Building A Partscaster (Telecaster) Part 2 - The Neck

Introduction

Continuing on from Part 1, I'm switching focus to choosing a neck for the project. On Ebay it's a similar story to shopping for bodies. While we should focus on how good the neck does its job, we are more likely to buy what looks good, or some bargain with the right logo. But beware, while there are a lot of flame maple necks that look great, we should remember the old adage, if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Here are a few important things that you should consider:-

• The quality of the build.
• The stability of the wood.
• The fender logo.

Fun On Ebay

Before I go through these points, let's just consider what's available on Ebay for a moment. You will see everything here from unbranded Chinese necks, made under licence boutique ones, and real fender necks. You will also find loads of second hand stuff that nearly always has had a fender logo added to it. So you'll have to look closely and buy with care.

I found that any legitimate Fender neck will go for a lot of money. I watched a couple of Made-in-Mexico necks (pre-fitted with Kluson tuners) complete their auction for more than the new price. Even Squier branded necks are going for close to the price of a complete guitar, so there's clearly money in breaking guitars up for their parts.

Don't Ignore Quality

Once you start looking, you'll see a huge amount of cheap stuff available, and while they're all made from maple, the one thing you need to consider is, how well? The wood needs to be properly seasoned because when freshly cut wood dries it shrinks and warps. Using it too early could result in any number of the following problems:-

• Twisting along its length - making set-up difficult or impossible.
• Fret-Sprout - where the neck shrinks causing the sharp fret ends to protrude.
• High patches along the fingerboard - causing fret buzz.
• Poor adherence to the specs - meaning the fit in the neck pocket may be loose, or there may be cosmetic issues.

The other quality issues related to the frets. What they're made of and how they're fitted will have a big impact on the playability of your guitar. Expect fret buzzing problems on cheaper necks, which is often caused by:-

• High frets - due to lack-of, or poor fret levelling work.
• Lifting frets - where the tang is loose in the slot.

But you should also be aware that you are likely to get sharp fret ends on cheap necks.

While a lot of the fret problems can be fixed with a little effort and know-how, any issues with the wood are likely to be terminal.

The Fender Logo

Whether or not you have the Fender logo on your headstock is down to taste. To many it will make a neck more desirable, and it's worth saying that water-slide fender transfers are quite easy to get a hold off, so be wary of second hand necks. While having an authentic Fender, or licensed neck is a good way of ensuring high quality, be careful about what or where you buy. There's an awful lot of fake stuff on Ebay, so if you're unsure ask yourself the question "is it too cheap?"

After much deliberation, I decided to buy a 1952 spec Mexican, Telecaster neck from DV247. The price was pretty good and although I had to wait a couple of weeks for delivery, I'm impressed by what they sent me.

A well packaged set of boxes.

The outer brown Fender box showed signs of being re-sealed, so I imagine DV247 have inspected the neck before dispatch. The contents arrived in perfect condition and it was a pleasure to open that final white box.

The neck, pre-drilled and ready to go.

The neck itself has the silver spaghetti style logo and is pre-drilled ready to go. It has a 9.5" radius fingerboard, twenty one 6105 frets, and the truss rod adjuster is at the base of the neck. The profile is a vintage 'U' shape that's quite chunky, its finished in clear gloss urethane and fitted with a pre-slotted synthetic bone nut.

On to part 3