Need Recommendations for new neck

[zac503]

Hey guys,

First post here. I have this guitar that i bought second hand, and I've decided to put a new neck on it.

In general this guitar will be used for Rock/Metal rhythm guitar with 10's on it. Body is Mahogany/Koa (Not really sure)

My first thoughts were maybe a maple neck, but on second thought I've been considering a nice 1piece Goncalo Alves neck and leaving it unfinished. Anyone have any opinions?

 

[AutoBat]

Out of pure curiosity, what do the 5 knobs do on that 1 pup guitar?

 

[Jeremiah]

Out of pure curiosity, what do the 5 knobs do on that 1 pup guitar?

Looks like it could be an EMG pickup - so my guess would be bass cut/boost, treble cut/boost, midrange cut/boost, midrange frequency, master volume.

Those EMG 3-band EQ systems are more commonly used on basses, but there's no reason why they can't be used on guitars too.

 

[Cagey]

I would do a maple neck, standard thin, with an ebony 'board and huge stainless steel frets. Or, I would do a koa neck, standard thin, with an ebony 'board and huge stainless steel frets. Or, you could do a mahogany neck, standard thin, with an ebony 'board and huge stainless steel frets. But, those all require a finish. In all cases, I would put on a vintage tint gloss.

Unfinished, I would do a pau ferro neck, standard thin, with an ebony 'board and huge stainless steel frets. Or, a goncalo alves neck, standard thin, with an ebony 'board and huge stainless steel frets. Or, a canary neck, standard thin, with an ebony 'board and huge stainless steel frets.

My favorite of all is the Warmoth Pro pau ferro neck, standard thin, 1 11/16" black TUSQ nut with an ebony 'board and huge (6100) stainless steel frets. Looks, sounds, feels and plays like sex. Put one of those babies on there, and if you're not happy, it'll only be because you need a new body, pickup(s), bridge or all three. I can't see you not liking the bridge you have on there, and the body doesn't have that much effect, so the only thing left would be that pickup and its myriad idiosyncrasies.

 

[zac503]

Out of pure curiosity, what do the 5 knobs do on that 1 pup guitar?

Good question.

This is a Shadow brand guitar, which was most likely made in Germany in the late 80's early 90's. They are primarily an electronics company now, so I'm sure when the original guitar was built it had a shadow pickup, with a 3band EQ board included. The EMG was added after the fact and was not connected to the circuit board in the guitar. This is an old picture and I have sense removed the circuit board that came with the guitar, and replaced the EMG with a Gibson 498T. As of right now the guitar has only 1 knob and 4 open holes on it. It is my best sounding electric but the neck is in poor condition. Rather than pay for a full refret, I am interested in ordering a new neck and having it setup to my specifications. Right now it has a maple neck and a rosewood fretboard. I'm gonna take it back to work with me in a few minutes and I'll upload some more recent pictures shortly.

 

[Tweed]

Definitely check out the Will It Fit My Guitar? page of the warmoth.com

My vote is for one-piece goncalo or pau ferro. Or hey, one-piece ebony, since that's the smoothest available.

 

[zac503]

Updated pics. My first thought is a 1 piece Goncalo. How do you guys think that would compare to the maple/rosewood that's on there?

 

[elgravos]

It all sounds promising but as above, I wouldn't be making any bets on whether a Warmoth neck will fit... who's to say Shadow built their guitars to exact Fender specs.  Especially if they are German and worked in metric.  You definitely need to do some precision measuring to make sure a neck change is even an option.  That aside a one piece goncalo sounds good and you can get a better looking headstock to boot!

 

[Cagey]

I don't think that's a bad-looking headstock. Strings are all in line like they should be, and there's no extraneous wood or curlicues. I think it's a nice, clean, well-considered design. If it was mine, I'd probably just re-fret it with SS railroad ties.

 

[zac503]

It all sounds promising but as above, I wouldn't be making any bets on whether a Warmoth neck will fit... who's to say Shadow built their guitars to exact Fender specs.  Especially if they are German and worked in metric.  You definitely need to do some precision measuring to make sure a neck change is even an option.  That aside a one piece goncalo sounds good and you can get a better looking headstock to boot!

I've measured it before, and from everything I can tell, it matches up exactly with Fender neck specs. I do agree that precision is a must though, so tonight I'm taking it to a local luthier to do some serious verification for me.

I don't think that's a bad-looking headstock. Strings are all in line like they should be, and there's no extraneous wood or curlicues. I think it's a nice, clean, well-considered design. If it was mine, I'd probably just re-fret it with SS railroad ties.

I agree that the instrument was fine when first built. Unfortunately I believe the instrument to be around 20 years old, and whoever owned it before me obviously abused it. The frets are nearly worn off and the fretboard has not been treated in some time. I spoke the the local luthier about it and he commented that it would most likely cost about $250 to refret and clean up the neck. At this price, I feel like I'd be better off preserving the original neck and getting something that matched my own playing preferences a bit more. The neck on it has a very thin profile which sometimes bothers my fretting hand.

 

[Strat Avenger]

That's a nice body shape, but has waay too many knobs on it!

Go with a Standard Thin and a Strat headstock, with 6150 stainless steel frets.

 

[zac503]

Took it to a luthier last night. He has the guitar as is doing a cleanup/setup on it. WE dug around and found out that the bridge has individual piezo pickups! Someone has cut the wires for them very short but he thinks we can get it configured and working again.

Right now we're trying to consider how we'll preamp the piezo signal and provide a switching option with the regular magnetic pickup. He also ruled out Mahogany or Koa as the body wood, he said it was too tightly grained with very few pores. Anyone have an idea as to what it could be?