My baby is slowly passing away...

Manacles

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Im new here (first post) and i think my question doesnt really deserve a topic since the question i have has probably been answered about a thousand times before. I posted all this in another topic which was about a MIJ '57 RI aswell, but i think nobody noticed.

I have a Japanese '57 Vintage Reissue from either '90 or '91 (sn = K 002779). My father gave it to me when i was about 13 and it was my first real stratocaster. I still have that guitar 17 years later and it has become an extention of myself. I always seem to get back to that stratocaster for some reason. My father recently passed away so there is also an emotional tie to the guitar. The guitar was scalloped when i had it for a few months (yeah i know never should have done it but i was a malmsteen fan  :confused4: ) and the neck has started to cave in quite badly recently. Frets are very badly worn, then neck is starting to look like a rollercoaster track and a couple of fretmarkers have started to come loose.

I need a replacement for the 1 piece, 21 fret maple neck it has now. I recently got a classic 50's MiM (which i sold not long ago) and tried to fit the neck on the MIJ but it wouldnt fit very well. The curves of the neckpocket didnt quite match and the neck was a few milimeters too wide. Most Fender strats are supposed to match eachother according to Warmoth but that doesnt seem to apply to either my Japanese strat's neckpocket or to the MiM classic 50s neck. I have checked at a local Fender dealer for a replacement neck but they charge about 450 euro's for it, which i think is outrageous.

Can you guys please help me with 2 questions i have?

1. Will i be able to get a ''compatible'' neck from warmoth, i'm guessing the 21 to 22 fret conversion will not be much of a problem? (probably need to adjust some saddles right?)
2. Will swithcing from a 1 piece maple neck to a maple / rosewood neck have a lot of impact on the sound of the guitar? (the start has the 2 point fender trem with brushed saddles and a kinman K7 harnass with the blues set)
 
Measure your neck, in the warmoth website has the measure of theirs pockets... so in this way you will know if you can get it or no... if it doesn't match, go to a luthier, probably will be a pain in the arse to get one compatible...

Is what I believe is the best...
 
Yeah, man, Warmoth necks are supposed to fit "standard" Fender specs, but some of the offshore (ie, not made in USA) Fender products have some, let's just say quirks...Nononsense is right that the best possible solution is to measure what you have got there and compare it to this page from the Warmoth site

http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/necks.cfm?fuseaction=faq2


That way you will know for sure...I do wish you luck, I know what it's like to try to get an old clunker back up and running!
 
Hi Manacles
I have a MIJ Fender made in 1983, probably similar to yours.

My maple neck has very low frets, and is probably in need of refretting or a neck replacement, so I have had my eye on a Warmoth neck replacement for some time. Other projects have taken over tho, but soon I will take to refurbishing my Strat (love the pickups and the sound).

So please keep us posted on how your MIJ measured up to the Warmoth specs for their necks, I'm probably in the same boat as you.

Late edit: I've just noticed you've posted this Thread in the Galleries section of the Forum. Galleries is only supposed to be pics of finished projects and the like. May want to post in a more relevant Thread Section.

 
Thx for your help guys!

I'll start gathering info in this post:

FDP forum about interchanging MIM and MIJ necks:

http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&topic_number=659209

FDP forum about interchanging MIJ and MIA necks:

http://www.fenderforum.com/forum.html?db=&topic_number=658890

Ill measure the neck later this week (put new strings on the guitar yesterday) i also forgot to mention that the trussrod is locked into its current position...  :-\ such a shame.

EDIT:

When i Measure my neck (not unscrewed) it is definitely too wide (more than 55,5 mm its more like 56,5 mm to 57 mm).I guess i have a new Candy apple red Japanese wall ornament). Ill start looking into a body and neck replacement then. Thx for all your help ppl.
 
I found a nice purple dye body in the warmoth showcase, My old strat will become pickup donor since i cannot afford 2 sets of kinman harnasses within a couple of months. (hmmm do my wife and son really need food?). Ill have it routed for an american standard trem...

