Marco Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 Hi Everybody, my name is Marco and I'm from Italy. I love guitars and I want to assembly one on my own, the problem is that I have no experience at all... Is it difficult? I'd like a Telecaster but I don't know which shape of neck I should buy. I have an American Standard Strat and feel very confortable with its neck, anyone can tell me which shape is it? Also, is a Mexican Tele neck a good buy? Or should I go for a Allparts or Warmoth??? Thanks in advance! Cheers! Marco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prs man Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 (edited) Hi Marco welcome to the fourm buiding your own guitar takes some practice for sure. if you not sure on what to do this is the place to ask questions. if your think you want to builds from parts. I would go with warmoth. they have proven to be of high quality bodies and necks. if you look around on warmoth web site there is all different neck contours to choose. same with the bodies you might want a tummy cut on the tele body and they can do that for you. good luck to you. Edited October 31, 2006 by prs man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted October 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 (edited) Hi Prs Man and thanks for the prompt reply... Yes I'd like to build it from parts, certainly not to build it from scratch, too difficult!!! I've heard great things of Warmoth, but I found some genuine Mex Tele necks on ebay at reasonable prices and was wondering if they're as good as Warmoth's... Still my problem is to choose the shape of the neck, does anybody know what shape of neck is the one on American Standard Strats like mine (1994)? I feel very confy with it... My other guitar is a Sheraton II and feel comfortable too, I guess they're both D shaped, right? See ya and good luck to you too! Edited October 31, 2006 by Marco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 I think that I would go with the Warmoth. Since you can shoose the shape and the materials that you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 most newer fender necks have the same profile(what you call the shape) as well as most of the aftermarket reproductions. there are a few differences, but for plain sake id say you'd be able to play anything you bought.. do you have any woodworking experiance? if your just trying to save money dont look to building for that.. Ive allready spent enough to buy two american standards, and am still not finished.(I do have some nice tools though ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted October 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 Thanks Desopolis, I'm not trying to save money, I'm just fascinated of assembling my own axe, a bit like Clapton's Blackie I would not build anything, just assembly everything... I forgot, my Strat has a maple neck and googling I found it should have a C profile (thanks mate for the correction) and the Sheraton a D profile (flatter, right?)... I'm looking for the thinnest neck I can buy because my hands are small and I always wanted to finger the lower strings with my thumb... My idea is to buy a good Tele neck, a decent Tele body and to slowly improve it with better pick-ups and hardware but they're not so easy to find here in Italy... I'd like to achieve a good rhythm guitar with crystal clear tones, what can you suggest? Thanks everybody! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyManAndy Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 As far as wood choice, I'm thinking a good swamp ash body would fit your needs. CMA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 The MIM necks are really thin, so that should work for you. I have one, and it's a decent enough neck. I paid too much for it, but that's the price of having 'Fender' on the headstock. But there's a big but: it seems that all of the aftermarket tele parts out there (including the cheapo knockoff Asian telecasters) are all sized for Fender MIA specifications. Which means that it's pretty difficult to piece together a guitar based on an MIM neck. At least, that has been my experience. The neck pocket on the body, for example, will be routed too deep for the MIM neck. So you'll never be able to get your saddles low enough. The MIM tele neck has only 21 frets --but it seems that most of the bodies you'll find are actually routed for a 22-fret neck --which means that the bridge/pickup won't be in the right position. In addition, the bridge itself won't have the proper spacing --it's just a little bit wide. On my attempt at putting together a tele, the bridge/string spacing just never felt right and the strings were just a little too close to the edges for comfort. My advice: just get a full Fender MIM telecaster. All the parts will fit together, it'll have that Fender sound (although you can always change the pickups if you like), and you'll have the slim neck too. Putting together a tele parts guitar, using decent quality components will end up costing you close to the same price as a used telecaster. Really. And putting together a parts guitar isn't all that mysterious--it's just screwing together a bunch of parts. You could get the same experience buying furniture from Ikea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desopolis Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 heres some links for you: http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/necks....n=back_profiles http://www.usacustomguitars.com/contours.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted October 31, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 Thanks for the advice Mick! And putting together a parts guitar isn't all that mysterious--it's just screwing together a bunch of parts. You could get the same experience buying furniture from Ikea. This one made me laugh... heres some links for you: http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/necks....n=back_profiles http://www.usacustomguitars.com/contours.html Thanks Desopolis! