Professional II Scalloped Stratocaster Neck, Rosewood to arrive in mid september, and the 500K pots and the last DiMarzio pickup is on its way... So you're telling me the value will drop when i'm done alternating it? Its a 2023 Fender Players Series, I already swapped the tuners to Fender locking tuners, the pickguard it came with was dented when i bought it, so Fender sent me a new one, that i replaced! I swapped the bridge pickup to a Seymore Duncan SHR-1B ( hot rails ) I swapped the neck pickup with DiMarzio Air Norton S. I ordered 3 Fender Volume/tone 500K pots split axel, have a DiMarzio Pro Track on the way that will go in the mid position, and ordered the Fender American Professional II Scalloped Stratocaster Neck, Rosewood that gets shipped from US and will come in mid of september. I've set it up with .08 gauge and intonated it, and you tell me this will/has lowered the value of my guitar rather than rising it? The scalloped Fender neck cost almost as much as the guitar it self cost me and the neck also has it's own warranty. Its like a Fender Custom guitar and that would rise the price not lower it or am i totally in the wrong? I thought about swapping the tremolo bridge to a US tremolo bridge, but not sure if there is a point in doing that as the tremolo bridge that came with the MiM probably is just as good as a US made so it would just be a waste of money am i right OR would you recommend a swap of the tremolo bridge and if so why? Long comment no. 2 hope you don't mind. For the mods on my Squier Aff Telecaster 2024 that i have done and whats left to do, I don't care if it looses warranty or value, but i do think for my self that it will be worth more when i replace the Squier neck with a US telecaster Neck even if i have to alternate and adjust a bit to make the fit, will probably be the fittings that are off on the Squier just as the tuners on the Squier had holes that was off from the original Fender tuner that i put on, and i guess the warranty has failed on that guitar already since i drilled new holes and put the MiM Fender tuners on it when i put locking tuners on the MiM strat hehe!
At music go round sadly I often find used modded instruments. Got a MIM Strat loaded with Seymour Duncan single coil humbuckers. For 450. Has a fret job, with rolled edges. I often see ppl in there under hard times desperately trading in instruments for cash.
@@ReviewCart69 that's super sad to hear! I rather starve than selling my guitars. My Strat is a MiM, has a Seymore Duncan hot rails bridge pickup, a DiMarzio Air Norton S neck pickup,, has Fender locking tuners, next week I'll put in 500K pots, and a DiMarzio Pro Track in the mid position, and ordered a Fender Prosessional II scalloped neck in Rosewood with narrow tall frets that are rolled, only the body, pickup switch and the tremolo bridge that is MiM, even the pick guard is US made that fender issued me because the one it came with bulked out on two places. so it's almost more US than MiM. I plan to buy either a black pick guard US or a pearl white. was thinking about replacing the tremolo with the ones that comes with the professional II where the tremolo arm just pops in and out instead of having to screwing it in place. Not sure if the US professional II tremolo bridge is better than the MiM or if it's exactly the same only having the difference that you pop it in and out. because if they are of the same quality then it would be a waste of money replace it where the difference only is the pop in function. the pickup switch is of similar quality and would just give me extra work to replace for no reason, or so I was told. what's your opinion on the term and the switch quality of MiM and US version? the neck was very expensive.. it cost 810$ while the guitar it self i bought for 960$. it's the Seafoam green 2023. I would not sell it even if someone offered me 3000$ for it, total price with everything is 2550$ ish with shipping included. I also have a Squier affinity telecaster. Dimarzio chopper bridge pickup, and the MiM tuners from my Strat which I had to drill new holes to make em fit... going to change the bridge with US version which says fender and have the 3-point saddles and later I'm swapping the neck to a US fender telecaster neck that costs 610$ which is 200$ more than I payed for the guitar itself, that one also getting 500K pots and since that is my rhythm guitar I'm not having scalloped on that one. for the neck pickup I'll maybe go for DiMarzio Twang king or just be crazy and give it Seymore Duncan cool rails or their version or Twang, have not decided yet. it's butterscotch yellow ❤️ the MiM neck I'll place on a cheap gear4music guitar and buy fender locking tuners as well and have the MiM pickups, but not changing the pots on that since its just the "guest guitar" prolly buying a Fender backplate and a Fender tremolo bridge for that one and sadly both on that guitar and maybe even the Squier I have to make adjustments to make the necks fit, even tho it says that the Fender US tellie neck should fit right into the Squier I don't belive that lol. I know for a fact that the cheap gear4music guitar must have spacers to make the MiM pao ferro neck fit, maybe also have to do some sanding, I'll be very surprised if it doesn't. which MiM do you have year and color?
I’d love to swap out my MIM tele for a rosewood but I tried swapping out a bass neck years ago and the sizes of the bass body and new neck was astonishingly off…not even close.
Yes, that's the problem most of the time. The model of the original guitar and the model of the replacement neck has to fit (Mexico Standard model will not fit a Mexican made 60's style vintage neck) and then on top of it you also have to be lucky that you don't face production inconsistencies. //Kris
Hey Kris, great video. I have a question: There are in the market a lot of branded and unbranded necks. In 4:26 you fill the gap with a piece of wood between the bottom of the neck and the guitar body. What happens if any gap appears alongside the low frets (the neck's length is smaller)? The same piece of wood is enough to make the guitar playable?
