Swapping Necks: Putting a Warmoth/Fender neck on a recent Kramer Barretta Special

[NutBehindTheGuitar]

Has anybody here had the neck off a recent Kramer Barretta Special? (the ones made in Indonesia, that retail for $200 or less)

I'd like to put a Warmoth neck on one of those bodies. I've been searching the various guitar forums to find out if it uses a standard Fender neck socket. So far all I've found is one guy saying the socket is 2 1/4".
The Fender socket is 2 3/16" (56mm) wide. I'm always suspicious when I see measurements like 2 1/4", especially when they come without an explanation. Did the guy just take a measuring tape and eyeball it and then round up to 2 1/4" when it was really 2 3/16". For whatever reason I've always found metric measurements to be more precise.

So has anybody on this forum swapped out the stock neck on a Barretta Special? How did it go?

Bye

 

[stratamania]

I have not done the specific swap out asked about, but 2 1/4" is a common width for neck heels other than the 2 3/16" of a Fender spec neck heel. Warmoth do not offer 2 1/4" as an option, but other parts providers do.

If you have the body, measure the pocket.

 

[Rick]

And also send an email to the maker. Reverend confirmed (10+ years ago) for me that warmoth necks would fit. Of course the holes won't match and if they would match now I don't know. Back then Reverend knew. You can also ask them questions about neck pocket dimensions.

 

[Rick]

Also ... if you buy a neck and it doesn't fit then the obvious solution is to build another guitar. Win win!

 

[DuckBaloo]

Charvel/Jackson used (and still use) 2.25" neck heels, as did a few other "superstrat-era" builders. Historically, the Kramer was 2-3/16" but nothing about these imports are reproduction-spec, they are just generic OEM guitars that Gibson orders to have a Kramer-like appearance. The ones from 15 years ago used were mostly proprietary, making them not compatible with most aftermarket hardware.

 

[NutBehindTheGuitar]

Okay
In the answering your own question dept. Yes, it appears that the Kramer Baretta guitar has a standard fender style neck pocket, so a Warmoth neck will fit it nicely.
This conclusion is based on the following You tube video, where the guy puts a OEM fender neck on a Baretta body and then for grins puts the Baretta neck on a fender body.

So I think this meets the Eli Whitney test for interchangeability of parts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interchangeable_parts


Bye

 

[Nacho_Olmedo]

Okay
In the answering your own question dept. Yes, it appears that the Kramer Baretta guitar has a standard fender style neck pocket, so a Warmoth neck will fit it nicely.

Nop, the Kramer neck is wider than the Fender standard size pocket. My luthier has several Fender necks and bodies, and I carried my Baretta Special to him for some modifications, so we try what exactly you want. The Fender neck don't fit well in the kramer pocket, leaves much space, you don't have the necesary contact surface. The same with the kramer neck, if you put it in a Fender body like the video, you need to work in the pocket of the body to let it in.

Best Regards from Chile.

 

[NutBehindTheGuitar]

Okay Nacho

Well that is a pity, since you have first hand experience on this matter, we will defer to you. The Baretta special you're referring to is the recent Indonesia made one correct?

 

[Nacho_Olmedo]

Yep, an indonesian purple one buyed in February of 2024.