Hi.
I'm about to embark on my first build, and intent to buy a 1 5/8 Warmoth Strat neck to replace the 1 11/16 on my USA Strat. The reason for this is just that I find the fretboard too wide to get around smoothly, I have small hands and play thumb-over quite a lot.
I mentioned this to the tech I was going to ask to set it up for me, and he warned me that it's not so simple as that - that trying to put a narrower neck on a body designed for a wider one can result in the strings not fitting the fretboard or pickups, or even the heel not fitting the slot.
I had been under the impression that I could just a get a new nut cut and the string spacing would be ok - does one in fact have to buy a new bridge (if a narrower bridge would even fit)? Also it occurred to me that if the heel is exactly the same size on a 1 5/8 and a 1 11/16, does that mean that the 1 5/8 only starts out narrower and ends up tapering to the same fretboard width? That would seem to forgo any additional ease higher up the neck, which is obviously a crucial area when playing a Strat.
Sorry for what I guess are basic and tedious questions, I'm brand new at this.
I'm about to embark on my first build, and intent to buy a 1 5/8 Warmoth Strat neck to replace the 1 11/16 on my USA Strat. The reason for this is just that I find the fretboard too wide to get around smoothly, I have small hands and play thumb-over quite a lot.
I mentioned this to the tech I was going to ask to set it up for me, and he warned me that it's not so simple as that - that trying to put a narrower neck on a body designed for a wider one can result in the strings not fitting the fretboard or pickups, or even the heel not fitting the slot.
I had been under the impression that I could just a get a new nut cut and the string spacing would be ok - does one in fact have to buy a new bridge (if a narrower bridge would even fit)? Also it occurred to me that if the heel is exactly the same size on a 1 5/8 and a 1 11/16, does that mean that the 1 5/8 only starts out narrower and ends up tapering to the same fretboard width? That would seem to forgo any additional ease higher up the neck, which is obviously a crucial area when playing a Strat.
Sorry for what I guess are basic and tedious questions, I'm brand new at this.