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Spruce Neck?

A

alterbridgefan

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http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TeleFLMBYS/

Ignore the fact that they want $10,000 for a tele that won't even intonate, and check out the woods. Paulownia body, rosewood board, and HOT DAYUM!!!! Spruce neck. What the fluck???? Now I'm rethinking my dedication to maple necks. But airplane grade spruce... I'm wondering what it would take to make a spruce neck stable. Reinforcing bars and a good truss rod? And how many blanks do you go through before you finally get a neck that hasn't splintered or chipped? :tard: Spruce is a difficult wood to work with...

Thoughts? Ideas?

And why the hell doesn't Warmoth offer this? :laughing7:

:blob7:
 
Modulus used to make guitars with a graphite core neck surrounded by woods like spruce or cedar.
 
A $10,000 Tele that has GFS-type paulownia body? 

I don't get it.  I there's one born every minute...
 
DavyDave53 said:
A $10,000 Tele that has GFS-type paulownia body? 

I don't get it.  I there's one born every minute...
Click to expand...

Yeah, that one's by me, too. Cheapest woods, hardware and pickups extant, and it's $10K? $119.99 would be closer to correct. And it should come with a FREE PICK!
 
To be fair, cheap wood isn't necessarily bad wood.  Just about any wood - Paulownia included - can be pretty looking and sound great if cut the right way.  And if properly cut & reinforced, I could see spruce working for a guitar neck; if it's strong enough for an airplane propeller, than it's strong enough for a guitar neck.

But really, there's no excuse for charging that much for an anemic solid color finished body with off the shelf parts, even if it was built in Leo Fender's garage with his original tools, supervised by an oracle channeling the spirit of the dude himself.
 
Seriously, that makes the Fender Select series look like such a good deal.  Maybe that's why they're offering this one. 
 
Personally, I'd be wary of a guitar neck that's made of spruce. Airplane grade or not, that's gotta be a questionable choice.

The price they are asking for this guitar is ridiculous. I feel that what you will be paying for, is the honour to be the one person who is prepared to take on the risk of the light construction and different woods. Good luck!
 
At 4 lbs, 13 oz. I'm guessing that Tele might be a little neck-heavy...

ಠ_ಠ said:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TeleFLMBYS/

Ignore the fact that they want $10,000 for a tele that won't even intonate, and check out the woods. Paulownia body, rosewood board, and HOT DAYUM!!!! Spruce neck. What the fluck???? Now I'm rethinking my dedication to maple necks. But airplane grade spruce... I'm wondering what it would take to make a spruce neck stable. Reinforcing bars and a good truss rod? And how many blanks do you go through before you finally get a neck that hasn't splintered or chipped? :tard: Spruce is a difficult wood to work with...

Thoughts? Ideas?

And why the hell doesn't Warmoth offer this? :laughing7:

:blob7:
Click to expand...
 
Neo Fender said:
At 4 lbs, 13 oz. I'm guessing that Tele might be a little neck-heavy...
Click to expand...

I tend to doubt it. Fender's body designs deliberately place the forward hang point far enough past the balance point that it's not an issue. In order for a 5lb Tele to be neck heavy, I'm guessing the neck would have to be around 3lbs or better, which would be tough to do. Assuming that were possible, the body with pickups and hardware would have to weigh 2lbs or less, which would also be hard to do. The heaviest neck I've ever played around with is my Ebony over Bloodwood part with SS frets, locking Schallers and a dual-action truss rod, and it was only 2lbs all up. I imagine solid Ebony might best that figure, but not by much and those aren't exactly common. Certainly not something you'd see on a Fender issue.

So, go ahead and order one. Fender's flirting with going out of business, so they need to sell a lotta fiddles with 900% markups.
 
No lie. And why would you call me a liar when you don't know any better? Oh, yeah. You're still young enough go be a liberal. Wait'll you start earning some money and find out how much they want to take away from you to support the entitlement class.