Do you mean a gap between the new neck and the side of the neck pocket? If that's the case, the new neck is narrower than the old one. If you're lucky, the two E strings will still run OVER the fretboard instead of being too close to the fretboard edge. That can't be fixed with shims unfortunately, so it's a matter of luck. Intonation and string height always needs to be adjusted anyhow when swapping necks. //Kris
I built a Strat style guitar using a Warmouth neck and body. The high e string was a little too close to the edge. After years of playing it that way I ran across a CZcams video that showed how to fix it. Loosen the neck screws a bit, pull up (toward the top edge, not the face of the guitar) and while maintaining the pressure, tighten the screws. Worked great and has not not moved.
I am having trouble fitting a Squire Strat neck of unknown origin to a fairly new Squire Affinity Stratocaster. I need to raise the bridge .205". How much would I need to Plane off of the neck, the same .205" or less?
What about ibanez aanj neck? Ibanez doesn't make any replacement neck like fender does and the neck joint is totally different than any other brand. You guys think that a custom neck is the only solution for swapping neck on an ibanez guitar?
If you ever needed an Ibanez replacement neck, you should contact Ibanez directly or the shop you bought the guitar, so that they can ask Ibanez for you. I'm not saying it's super safe that they can help you with a new neck, but I could imagine it's an option. It of course also depends on the model and the age of the guitar if they can find a fitting replacement neck. Cheers //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses thanks Kris for the reply. I was also considering buying a used ibanez guitar that could possibly have a compatible neck to load on mine, I love my guitar and also made a lot of upgrades to fit my needs, so it could be an option. Keep doing this sort of videos, these are a good entertainment for the guitar community!!!!
So to anyone that could answer I have a MIM Fender Player Strat and I was thinking about swapping the neck to a Fender American Professional II scalloped neck, would this work and is it a bad idea? Basically swapping a Mexican Strat neck to a U.S. one
I have a Squire Classic Vibe 50's P-Bass, and the truss rod got striped form me trying to find the right allan wrench. And the neck I'm getting for it is a Fender made neck and it says on the website "This neck is made for Fender and Squire by Fender instruments.". does this mean it will just go in with any problem or will I have to do some work to get it in?
The most important thing when you change the neck of the guitar is that is extremely difficult to find the tonally correct neck tha matches the body! All the other problems are fixxable!
I have a originals 50’s telecaster from 2014 u neck 7.25 radius want to try out a soft v neck , I’ve seen the made in Mexico vinteras have the soft v 7.25 and the custom shop some of them have them too the price difference is huge from $399 to $1300. The question is would any of these fit my guitar without much work??
I have a Harley benton telecaster, its lovely to play but never stays in tune, would like to replace the machine heads for locking type ones, any chance you could do a video on this.....cheers.
Before you change tuners, check the nut. If its plastic, get a tusq nut. Best investment you can make….also, stretch the string …take 10 minutes and make sure all slack is out of strings…
How much of this vid applies to an even neck swap? Like I’m trying to change out the player plus neck pau ferro out for the same fender replacement part but for the maple finish. It would require me to file down the nut at least but I don’t know what else to expect.
That's definitely the best case, you should be fine. If you're lucky you only have to fine tune the nut. That is, if the neck pockets of the two necks are identical (tolerances always play a big role in these swaps and there's no 100% guarantee unfortunately). Cheers //Kris
Hey, those won't fit without modification. That's what I was showing with the calliper around 2:15. You need to sand the neck to fit in the neck pocket and the screws are all "wrong" too. Cheers //Kris
Swapping necks on a set-in neck (glued neck) is a huge hassle, very expensive and definitely should be done by a guitar luthier. It's really not worth the trouble. The safest thing to do would be getting an other guitar, if you don't like the neck on the Starla. You could also go to a tech and let them make the neck profile thinner. That could solve the problem too. The downsides of that are obvious: 1. they have to remove the finish on the backside of the neck in order to make it thinner. 2. The value of the guitar will drop radically. Cheers //Kris
This was a very well edited/paced video. You covered so much in such a small window of time, and none of it was wasted. This should help me a lot in my first neck swapping project!
A tuner replacement video would be a cool idea. You need a good tapered reamer and possibly some drill templates for adding kluson locking tuners.
when people say "it's a bolt on so you can replace the neck if it breaks" make it seem so easy, like it just a matter of screwing 4 screws, while it's almost as hard as gluing a broken neck if you can't find a perfect fit
@Pujan Dewan it depends on how it is broken. i mean, if they can manage to repair gibson heastocks, everything is possible
Stick with Fender and it's easy. Also reputable makers such as Warmoth can sell you necks (and bodies) which follow the Fender specs.
@@jjjddd231 so a fender neck should fit a squier? Strat I mean
Got linked this vid after asking the Thomann guitar department about a potential neck swap of a Fender MiM neck onto a Squier Telecaster body. Decided to roll the dice anyway, and boy did I luck out. The Fender Roasted Maple Telecaster neck (22 frets) fits perfectly in the pocket of my Squier Cabronita Thinline Tele. Now to take care of that unfiled nut, right now the action is about that of a slide guitar.
