Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Stevepage on September 04, 2010, 08:31:21 PM
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I've love my CIJ Strat. It sounds fantastic and feels great. One problem I've always had is the radius of the fretboard. Now I've asked before about getting the fretboard radius flattened and refretted but.
How much could I expect to pay to have the frets themselves radiused to 12" ?
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I don't think that would work with the existing frets - they'd choke?
I'd get the neck re-fretted with jumbo wire. It's taller and will make it feel like it has a flatter radius ;)
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I had the neck refretted with 6100 fret wire a number of years ago. But I can't get the action too low other wise I get buzzing and choking
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I suppose 6100 wire might be tall enough to put a new radius into the frets. I think it would be almost impossible with vintage wire.
This is one for Jonathan, I think....
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Jon will routinely put a slight compound radius on large fretwire re-frets - so he is the man to ask.
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That's cool. I'll ask him in a couple of weeks. I've got my car insurance to pay first, Just a thought to getting my Strat to it's optimum playability.
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You'll have to re-radius the whole fretboard to 12"... perhaps it'll get the neck to thin (because you'll take some wood from the centre of the neck, would be easier to do the reverse...)
I'd totally let it to a good luthier and see what he thinks... Perhaps you just should get a neck from Warmoth, USACQ, All Parts...
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But then it starts getting expensive....
A compound radius should do the trick, you could probably leave it as 7.25" on the lower frets then build up to, I dunno, 9.5" or 10" at the top?
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Getting a 7.25 to a 12" wont really be possible on existing fretwire without killing the wire as you'd have to take a lot of metal off
7.25 - 9.5" is more likely and one other thing that is important is putting fallaway into the frets to allow more clean notes in the frets 10-15 as well.
You are welcome to discuss with me
Note I will be away from 11-22nd September (a chance to recharge batteries)
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I would buy a new compound 12-radius neck or order it at a customizer.
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I bought a new neck from Warmoth with a compound radius. It didn't fit the neck pocket correctly and the tone of the guitar sounded a bit brittle with the new neck.
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I see. It is always a surprise if and how new necks will affect the tone. So, what are you intend to do now?
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Well I've got my Car Insurance to pay next week so I'll see how money is after I've paid it. I definitely want it done it's just a case of how much money I can get soon.
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I bought a new neck from Warmoth with a compound radius. It didn't fit the neck pocket correctly and the tone of the guitar sounded a bit brittle with the new neck.
If you have a floating bridge, a bolt-on neck will have a big role in how the guitar sounds. Just out of curiosity, were the specs different from the neck that was originally on the guitar?
-Zaned
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I bought a new neck from Warmoth with a compound radius. It didn't fit the neck pocket correctly and the tone of the guitar sounded a bit brittle with the new neck.
If you have a floating bridge, a bolt-on neck will have a big role in how the guitar sounds. Just out of curiosity, were the specs different from the neck that was originally on the guitar?
-Zaned
It's just a standard strat bridge. The neck was made to the same specs just with a compound radius and with an extra adjustment part for the truss rod. Nothing out of the oridinary.
My Strat is a Crafted in Japan 68 reissue made in 1998 so the neck pocket dimensions probably differ from the most recent Strat neck pockets.
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I've had the exact same issue with my '62 CIJ. I had the biggest fret wire (to match my Kotzens) put on it, but the radius of the neck still does not allow for a low action and Gilmour style bends, so i simply raised the action. A bitch to play and it slows me down (which maybe a good thing) but it sounds and feels great. I also had the thick varnish removed and a satin one applied, again to match the feel of the Kotzens
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That's exactly what I did to the neck of mine. Sanded the finish of the neck and fretboard and coated it in Tru Oil. Love the feel of it and the neck is getting a bit dirty now which looks great.
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Looks like this will have to be put on the back burner for a bit. My Marshall didn't sell in the end so I'll get the work done later in the year. A shame really because the Strat has such potential.