Fender tried to sell the business to the public last year and couldn't do it because they were too deep in debt without enough revenue. They're in for about $250M against gross receipts of about $700M, which is way out of line. The only way that could work is if they had no materials or labor costs, which even the government doesn't enjoy. You might want to read this.

We all love Fender for various reasons, but it's clear to those who know better that they're not running a viable business. If they were, they'd have suitors lined up at the door. But, they don't because they're failing. Hard. Contrary to The Captain and Tennille, love won't keep them together. They're going to go tits-up unless they move all their manufacturing out of the US while maintaining market share, which will certainly prove to be an impossible task, $10,000 Teles made of toadshit and wax paper notwithstanding.
 
Cagey said:
No lie. And why would you call me a liar when you don't know any better? Oh, yeah. You're still young enough go be a liberal. Wait'll you start earning some money and find out how much they want to take away from you to support the entitlement class.
Click to expand...

I was kidding...  :-\

Not a liberal, nor a conservative, democratic or republican. The refusal between the two parties to compromise is revolting. I make money... I work for a local record label. I don't pay taxes because I don't have to. Money is under the table, I'm good to go.

And why would you call me a liberal when you don't know any better?

Oh yeah. You're a republican.
 
Careful with the politics, kids - the less playing with fire on the internet the better. 

But Cagey is right about Fender - they've been managed very poorly, acting like a MegaCorp but without the revenue of one.  Even the most popular music instrument is still a niche product, and Fender has seriously undercut the value of it's brand by some of the lower quality stuff they've put out, while still maintaining the prices.

My far-from-educated-but-not-totally-ignorant guess: They'll go through some downsizing deal to avoid bankruptcy, and they'll shrink down to a smaller company.  Best case scenario is someone buys out their IP, new management focuses on a smaller customer base with good products, rather than trying to rule all the price points with varying quality. 

Not to steer the conversation in the direction of politics again, but in this case, I'd LOVE for the Japanese to take over. Imagine all Fenders being the quality of Fender Japan.    :headbang:
 
I could see Fender undergoing a bankruptcy where the IP and brands are auctioned to the highest bidder, kinda like Hostess did with Twinkies.  An apt comparison, when you think about it...
 
ಠ_ಠ said:
Not a liberal, nor a conservative, democratic or republican. The refusal between the two parties to compromise is revolting. I make money... I work for a local record label. I don't pay taxes because I don't have to. Money is under the table, I'm good to go.

And why would you call me a liberal when you don't know any better?

Oh yeah. You're a republican.
Click to expand...

Hush, puppy! First rule of the underground market is: You don't talk about the underground market. Don't you know the NSA is reading every word you write? Listening to every phone call you make? Logging every credit card purchase you make? Keep your mouth shut. Millions of people would freeze/starve otherwise.

Back during the days of WWI and II, they used to say "loose lips sink ships". They were referring to any mention of plans or reality of shipping for travel or delivery of war material that could get into enemy ears and allow them to seek out and destroy those ships, thereby shifting advantage to themselves. Can't have that. Today, it's our own government that is the enemy, so the further in the dark they are, the better off we are.

And don't call me a Republican, or I'll have you retroactively aborted <grin>
 
Bagman67 said:
I could see Fender undergoing a bankruptcy where the IP and brands are auctioned to the highest bidder, kinda like Hostess did with Twinkies.  An apt comparison, when you think about it...
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's easy to see. Even their junk resales at high prices, never mind the newer stuff. That name will live on forever, one way or another.
 
Cagey said:
Hush, puppy! First rule of the underground market is: You don't talk about the underground market. Don't you know the NSA is reading every word you write?
Click to expand...

I've got tons of incriminating emails in my inbox if the NSA wants dirt on me. I'm sure when the government is ready to publicly execute tax evaders, I'll be the first in line. :laughing7:

And don't call me a Republican, or I'll have you retroactively aborted <grin>
Click to expand...

Thanks for the laugh. :toothy12:

Cheers!

:blob7:
 
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