Hes right folks pay close attention to what he said ,I have a kramer striker I bought a neck from Amazon once because my original neck was unplayable, when I got the new neck I had to sand measure sand measure and sand again and again while checking the fit between sandings ,even if the neck is just 2mm off from fitting if you sand one side of the neck more than the other it wont go in the neck pocket properly it will be cock eyed so to speak which now you have a string spacing issue ,you have to do all these things and then double check your work it may take a few mins to a few hrs to get this right,the thing that's important is take your time and check the fit and make sure it goes in the neck pocket right if it's off by 1mm the more it will off near the 3rd 4th even 1st fret at those frets it could be off triple that number, it's a very tedious thing to do I've been through it but by taking my time I got my new neck to work it took more than a few hrs roughly 2 days and it was good, word of advice if you dont need to change the neck on your guitar dont because its alot of work,great video
Fender sells their replacement necks with these ma-hoooo-sive nuts.
I'm not too shabby when it comes to guitar setup but this is one nut I don't want to bust 😉
So I took it to a shop when I replaced the neck on my Tele recently
I bought a maple 'Tele neck from a Chinese company. It fitted perfectly ! I had to bore the 4 screw holes in it & I was careful to measure it exactly. The playability was excellent. It takes 2 people to do this job.
I was well pleased with the result.
Hey Kris, you are right about pointing out the difficulties and problems that might occur while swapping necks. My main Tele has had 6 neck changes until I've found the right one. I can't play thin necks and I dont like baseball bat-types either. From my experience, I'd say you can't go wrong if you choose either Fender originals, or mainstream brands like Warmoth or Musikraft. Beware with Asian made bodies, as the specs are different from the US made and will need adaptation for most. Other than that, it's a bit of a lottery. I am very happy with a neck I purchased in UK from NorthWest guitars, to mount on an homage Blackguard of the Jeff Beck Esquire/Tele I have assembled recently. Maple semi-satin finish, just the right depth and profile for my hand: vintage nitro tint, 12 '' radius, medium jumbo frets, C .83 / .92 profile, (similar to Custom Shop CS-1 dimensions), 42.8mm bone nut, top trussrod adjustment , which avoids disassembling the neck each time. VERY comfy ! The choice of woods, fret type, carve are very important: try a lot before you order. Cheers Kris !
I watch your videos everyday and always appreciate your killer playing at the end!
As I recently shimmed a Squier Bullet SSS HT. It originally had a piece of paper taped at the butt of the neck pocket. The material of the shim really doesn't matter. I used the backing of a hardwood flooring sample made of plastic. And I put that on top of the taped piece of paper. No change in sustain. It makes sense to have as much contact of the heel & neck pocket and the harder the material for a transfer of vibration the better. I think you could spread aluminum foil or even copper shielding tape and it would be hard enough to transfer vibrations for sustain, probably better than wood on wood contact, metal is harder than wood. The plastic shim was flat, as the neck pocket & neck angle were fine from the tape shim that was already installed by Squier. 10-12 seconds of sustain is overkill and even the cheapest guitar gets that, shimmed or not. My guitar is Baltic Blue, used black plastic because it closely matched the body color. I thought about using wood, but it would not match the tinted gloss polyurethane of the maple of the neck. It's visible,but you have to make an effort to see it. Plays infinitely better from a perspective of action height. sustain, that's debatable whether there is any difference. Tone, I think it's actually better, raising the fretboard at the heel required raising the pickups. But my saddles are properly leveled when they were slammed before to the bridge plate. Who knows if that's even the original neck ? It was 14 years old when I bought it.
Good to know! I was toying with the idea to replace a vintage style neck on a Mexican Jazzmaster with a modern Fender US neck. Thought this would be a piece of cake, but I should probably do more research first.
That outro!!! 🤟 Was not expecting that 😀
I had a body with an angled neck pocket. So I routed it straight and filled it in with some scrap wood. The new neck fits great and the vibration transference is unreal! I really lucked out
I had occasion to try a neck swap earlier this year. Thanks to you, I now know that I did the right thing to stop the instant I realized I was having problems. Had I continued, I would certainly have damaged something. As it was, I was concerned that I had. Everything seems fine, though. I was right to abort because I have none of the tools needed to do this job right. Thank you for the confirmation.
That's great to hear! Yeah, usually a neck swap requires some modification and it's best having tools for that. Been there, done that, haha! Without knowing how to fix incompatibility and having the right tools, it's gonna be a mess. Cheers //Kris
In the old days... I used to try and nullify (as much as possible), the distance from the strings to the pole pieces. I would try and match the pickup hight and the sideways offset of the low and high E to the pole pieces. It usually ment lowering the pickup a little. My idea was to make all the strings (about) the same distance away from the screws. THIS was waaay back when i used to worry about suck issues. Lol😊
Vielen Dank, ich habe mir das Video nach der Hälfte meiner Reparatur angesehen und bin genau auf diese Probleme gestoßen wollte auch den Hals nicht berühren und habe dann den kompletten Schuh aus gehobelt mit einem Stecheisen, und sehe hier, dass ich alles richtig gemacht habe, und werde Ihre weiteren Tipps beherzigen. Ich hoffe, Sie können das übersetzen und ich freue mich, dass sie dieses Video gemacht haben. Vielen Dank
I have a 23 yr old Fender Starcaster. Not surprisingly, Fender necks don’t fit because of the lack of “lip” at the bottom of a stock neck. It’s far easier to fully rework the original than to mess with a newer neck. Hey I only paid 100.00 US for it so the work is just a labor of love. The frets, after a bit of careful work, are just as good as my new American Professional II. I’m putting a stick MIM loaded pickguard on it. All my other Strats have AM pickups so, it will be a nice sonic difference. Also…surprisingly, this OLD Starcaster ( Strat shape ) has a one piece body! I’ll sand it down and give it a clear-coat as any good hunk of woods hold be clear😉
I put American necks on Classic Vibe bodies, and an Affinity neck on a CV body. The neck pockets were a bit different so I had to get some block saddles to get a bit more height, but otherwise good.
