Partscaster project: Updates / photos / advice

[Zaulkin]

Liking the colour of that strat too. Fiesta red is in my good books right now.

Fiesta Red will become Shell Pink later this year.

That's the story !

I wanted to paint my strat shell pink. But now everyone has a shell pink strat.

... I'll see how yours goes.

[StrummersOfThunder]

Fiesta Red will become Shell Pink later this year.

That's the story !

I wanted to paint my strat shell pink. But now everyone has a shell pink strat.

... I'll see how yours goes.

Paint it flesh pink instead. Not many of those around.

[robthemac]

After 12 hours at full tension, the neck has a back bow around the fifth fret. That makes in unplayable below there. There's an appropriate degree of forward bow from about the 8th fret onwards. Not to much in the way of twist in other directions. Photo below, but obviously hard to capture!

IMG_20210208_113114.jpg (1.2 MiB) Viewed 4441 times

Worth trying to fix, or new neck time?

[Lostininverness]

is it a 1 piece neck or does it have a separate fret board? I've been able to straighten a neck on a lp jnr build before thorough heating and clamping the shit out of it, and keeping it in the sun with the stings over tensioned, but that didn't have the bow at a specific place like yours.

Other possibilities are to pull the frets and sand the fret board flat etc.

Might depend on how attached you are to the neck, how much it cost, how much you want to spend etc.

Hopefully someone can chime in some useful advice!

[robthemac]

is it a 1 piece neck or does it have a separate fret board? I've been able to straighten a neck on a lp jnr build before thorough heating and clamping the shit out of it, and keeping it in the sun with the stings over tensioned, but that didn't have the bow at a specific place like yours.

Other possibilities are to pull the frets and sand the fret board flat etc.

Might depend on how attached you are to the neck, how much it cost, how much you want to spend etc.

Hopefully someone can chime in some useful advice!

It has a separate fretboard.

I'm not attached to the neck at all. I think I exchanged it for about $60 from a forumite a couple of years back. It's already had cracks repairs and been sanded back a few mm to compensate for a slightly shallow neck pocket.

I might give over-tensioning a go. Nothing to lose from in terms of the neck, and I can't think that I'd do any harm to the body or bridge. Any suggestions on where to clamp it?

[Lostininverness]

OK, so you have not too much to lose then! Not sure if the over tensioning would work to start with as it might just bend from a weak point somewhere else i.e. it won't bend evenly along the neck like a bow from nut to the end fret, as you have a gnarly spot at the 8th fret.

What I did with mine - which was a glued in neck to make things worse - was put a block under the nut and use a strop around the mid point of the neck and tension it up to get it flat. Had to trim the strop width to get it to sit between the frets to measure with a straight edge on the frets to know when it was flat. I had a lamp sitting pretty much right over the fret board to put some heat into it to try and soften the glue a little to allow the board to move a little and hopefully set "flat".

With yours, take it off the body, make sure the truss rod is slack, and maybe try supporting under the nut and 16th fret with a clamp at the 8th? Really need a straight edge to check to see what the rest of the neck is doing that might give a guide on where the neck needs straightening between.

If you then manage to get it straight, then put it back on the body and over tension. Would suggest leaving it somewhere in direct sunlight to keep it warm. Then after a few days or so, slowly take the tension back down till its tuned correctly.

But note - this worked in my case because I made the neck, and I 'm pretty sure I know how I stuffed it up. You need to make sure you're comfortable with potentially wrecking the neck. Clamping may cause it to break along the truss rod route, and the method still may not work.

The safe way to fix this is to pull the frets and flatten the board - esp if the back if the neck is flat despite the hump. I'm hoping that Grant might see this - or you pm him - in case I'm wrong with what I'm saying and he has a proper fix to propose.

TL:DR - here's some advice - take it with precautions! Good luck

[robthemac]

Thanks! I'll let you know how I get on. Will probably do a version of the above with whatever limited tools I have hand. If that doesn't work, I'll buy a new neck. Pulling frets and flattening the board is more than this chunk of wood is worth!

Had a quick look on eBay and daaaang this Chinese dude got some flashy timber for not a lot of money. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Tiger-Flame-Ma ... 0935.m2460

[StrummersOfThunder]

ive got a unused jag neck thatd look GREAT on there

[olegmcnoleg]

ive got a unused jag neck thatd look GREAT on there

What scale length is the Jag neck?

[murky]

After 12 hours at full tension, the neck has a back bow around the fifth fret. That makes in unplayable below there. There's an appropriate degree of forward bow from about the 8th fret onwards. Not to much in the way of twist in other directions. Photo below, but obviously hard to capture!

IMG_20210208_113114.jpg

Worth trying to fix, or new neck time?

You can play below the 8th?

[StrummersOfThunder]

ive got a unused jag neck thatd look GREAT on there

What scale length is the Jag neck?

jag scale aka not sure
its an all parts
has fender logo and some weird resin i spilt on the headstock

[olegmcnoleg]

ive got a unused jag neck thatd look GREAT on there

What scale length is the Jag neck?

jag scale aka not sure
its an all parts
has fender logo and some weird resin i spilt on the headstock

I think that is likely 24", so not much use for this Tele.

[robthemac]

What scale length is the Jag neck?

jag scale aka not sure
its an all parts
has fender logo and some weird resin i spilt on the headstock

I think that is likely 24", so not much use for this Tele.

Would you check, please? Not that it matters much, as I play mostly microtonal intervals.

[Bg]

you will be on this one

[StrummersOfThunder]

jag scale aka not sure
its an all parts
has fender logo and some weird resin i spilt on the headstock

I think that is likely 24", so not much use for this Tele.

Would you check, please? Not that it matters much, as I play mostly microtonal intervals.

For you Robbie, i will. Please hold.