Oh my god you guys gave me the builders bug...  :headbang1:
 
Manacles said:
hmmm do my wife and son really need food?

You probably have not read it...
RLW have the answer to this:
Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches for some months and the problem is solved!
 
You don't say where you are, but the "euros" mention is a hint... It's really very little problem to "adjust" a neck pocket, either by shimming a large pocket on the sides with some thin material or shaving a smaller pocket larger. It of course depends on what you plan to do with the guitar - if there's some reason to be obsessive about resale value you don't want to mess up a 1957 Strat, but this sounds more like a rescue problem? I would do this work myself, but if you're not comfortable about it you should be able to find a shop or builder who can do it pretty cheaply, it can't be more than a few hour's work, much less if he's done it before. If you want to do it yourself there's an abundance of people who have been doing the Fender parts-swap thing for a long time, of course measuring carefully, repeatedly, obsessively is crucial. If you don't have a trustworthy straightedge you can always just string two E strings on the outside tuners - strings are cheaper than screwups.

I read the Fender forum responses you posted and they mostly had to do with the Japan pockets being big - that's a good sign, it means just shimming. However one guy did say -
Ended up sanding the neck pocket fo the 54RI and got the neck to fit but, it is so tight, I cannot get the strings adjusted correctly on the fretboard (high e is too close to the edge of the board).

I mean, obviously he sanded it without measuring to see where the strings were going before he started sanding - he put the high E string too close to the edge, it  didn't just happen to him by a cruel twist of fate. Again, any semi-conscious repairman could do better.
 
I mean, obviously he sanded it without measuring to see where the strings were going before he started sanding - he put the high E string too close to the edge, it  didn't just happen to him by a cruel twist of fate. Again, any semi-conscious repairman could do better.

Yeah i read that and couldnt surpress a '' you idiot''. From what i gather he just started sanding away on one side of the neck pocket. However i talked it through with the wife and since i got promoted last week i got an ok to purchase a neck, a body and a trem to start my first Warmoth build :blob7:. ill order the body and trem within two weeks, the neck will follow shortly after.

My baby will get her well deserved rest (the guitar i mean not the wife) and will be used for the odd recording session.

Im seriously cosnidering one of the purple dye bodies in the showcase.

[
 
How about PS 2689??
PS2689A.jpg
 
Oooh Nice

But call me old fashioned, i'd like a strat to be front routed. I was wondering do warmoth make the holes for the knobs in there if needed? I know they do a free trem route, does that also count for the knobs?

 
Warmoth do the control routes on rear routed bodies. On some types there are optional layouts/omissions they can incorporate-no charge. But I'm with you on strats, top routed with a pickguard :headbang1: Now wait for the screams from the "quilties" :icon_tongue: :icon_tongue: :icon_jokercolor:
 
I LOOOOOOOVE my purple Strat.
davidsstrat.jpg


And I think you should get this body (PS2698):
PS2698A.jpg

At $325.00 it's a steal!  A custom order like that would cost you at least $445.00, probably more with that top!

-Rose
 
Hey guys,

I have another question regarding the neck for my upcoming guitar (haven't decided on a body either) i'm most comfortable with the neck shape of '57 reissue strat. Can any of you tell me what neck shape it has and what warmoth neck contour matches best?

The shape is a soft V at the nut and first 3 frets, and looks more like a D or C - shape higher up on the neck. i think the radius is 7 1/4 ''.

In short i'd like to have a fifties type stratocaster neck.

 
Have a good look through all the neck options on the Warmoth site and try matching available profiles and fingerboard radius to the 57. You probably won't match it exactly though.
 
The only "V" shape is the clapton... there is the boat, that look not so close to V, it's problaby a D sharpy  :icon_biggrin:
 
The Boat shape comes from a colllection of actual 1956 Fender necks. Since none of them were exactly the same, we averaged it out and stuck with that averaged dimension all of these years.

I had a 90s Japanese Fender 57 reissue Strat that I bought new and kept for years. That was definately the Clapton shape and thickness.

You should measure your neck to know where you land against these specs:

http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/necks.cfm?fuseaction=back_profiles
 
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