Oh, I used to have a schecter with replaced neck. And it was impossible to set it's scale length. It was 650mm in the shortest 6th string saddle position. The bridge sits with an angle, so 6th string was almost unplayable, 5 - badly playable and others were ok. Never gonna get an used guitar with replaced neck again
Thanks again, Kris! Great tips as always. Please do the episode on tuners!
The reverse headstock on this strat looks awesome!!
Reverse? That’s a left-handed guitar neck on a right handed guitar body.
@@joshuaervin2574 so it's reverse headstock. lol
Hey Kris, awesome sound on that strat man :O I love that gritty sparkly dirty tone! You get it on every guitar. Is that the Revvv?
Hey man, thanks so much! It's a mixture of guitar, overdrive pedal and amp. There's a reason for always using the same few OD pedals (Honey Bee Double Trouble, Kasleder Toxic Twins, Carl Martin Panama, Wampler Pantheon). These will give me that gritty, sparkly, yet balanced and full "amp like" overdrive. And the Revv D20 is just the best amp I've found for pedals that doesn't cost multiple thousands of euros. Plus it has the loadbox with the cab simulation, which is something I use a lot here in this series. The Yamaha is only there for monitoring the tone. :) Cheers //Kris
Hear me out @ThomannsGuitarsBasses I bought a Fender American Professional II Scalloped Stratocaster Neck, Rosewood, and it says it will fit perfectly on my Fender mexican Stratocaster.
I have for the future plan to put a telecaster neck on my Squier Affinity Telecaster, I guess that would need adjustments and wont fit right on the Squier body? Almost asking rhetorical because when I swapped the MiM Strat tuners to locking tuners, it went smooth... when I placed the MiM tuners on my Squier Affinity Telecaster, I had to drill new plugholes as the measurement of the holes that was on the Squier was off, I hand drilled and made it work.. So guessing that I would have to sand and maybe even drill new holes on the Fender Telecaster neck if i want to swap from the Squier neck? Are you also saying i'm loosing warranty on my MiM Stratocaster the moment I swap the neck to another Fender neck? That doesn't sound right, or did you mean that if you placed another NON fender neck on a fender that is breaks the warranty?
I swapped pickups on my Tele too lol, those pickups alone has warranty! Also changing the pots to 500K on the MiM when i get them in the mail soon! All original parts.
So fun question, will a stratocaster MiM Neck fit the Squier if i wanted to do something crazy like that ( NO I am not going to do that, i actually love the shape of Telecaster head )
BUT I do have a cheap "LA" gear4music guitar that i bought for 130 dollars, it has similar shape to a Fender Strat, and already placed the MiM strat pickups on it lol! Guessing I will have to sand and work on the MiM neck in order to make it fit, because putting the MiM Pao Ferro neck on that cheap gear4music guitar is something I am considering, but is there a chance that this can fit without too much work? ( not that i mind the work but less work means quicker swap ) Now do i care if that cheap guitar looses the warranty? not at all! lol Do i think swapping from a MiM Pao Ferro neck to a Fender American Professional II Scalloped Stratocaster Neck, Rosewood will break the warranty, no sir i don't believe in that, and I also believe that the US neck comes with warranty, am I correct or wrong? Or is it only if you mix brands? Does swapping pots and pickups break the warranty? When I build my computer, every single part in my computer has its own warranty, I would think it would be the same on guitars when modding it, because I don't have Fender pickups, i run Seymore Duncan and DiMarzio pickups :)
Really interesting info ! Which radius and neck shape you prefer on a Fender Stratocaster?
That Strat looks cool with the headstock upside-down!
I was considering replacing the neck on my '96 USA Standard Strat as I find the neck too thin for me but after watching this I guess an inexpensive neck would be problematic so maybe Ill just look at a trade in for a Strat with a fatter neck, thanks.
Also does a reverse headstock on a strat make string bending easier or harder? Cheers.
Very informative, and straight to the point. Thank you.
I was wanting to do a neck swap on a couple harley benton guitars because I'm a lefty and looking for a raw maple finish with reverse headstock.. It's like Bigfoot, so I then must create my own mythical creature.
Very informative Chris. I live in the US and took the Harley Benton challenge- my ST came in pretty good shape but NOT the frets! They are heavily Unleveled. I know this is a really affordable instrument but the Leveling quotes Ive gotten are as expensive as buying a whole new ST 62. The body and neck are very nice but these frets ugh😑👎🏻. I would have glady paid a bit more to have nice frets. Im guessing this video basically states I should NOT buy a replacement for it. Im glad you put this out!
Have a bash at sorting it yourself,l have done it to a couple of h.b guitars,wouldn't try it on a Gibson tho.
Plus one on first comment. You can learn to do it. You will have to learn to level, then re-crown the frets but it's not rocket science if you're handy and have a leveling file, and a crowning file.
I’ve change my strat neck and the neck pocket was way more deeper and wider than the neck heel. I have to properly aligned it before screwing it and i also had to put shims
I was lucky, my old japanese fender strat neck fitted perfectly on a squier classic vibe 50s strat :) metric Vs metric I presume.
