Three Neck Thursday!

[Verne Bunsen]

Hello all! Back in January I ordered three new necks for three guitars. Two are for my old ('96 and '07) Fender Telecasters which still have their factory necks. The last is for my Candy Turquoise Jazzmaster build which was inspired by the ULTRA Series and is detailed here:

https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=31347.0

It also currently has a Fender neck on it. Beyond the aesthetic improvement of the new necks, I am super excited to be getting a beefier neck profile on the guitars, as the thin Fender neck profiles are not very comfortable for me. They are all '59 Roundback, and with these replacements all of my guitars will be the same.  :icon_thumright:

On to some pictures:

The first is a Mahogany Tele neck with a 3A Flame Maple board, finished in Clear Gloss. The fret markers are Mother of Pearl. In retrospect I probably should have gone with darker markers, I am scratching my head a little bit as to why I went with something so light in the first place, but it will be ok. It will be getting "Cosmo Black" locking tuners and will be installed on my old black '96 MIM Telecaster Special. Since the serial number is on the original neck, and since I don't plan on applying and spraying decals on any of these necks, I worked with Doug to get a neck plate made up to preserve it.

Next up is a one-piece 3A Flame Maple Tele neck finished in Vintage Tint Gloss. It has Black Mother of Pearl fret markers, which are just stellar. I've never actually seen the Black MoP before and I'm glad I sprung for it! It will be getting chrome locking tuners and will be installed on my Honey Blonde '07 Nashville and likewise has a custom neck plate to preserve the serial number.

(Forgive the distorted angle, it really is a proper rectangle...)

Lastly but not leastly is a 3A Birdseye Jazzmaster neck with a 3A Birdseye board, topped off with black binding to go along with the black binding on the body of the guitar it will be installed on. The fret markers are once again Black Mother of Pearl. It will also get chrome locking tuners. As mentioned, it will be installed on my Candy Turquoise Jazzmaster.

Not sure when I will be getting these installed, but I'll update along the way!

ccasion14:

 

[Rick]

Some nice necks!

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Yeah! I'm really excited about them, can't wait to get them installed. I've got one guitar project ahead of them. Better be getting busy...

 

[PhilHill]

Very Nice! I can see why your excited. You'll be ridin' high on the hog now............ :icon_thumright: :icon_thumright:

 

[Logrinn]

Very nice, Verne, very nice!
Love these necks and the neck plates are an excellent touch.
And that Jazzmaster ... Wow! Super cool! ccasion14:

 

[stratamania]

Triple neck Thursday -- congratulations. Look forward to seeing them progress... :icon_thumright:

 

[DangerousR6]

Very nice Vann, I like the mahogany with the flame maple... :icon_thumright:

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Very nice, Verne, very nice!
Love these necks and the neck plates are an excellent touch.
And that Jazzmaster ... Wow! Super cool! ccasion14:

Thanks! I had considered having Rothko & Frost do up "proper" serial number decals for the backs of the headstocks, but I decided against it. I've had too many bad experiences spraying finish over decals on beautiful necks, haha! I thought the neck plates would be a elegant solution. Doug helped me out with the layout and I think they are perfect for the job  :icon_thumright:

I am pretty proud of that Jazzmaster! The build thread (linked in the first post) makes for a pretty good read I think. The S1 switch puts the pickups out of phase and the slider puts them in series and shifts to the upper controls. I've been sooo eager to get this neck on her!

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Very nice Vann, I like the mahogany with the flame maple... :icon_thumright:

Yeah, I really like that one too! I had to go off-menu for that combination. Kind of funny, a few years back the aesthetic of a light board on a dark neck was not appealing to me at all. Then I saw this neck in the showcase that was figured mahogany with a birdseye board and my opinion was changed. I bought that neck instantly and it is my favorite neck now. They don't have the figured mahogany around anymore, but this neck was definitely spec'd with that one in mind.

 

[DangerousR6]

Very nice Vann, I like the mahogany with the flame maple... :icon_thumright:

Yeah, I really like that one too! I had to go off-menu for that combination. Kind of funny, a few years back the aesthetic of a light board on a dark neck was not appealing to me at all. Then I saw this neck in the showcase that was figured mahogany with a birdseye board and my opinion was changed. I bought that neck instantly and it is my favorite neck now. They don't have the figured mahogany around anymore, but this neck was definitely spec'd with that one in mind.

I love the contrast between dark woods and light woods. I think it'd be kool to have like a super dark wenge or ebony with a quilted maple board or maybe a figured canary board...

 

[Verne Bunsen]

I got the tuners installed on all of the necks. I started on some fret work but chickened out when the finish started peeling away. It gave me flashbacks to that time when I was working the finish off the frets on my Figured Mahogany/Birdseye neck and the finish peeled off the whole fretboard. That got a warranty repair as a faulty finish, but still, that sort of thing scars a man..... I am dropping them all off at Rainbow Guitars here in Tucson tomorrow, I'm sure they will do them up right.
:headbang:

(Mr. Erlewine shorted me one Cosmo Black dress washer, so she got one chrome from the "old tuners bin"...)

 

[Verne Bunsen]

One down! The Black Tele Special has received the Flame Maple on Mahogany neck, and it is good. The original neck had a shim and I started with one on the new neck, but I ended up removing it. With no shim, the saddles came down only slightly from where they started to get the action back where it needed to be. There is a bit more relief than I'd like at about 0.015", but I really had to reef the truss rod to get it there, so I'm going to let things settle for a bit before making any further moves. I strung her up with Thomastik Infeld Jazz/BeBops, which are a roundwounds jazz string. I've tried them on numerous guitars in an effort to like them, but have always taken them off. In this case though I think I've finally found a place for them. She plays and sounds fantastic. And, if I may, I think she looks fantastic as well. See for yourself:

The Blonde Nashville and 1-piece Flame Maple neck will be up next...

 

[DangerousR6]

Very classy indeed.... :kewlpics:

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Very classy indeed.... :kewlpics:

Thanks!

 

[Verne Bunsen]

Another one done! The Candy Turquoise Jazzmaster and the Vintage Tint Birdseye neck are a match made in heaven....

That is some pretty Birdseye, ain't it? This one got a string retainer because the high e and b strings both had behind-the-nut buzzes that I couldn't cure. I didn't want to go any lower on the nut slots trying to get it, so string tree it is. At least it's a good lookin' one  :icon_biggrin:

I ended up using a 0.5 degree shim here. I started with a 0.25 and it set up really nicely, but when I played it the tone was very "plinky" and the behind-the-bridge ringing was horrendous. I mean, it is a Jazzmaster and a little of that is desireable, but it was too much. Needed just a bit more break angle. Is good now  :icon_thumright:

I'll end up posting very much the same thing in the build thread for this guitar, so I apologize in advance for the repetition, redundancy and reiteration...