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 This one made me laugh... Just doing my job, ma'am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prs man Posted October 31, 2006 Report Share Posted October 31, 2006 Hi marco I would say if your getting a warmoth body to go with a warmoth neck. they will fit like a glove. body wood I like alder this was use on some of the first tele and strats guitars leo fender made. alder has a nice warm sound and ash is a little brighter I think. swamp ash is lighter in weight and has a nice sound. I guess it depends on what your sound your going after. I don't know if you have thought about the fret board rose wood sound different then maple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted November 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 I guess it depends on what your sound your going after. I don't know if you have thought about the fret board rose wood sound different then maple. Thanks all for the precious suggestions!!! I heard that rosewood has a darker sound, but I was not considering it as a possible buy, to me (personal opinion, don't be offended) Fender are with maple necks... I'm going after a bright sound, very clean... I think I'll go for a "off the shelf" Mexican Tele and then I'll refine the sound to my taste... Btw at the moment I'm using a Marshall JTM-60 with 3 x 10" Eminence cones, a Digitech TSR-12 and a few stompboxes including a Dunlop CryBaby, a Boss OD-2 and a Marshall Bluesbreaker... I mainly play blues and rock from the sixties and seventies... Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 Yeah, nice for you but...now you got me digging up my old tele project and trying to fix it finally...just got done gluing in a block of wood in the neck pocket, so I can reroute for the Mexi neck. I also thicknessed off the top (because I'd butchered that pretty badly) and I'll be gluing on a new maple cap. I have to decide if I want it to be string-through this time. With any luck, I'll finally have a decent sounding/playing tele. Thanks to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted November 1, 2006 Report Share Posted November 1, 2006 I forgot, my Strat has a maple neck and googling I found it should have a C profile (thanks mate for the correction) and the Sheraton a D profile (flatter, right?)... I'm looking for the thinnest neck I can buy because my hands are small and I always wanted to finger the lower strings with my thumb... I also have very small hands & find that a rounder neck profile is much more comfortable, especially for chord work as the hand is supported all the way around the neck. As an example, try holding a baseball bat & then a spirit level - you'll see what I mean. I had a superstrat for a while with a very flat neck & it didn't suit me at all....I wanted to play with my thumb over the neck & I would get cramps within a few minutes, for classical style, thumb behind the neck playing it was great. You could always modify the neck profile slightly as long as it is round enough - remember that you can always take away but not put back! I usually go for a a chunky "C" profile & then slightly flatten the thumb side to more of a "V" shape at the headstock end. If you look at the shape of your thumb & fore-finger you'll see why. I find it very comfortable for 1st position chord work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marco Posted November 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Yeah, nice for you but...now you got me digging up my old tele project and trying to fix it finally...just got done gluing in a block of wood in the neck pocket, so I can reroute for the Mexi neck. I also thicknessed off the top (because I'd butchered that pretty badly) and I'll be gluing on a new maple cap. I have to decide if I want it to be string-through this time. With any luck, I'll finally have a decent sounding/playing tele. Thanks to you! I'm happy that my questions got you back to work on the Tele!!! Good luck with your project!!! I also have very small hands & find that a rounder neck profile is much more comfortable, especially for chord work as the hand is supported all the way around the neck. As an example, try holding a baseball bat & then a spirit level - you'll see what I mean. I had a superstrat for a while with a very flat neck & it didn't suit me at all....I wanted to play with my thumb over the neck & I would get cramps within a few minutes, for classical style, thumb behind the neck playing it was great. You could always modify the neck profile slightly as long as it is round enough - remember that you can always take away but not put back! I usually go for a a chunky "C" profile & then slightly flatten the thumb side to more of a "V" shape at the headstock end. If you look at the shape of your thumb & fore-finger you'll see why. I find it very comfortable for 1st position chord work I tried to figure out your explanation yesterday and I made some experiments... I actually find more comfortable for fingering with the thumb a V profile. I made various fingering on my Sheraton (flatter) and on my acoustic EJ-200VS (it should be a V) and found more confortable the V profile!!! I'll try more and more guitars to find the profile that most suits my hands. Thank you very much for your precious suggestions! Marco Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 I made various fingering on my Sheraton (flatter) I'll try more and more guitars to find the profile that most suits my hands. Thank you very much for your precious suggestions! Well, if the Sheraton's anything like my Epi Sorrento, it's one of the nicest necks I've ever played, slim but not too thin, looks like a C to me. My hands aren't all that small, not huge either though. Oh yeah, the thinnest neck I've ever played is on my Gibson Melody Maker --if you can find one from the 60s, see what you think. It's also my favorite neck, although some chords are a little more difficult to play than others. The nut's about 39 mm in width. But it's definitely rounded -- after reading Bilious' comment, I'm starting to change my mind about things...I used to think I wanted a flatter neck, but I'm beginning to see why rounded and thin could be a better way to go... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
biliousfrog Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 I live near to a luthier that's building THE official Brian May replicas...I think that there were 50 to coincide with Brians 50th & they're all based on x-rays & dimensions form the Red Special (guyton guitars). The neck on Brian's guitar is like a tree trunk & everyone that's tried it has been like, "what the hells wrong with this!" but after only a short time they find it really comfy because of the support. Apparently Jeff Beck has massive necks too & it certainly doesn't hinder him either. I've got a Charvel acoustic with a V profile which is lovely for playing at the headstock end but it can sometimes be uncomfortable for playing higher up which is why I like the V/C hybrid. I'm surprised that nobody else has tried it....Have I invented something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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