Exactly! These things happen sometimes, especially if we're talking about two metric instruments. Cheers! //Kris
I would love to place an ibanez style neck on my HB tele...this video just showed me that it is better to ask a specialist to do this
Loved the ending of the video where he growls!
LOL.. I buy random guitar bodies and necks all the time. It's super complicated fitting the necks. Re-routing the neck pockets to fit with a custom jig if the neck is bigger.
Layering in super thin wood veneer slices with glue until it fits perfect then sanding and refinishing until it fits a neck that's too small..
Or worst case... Rerouting a square. Gluing in a full piece of wood into the neck pocket.. (So it's now part of the body).. and re-doing the entire neck pocket into the new piece of wood glued in where the pocket used to be. If the neck is swimming from being WAY too small.
Re-doing the center line.. and maybe.. Re-doing a bridge now to wide.
All of it... A super pain in the ass.
Stop.
I have a Washburn N2 with broken neck. I searched for Identical replacement and I found a neck from the same model but different year. The fretboard is higher so I had to rise the Floyd post and now it looks too high (the floyd rose). this video helped me to understand what is going on.
Love your Channel, what would you suggest for putting a Tele neck on a Strat (both Fenders). Would you route the neck pocket out or, reshape the heel of the Tele neck to match the body? I do have a Fender speck Template for the neck pockets.
another really cool guitar tech tips video thanks for sharing :D have You ever tried fitting a 28 inch neck on a conventional jaguar body (24 inch)? I´m wondering how much modding one has to do to make it work.
Great lesson, my friend!! Cheers! 🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻
Good video and playing. Thanks take care.
The subscribe button actually glows when you said it! 😮 Omg!
Such a great video. Thank you very much!
Nice tutorial!
I just swapped out an old Squier Tele custom neck with a new mighty mite Tele neck. No issues at all!
A tuner swap video will be great as it is something I want to do on a couple of guitars
Hey great video. thanks for sharing. I have a question for you. I have some 21 fret squiers. Is it possible installing a 22 fret neck and have no intonation problems? Greetings from Colombia.
Better late than never! I've ruined a few cheap guitars learning these invaluable lessons!
I just wanted to install a Floyd Rose to my first guitar (2004 Squier Affinity) I thought replacing the neck with with a Fender one with the locking piece space but I guess the don't sell those... Any ways, I might get a reverse headstock with the locking system from other brand and just print the Squier logo on a water decal. Thanks for the info, cheers.
Hi thank you so much for this video, excelent Job. I Start a project with a Squire Classic Vibe 60's, the truth is that, since I bought it I loved it just as it comes from the factory. However, I continued with my project and changed the entire pickguard for a pre-wired Shawbucker HSS fender, and changed the bridge for a wide tailstock fender. My question is: do you think that the original Fender American 60¨s neck fit in to that Squire? thnak you so much, again.
I might have missed it, but if the new neck has a different fretboard radius, you'll need to adjust your bridge. Not that hard, but just a reminder.
Do you mean like a number of frets? Cause the neck I have now has 20 frets and the neck I'm looking at has 24 frets
If you dont know how to set up a neck it WILL need setup when you swap necks or else it will buzz like crazy. Cheapest neck setup ive seen is $40 professionally. You can screw it on yourself to save a little money then take it to store to set up neck correctly. Not a bad price for a needed upgrade.
Yes, indeed! A new neck will need a complete setup. Neck relief, nut, bridge saddles. All of that. Thanks for the comment Nathan! //Kris
How do you know if shimming is needed? To give me question context, many years ago I converted an Ibanez bass to left hand (these used to be quite rare). I built a mirror image body to the original and used the original neck. I tried my best to keep everything the same, but with the tools I had I'm not sure how close I got. I haven't played in a couple of decades, looking to pick it back up again and want to make sure I start with a properly set up instrument.should the fretboard be perfectly coplanar to the body? How far should the strings be from the last fret?
Kris ,
my Neck has Arthritis is it worth trying to change it or should I just put up with the twist and be warped as normal ?
I have no truss rod !!
My pocket is also empty !
Sorry man couldn’t resist being daft!
🤣
Age warps us all, brother.
Keep Rockin'
🤘😎
@@eddierayvanlynch6133 just tried my old 1983 Morris guitar through my kemper messaboogie mk4
I will keep on rocking with that!
I have a personal project, I bought a mexican strat many years ago, I changed the pickups, bridge, frets, etc, but the guitar still feels stiff. I thought that changing the neck would resolve this problem, but now I realized that I'm done. What can I do? It's a mexican strat HSS with a radius of 9.5"
Man you just told me in a short little video what I've been trying to figure out for months. I have a dime Dean and I've been wondering if the fretboard is supposed to be flush with the body because right now it's about 1 mm off so no I'm going to have to sand it down . The only good thing about this is the fretboard is maple colored and the neck is a a lighter color so I can see exactly how much I have to sand . I'm not too worried about messing it up I paid $50 for it it's not a real Dean from hell but I'm trying to fix it up little by little the longer I own it . I have to put a tremolo on it and move the input jack to the front of the guitar. I don't think there's any way to move the switch to the top of the guitar where it originally should be because right now it's at the bottom I'm not really sure how you would do that without carving up the guitar .but anyways you've answered the question I've been wanting to know I really appreciate it 🤘🏻
Good thing I watched this first before doing something I regret.
I wanted to revive my first les paul-type guitar, but it's a lot cheaper to buy a new one.
Oh well, I'm just going to hang the body on my wall for aesthetics.
What about removing and reinstalling the same neck on the same guitar? Should I expect any surprises? I'm moving countries and I want to pull apart a few guitars for shipping in the boxes provided by the moving company.
Kris...I bought a mitey mite 22 fret neck to put on my mij strat ...uhh, yea...that didn’t work...the neck pocket was too large side to side...the neck literally wiggled in the pocket...now I have a neck sitting in the closet...good times!!!!
Remember kids, only use tonewood shims! No playing cards or paper! 😉
Yeah, my bs alarm was going off there. Show me a blind test of 10 guitars where you shim the neck with business cards on an unspecified number of them, and have this guy sit blindfolded and listen to someone else playing them. And them have him pick them out. That would be a spectacle.
I m pretty sure he said hardwood, which makes sense, since paper and playing cards get compressed after a while.
Haha. I only shim my necks with kiln dried alder 😂😂
Ah, but have you heard the tone of a slice of matchbook cover flap?
I had to shim the hell out of a Charvel So Cal "partscaster". It came out pretty good once you know what you're doing with the shims.
Hellow very valious information... Can you explain the angle for a stratocaster neck, and the shims you can use to eliminate problema modifying this angle too... Thanks
Thanks man, I'm putting a BexGears Electric Guitar Neck Maple 22 Fret Bolt On neck on an OLD Mark2 Guitar and new loaded pickguard, I thought it would be pretty easy...after watching your video now I'm concerned...lol Ill let ya know how it turns out... Thanks again!
Go for it and good luck! //Kris
Very interesting ! Don't know why , i bought a Mexican custom shop design Stat V neck as spare years ago . On the side of pocket, the neck is so thick that i must leave the 2 points trem totally floating, the saddles are at the higher point and if i lower the bridge the strings touch the neck. It's impossible to lower the bridge flush to the body. You can only block it with pieces of wood in the springs cavity. All is original, i bought it like that and didn't saw the problem to come because i like this neck. Don't know if it's a special feature for a really floating trem ???
By chance it stays perfectly in tune.
Weird I recently just put my fender neck on my Squier, and install a mighty mite onto my Fender by drilling with a hand drill.
Did I do this wrong?
5:12 was that a tube screamer? klingt super!
Guitar from the early 80’s, heavily played dents and dings in what’s left of the frets… refret or new neck?? Is it more cost effective to have a new neck installed or just have a refret?
This was my main guitar for 15 years now it just hangs there’s all sad and in need of some TLC.
(83 Yamaha SE300h for reference)
Will dressing the frets help?
And is there a good luthier in your area? The luthier in our area retired, and it's a long drive to get to another one.
Good luck either way.
🤘😎
Yea I got one a few km away, I’m probably gonna let him have his way with it and just refret what’s needed. She got me through some tough times she’s worth it.
If your guitar is a Fender, do what Leo Fender intended and put a brand new neck on it.
I read from a good luthier that actually paper of cardboard are great too shum necks as share same molecular attributes as wood
Hi! I just installed an after-market 22 frets guitar neck on my strat. The issue I'm having is the tune of the strings is not on point to its note. Example, the lower E becomes an A when I tune it using the tuner. Then, the A becomes a B and so on. What could be the issue? Im thinking that maybe I bought a knock off strings at amazon or its the neck or how I installed it. I'd appreciate all the tips and help I can get.
Thank you
I have an uncle who bought a Squier starcaster semihollow, he doesn't like the headstock, he wants to change it for an Epiphone bolt on neck, do you think it would be possible?
Question Can you order a neck from the company? That is the brand of the guitar like Schecter?
Kris i play with a light touch and don’t see much tuning issue with my guitar. When people have tuning issues with cheaper guitars is it possible they are playing too hard?
That and a lot of cost-cutting in materials and design.
The first "new" guitar I had good pickups, but a badly designed bridge.
(It was a budget line.)
i play really hard with a dunlop 3mm big stubby i think it´s called.
i have no tuning issues. i don´t recommend hard playing though.
if you have tuning problems it´s friction in the nut slots most likely.
if you pluck really hard it slightly raises the pitch of the string in the very first moment but it doesn´t lead to a out of tune impression.
pencil led reduces friction in the slots. that´s the way to go. it fixes tuning issues even on les paul g strings in 99 times out of a 100.
I disagree on not being able to drill straight holes by hand, I can do it with no issues. I do have a drill press but I find it quicker to do it by hand. I do have plenty of experience though, my uncles were carpenters and always gave me scraps to practice on.
Fretless conversion on a bass and maybe applying ca glue if possible for the next vid
resale value? WHO sells their fully modded guitar ever? 😀 I don't think the resale value on my MiM have dropped with the alterations I have done, and I am waiting for the Fender American Professional II Scalloped Stratocaster Neck, Rosewood to arrive in mid september, and the 500K pots and the last DiMarzio pickup is on its way... So you're telling me the value will drop when i'm done alternating it?
Its a 2023 Fender Players Series, I already swapped the tuners to Fender locking tuners, the pickguard it came with was dented when i bought it, so Fender sent me a new one, that i replaced! I swapped the bridge pickup to a Seymore Duncan SHR-1B ( hot rails ) I swapped the neck pickup with DiMarzio Air Norton S. I ordered 3 Fender Volume/tone 500K pots split axel, have a DiMarzio Pro Track on the way that will go in the mid position, and ordered the Fender American Professional II Scalloped Stratocaster Neck, Rosewood that gets shipped from US and will come in mid of september.
I've set it up with .08 gauge and intonated it, and you tell me this will/has lowered the value of my guitar rather than rising it? The scalloped Fender neck cost almost as much as the guitar it self cost me and the neck also has it's own warranty. Its like a Fender Custom guitar and that would rise the price not lower it or am i totally in the wrong? I thought about swapping the tremolo bridge to a US tremolo bridge, but not sure if there is a point in doing that as the tremolo bridge that came with the MiM probably is just as good as a US made so it would just be a waste of money am i right OR would you recommend a swap of the tremolo bridge and if so why?
Long comment no. 2 hope you don't mind.
For the mods on my Squier Aff Telecaster 2024 that i have done and whats left to do, I don't care if it looses warranty or value, but i do think for my self that it will be worth more when i replace the Squier neck with a US telecaster Neck even if i have to alternate and adjust a bit to make the fit, will probably be the fittings that are off on the Squier just as the tuners on the Squier had holes that was off from the original Fender tuner that i put on, and i guess the warranty has failed on that guitar already since i drilled new holes and put the MiM Fender tuners on it when i put locking tuners on the MiM strat hehe!
At music go round sadly I often find used modded instruments. Got a MIM Strat loaded with Seymour Duncan single coil humbuckers. For 450. Has a fret job, with rolled edges. I often see ppl in there under hard times desperately trading in instruments for cash.
@@ReviewCart69 that's super sad to hear! I rather starve than selling my guitars. My Strat is a MiM, has a Seymore Duncan hot rails bridge pickup, a DiMarzio Air Norton S neck pickup,, has Fender locking tuners, next week I'll put in 500K pots, and a DiMarzio Pro Track in the mid position, and ordered a Fender Prosessional II scalloped neck in Rosewood with narrow tall frets that are rolled, only the body, pickup switch and the tremolo bridge that is MiM, even the pick guard is US made that fender issued me because the one it came with bulked out on two places. so it's almost more US than MiM. I plan to buy either a black pick guard US or a pearl white. was thinking about replacing the tremolo with the ones that comes with the professional II where the tremolo arm just pops in and out instead of having to screwing it in place. Not sure if the US professional II tremolo bridge is better than the MiM or if it's exactly the same only having the difference that you pop it in and out. because if they are of the same quality then it would be a waste of money replace it where the difference only is the pop in function. the pickup switch is of similar quality and would just give me extra work to replace for no reason, or so I was told. what's your opinion on the term and the switch quality of MiM and US version? the neck was very expensive.. it cost 810$ while the guitar it self i bought for 960$. it's the Seafoam green 2023. I would not sell it even if someone offered me 3000$ for it, total price with everything is 2550$ ish with shipping included.
I also have a Squier affinity telecaster. Dimarzio chopper bridge pickup, and the MiM tuners from my Strat which I had to drill new holes to make em fit... going to change the bridge with US version which says fender and have the 3-point saddles and later I'm swapping the neck to a US fender telecaster neck that costs 610$ which is 200$ more than I payed for the guitar itself, that one also getting 500K pots and since that is my rhythm guitar I'm not having scalloped on that one. for the neck pickup I'll maybe go for DiMarzio Twang king or just be crazy and give it Seymore Duncan cool rails or their version or Twang, have not decided yet. it's butterscotch yellow ❤️ the MiM neck I'll place on a cheap gear4music guitar and buy fender locking tuners as well and have the MiM pickups, but not changing the pots on that since its just the "guest guitar" prolly buying a Fender backplate and a Fender tremolo bridge for that one and sadly both on that guitar and maybe even the Squier I have to make adjustments to make the necks fit, even tho it says that the Fender US tellie neck should fit right into the Squier I don't belive that lol. I know for a fact that the cheap gear4music guitar must have spacers to make the MiM pao ferro neck fit, maybe also have to do some sanding, I'll be very surprised if it doesn't. which MiM do you have year and color?
@@ReviewCart69 realizing I already wrote most of this in my previous comment lol, sorry for re writing most of that
Kris, play death metal on your next demo (with vocals included please).
Kris-Metal would be awesome!!!
🤘😎
Haha! The growling was all me, the guys just put some music under it in the video edit. 😆So you want me to reveal the Death-Kris? haha //Kirs
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses Yes but the death metal riff must be played with your Telecaster, to show the people that single-coils can death metal too.
Now, i have a Tagima, i wanna chage it's neck for a Jackson with inverted headstock
I’d love to swap out my MIM tele for a rosewood but I tried swapping out a bass neck years ago and the sizes of the bass body and new neck was astonishingly off…not even close.
Yes, that's the problem most of the time. The model of the original guitar and the model of the replacement neck has to fit (Mexico Standard model will not fit a Mexican made 60's style vintage neck) and then on top of it you also have to be lucky that you don't face production inconsistencies. //Kris
First! Hi Thomann - Stay safe and thanks for the content.
You too, thanks buddy! //Kris
How to prevent guitar neck to be warped????? Any tips for both electric guitar and acoustic guitar
Cheap or Expensive, If the neck wasn’t built properly that’s just it.
Hey Kris, great video. I have a question: There are in the market a lot of branded and unbranded necks. In 4:26 you fill the gap with a piece of wood between the bottom of the neck and the guitar body. What happens if any gap appears alongside the low frets (the neck's length is smaller)? The same piece of wood is enough to make the guitar playable?
Do you mean a gap between the new neck and the side of the neck pocket? If that's the case, the new neck is narrower than the old one. If you're lucky, the two E strings will still run OVER the fretboard instead of being too close to the fretboard edge. That can't be fixed with shims unfortunately, so it's a matter of luck. Intonation and string height always needs to be adjusted anyhow when swapping necks. //Kris
I built a Strat style guitar using a Warmouth neck and body. The high e string was a little too close to the edge. After years of playing it that way I ran across a CZcams video that showed how to fix it. Loosen the neck screws a bit, pull up (toward the top edge, not the face of the guitar) and while maintaining the pressure, tighten the screws. Worked great and has not not moved.
I am having trouble fitting a Squire Strat neck of unknown origin to a fairly new Squire Affinity Stratocaster. I need to raise the bridge .205". How much would I need to Plane off of the neck, the same .205" or less?
Awesome........2thumbs up....
What about ibanez aanj neck? Ibanez doesn't make any replacement neck like fender does and the neck joint is totally different than any other brand. You guys think that a custom neck is the only solution for swapping neck on an ibanez guitar?
If you ever needed an Ibanez replacement neck, you should contact Ibanez directly or the shop you bought the guitar, so that they can ask Ibanez for you. I'm not saying it's super safe that they can help you with a new neck, but I could imagine it's an option. It of course also depends on the model and the age of the guitar if they can find a fitting replacement neck. Cheers //Kris
@@ThomannsGuitarsBasses thanks Kris for the reply. I was also considering buying a used ibanez guitar that could possibly have a compatible neck to load on mine, I love my guitar and also made a lot of upgrades to fit my needs, so it could be an option. Keep doing this sort of videos, these are a good entertainment for the guitar community!!!!
oh man, I was about to swap my TE-90FLT neck because it's a reverse headstock 😁😁😁
Swapping the neck or body always makes me feel it will kill the guitar's mojo. I'd rather find a new guitar should something happen.
People cried when the only luthier in our area retired for reasons like that.
And he was a great guy, too.
So to anyone that could answer I have a MIM Fender Player Strat and I was thinking about swapping the neck to a Fender American Professional II scalloped neck, would this work and is it a bad idea? Basically swapping a Mexican Strat neck to a U.S. one
Can i swap ibanez wizard III neck from diffrent models? Let say RG to FR or reverse? Both wizard III from same production years.
I have a Squire Classic Vibe 50's P-Bass, and the truss rod got striped form me trying to find the right allan wrench. And the neck I'm getting for it is a Fender made neck and it says on the website "This neck is made for Fender and Squire by Fender instruments.". does this mean it will just go in with any problem or will I have to do some work to get it in?
…and what about pickup poles alignement? You forgot to mention!!!
The most important thing when you change the neck of the guitar is that is extremely difficult to find the tonally correct neck tha matches the body! All the other problems are fixxable!
Can I swap a left handed neck of a ST Harley Benton with a right handed of the same model and same brand ?
Also, scale length is a thing.
I have a originals 50’s telecaster from 2014 u neck 7.25 radius want to try out a soft v neck , I’ve seen the made in Mexico vinteras have the soft v 7.25 and the custom shop some of them have them too the price difference is huge from $399 to $1300. The question is would any of these fit my guitar without much work??
Short answer is yes.
I have a Harley benton telecaster, its lovely to play but never stays in tune, would like to replace the machine heads for locking type ones, any chance you could do a video on this.....cheers.
Before you change tuners, check the nut. If its plastic, get a tusq nut. Best investment you can make….also, stretch the string …take 10 minutes and make sure all slack is out of strings…
How much of this vid applies to an even neck swap? Like I’m trying to change out the player plus neck pau ferro out for the same fender replacement part but for the maple finish. It would require me to file down the nut at least but I don’t know what else to expect.
That's definitely the best case, you should be fine. If you're lucky you only have to fine tune the nut. That is, if the neck pockets of the two necks are identical (tolerances always play a big role in these swaps and there's no 100% guarantee unfortunately). Cheers //Kris
Can i ask what year strat you'v got there?
Thanks Kris, after watching your video it has told me not to attempt to change the neck on my budget guitar.
does a jackson neck fit a les paul?
Would have been more fun if you tried to put a Fender neck on a Harley Benton or vice versa.
I'd like to see that. I'm thinking of putting a decent Fender neck onto the HB TE52 telecaster.
Hey, those won't fit without modification. That's what I was showing with the calliper around 2:15. You need to sand the neck to fit in the neck pocket and the screws are all "wrong" too. Cheers //Kris
What pickups did you have on that Strat?
Will a custom shop strat neck fit on a MM strat?
I’ve got a PRS Starla with a thick neck. What would you suggest I swap it out with, if anything.?
Swapping necks on a set-in neck (glued neck) is a huge hassle, very expensive and definitely should be done by a guitar luthier. It's really not worth the trouble. The safest thing to do would be getting an other guitar, if you don't like the neck on the Starla. You could also go to a tech and let them make the neck profile thinner. That could solve the problem too. The downsides of that are obvious: 1. they have to remove the finish on the backside of the neck in order to make it thinner. 2. The value of the guitar will drop radically.
Cheers //Kris