Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Philly Q on June 28, 2011, 03:34:19 PM
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I've just acquired a nice '62 reissue Fender neck which should be perfect for my hardtail Strat project - but it needs to be reliced first!
I was thinking I might be able to do it myself (a neck must be easier than a body, after all) but now I have it, it's so nice I feel uncomfortable about messing it up (and I'm afraid I'll mess up messing it up....)
Anyone know anyone who does GOOD relic finishes, for a reasonable price? I may well opt to send it to Mark Jenny at MJT, who does a great job, I'm just a bit hesitant about shipping it to and from the USA, due to the risk of loss in transit and the extra costs involved (including bloody VAT, potentially!)
I have found a couple of UK sites offering relic finishes, but some look cr@p and some seem very pricey. This is a case where I'd rather trust word-of-mouth, personal experience recommendations! Anyone? :)
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Have a chat with Wez? He may be able to help?
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Might be just as easy to sell it and buy a reliced neck from MJT?
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Might be just as easy to sell it and buy a reliced neck from MJT?
..... and therein lies a tale.....! :oops: :oops: :| :lol:
I actually do have a relic neck from MJT, which is very nicely done indeed..... however it's a bit too slimline and, more problematically, the frets turned out to be not much bigger than vintage ones. I know it's only a matter of time before they piss me off too much, so I'm looking at a refret, which really would cost a fortune.
The neck I now have is from a '62 Hot Rod Strat, which apparently is the biggest neck Fender make (short of Nocasters etc). It's perfect, apart from the finish.
I know, I know, I'm forever pissing ££££ away on this stuff, but you know how it is. :oops:
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i did do one for gwem to match his original 70's body.
it started as a plain looking MIM
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/GMneck1.jpg)
and ended up like this
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/GW12.jpg)
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/Gw9.jpg)
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/GW7.jpg)
went for a darker tint on headstock for the 70's look - but the whole neck is actually nitro for the better feel
definitely not as convincing or authentic as a bravewood but miles better than a roadworn ;)
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Philly - sell the "perfect" neck you have, and use the cash to re-fret the relic you already have. The last refret I had cost around £100, so you should pretty much break even :)
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its was also re-radiused to 9.5" and then fitted with gibson sized frets
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its was also re-radiused to 9.5" and then fitted with gibson sized frets
i forgot that bit :?
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Philly - sell the "perfect" neck you have, and use the cash to re-fret the relic you already have. The last refret I had cost around £100, so you should pretty much break even :)
Nah, it's the neck shape as well as the frets Dave, the Fender is spot on - a really fat C shape, whereas the MJT relic is an Allparts SRO-C, not skinny but more like a normal '62 reissue.
I suppose I could use the MJT neck on the relic and use the Fender neck on another, non-relic, body.... but the plan was to try to make this relic "just right" in every way.
Must admit £100 is less than I expected for a refret (but you don't know how much I spent on this neck... )
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Wez - I can't see the pics on this computer, I'll have to wait until I get home, but thanks! :)
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its was also re-radiused to 9.5" and then fitted with gibson sized frets
i forgot that bit :?
basically its a cool neck :)
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Is a 62 Hot Rod nitro-finished already? I'd have said that makes it easier... if it's not, it's not gonna end up much different than the effect on Roadworns unless you get it refinished first anyway.
Also, I assume we're talking rosewood board here, and that you're not going to mess with the rosewood itself? Getting "decent" looking wear on a maple fingerboard I'd regard as beyond me, but I'd happily take on "aging" a headstock on a rosewood boarded neck. As for the back of the neck, I take all the lacquer off strat necks anyway :lol:
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Yeah Andy, it's nitro already, with a vintage tint, and a rosewood board.
You're right, it would be relatively easy to just strip the back of the neck, but I'd kind of like an old, worn look but still with some finish on there just to protect it (cowardly of me, I know! :wink: )
I have no intention of messing with the rosewood! Although ideally I would prefer proper brownish "clay" dots instead of the white ones which are on there.
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dots can be changed too, rather easily actually
hardest thing to get right is the fretboard wear, which you wont need to worry about on a rosewood board anyway - unless you purposely wanted fretboard divots ;)
its just really a case of deciding how much of a relic you want - tint of the lacquer, wear through & 'dirt', dents on headstock edges, logo style/condition - things like that. it may be that it can all be done on the existing finish or it may be that a strip and respray with very thin coats of nitro would be more suitable
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:guitar4:
^do this for 30 years and call me in the morning.
had to be done. :)
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:guitar4:
^do this for 30 years and call me in the morning.
had to be done. :)
Only problem is, I'll then have a neck which looks 30 years old and a body which looks 70 years old....
.... and I'll be dead. :?
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You never know, medical breakthroughs etc.
I personally plan on living forever
But really I have no answer for you, I more of a DIY guy than the type to let some other "fool" handle my guitars
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i did do one for gwem to match his original 70's body.
it started as a plain looking MIM
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/GMneck1.jpg)
and ended up like this
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/GW12.jpg)
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/Gw9.jpg)
(http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/new/GW7.jpg)
went for a darker tint on headstock for the 70's look - but the whole neck is actually nitro for the better feel
definitely not as convincing or authentic as a bravewood but miles better than a roadworn ;)
Looks very nice!
Can you do custom scales on the wear?
:D
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Can you do custom scales on the wear?
:D
I reckon he can - looking at the wear pattern, those would be "custom" scales for my playing! :lol:
It did leave me thinking the other day, though. Even though it's a relic, I automatically assumed at first that it was Gwem's wear-pattern, and I was thinking it's interesting to see what notes he wears out, including feelings of "hey!... flip, I don't ever fret that string on that fret!... must incorporate it into my repertoire... etc..."
Then I "woke up" and realised there was no guarantee that this is actual evidence of Gwem's playing style :roll:
So did you guys (Wez/Gwem) analyse Gwem's playing before you started on the wear pattern? I'm guessing it could be Wez's wear-pattern instead, mebbe? Or, knowing Gwem's interests, is it from a picture of an Uli fretboard? :lol:
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Can you do custom scales on the wear?
:D
I reckon he can - looking at the wear pattern, those would be "custom" scales for my playing! :lol:
It did leave me thinking the other day, though. Even though it's a relic, I automatically assumed at first that it was Gwem's wear-pattern, and I was thinking it's interesting to see what notes he wears out, including feelings of "hey!... flip, I don't ever fret that string on that fret!... must incorporate it into my repertoire... etc..."
Then I "woke up" and realised there was no guarantee that this is actual evidence of Gwem's playing style :roll:
So did you guys (Wez/Gwem) analyse Gwem's playing before you started on the wear pattern? I'm guessing it could be Wez's wear-pattern instead, mebbe? Or, knowing Gwem's interests, is it from a picture of an Uli fretboard? :lol:
Mind you that wear comes usually from bending, so that the frets/notes that show wear might actually be notes 1-3 frets above the worn one 8)
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Actually, that is true... looking at it in that light some of them do make more sense for what I do... BUT, he's still using some notes I didn't really know existed on my guitars! :lol:
And, I do have another thought. Anyone else wondered this? I've realised that with the frets I like using (tallish, eg the ones Fender sticks on Roadworns), I am unlikely to wear the board much at all. With vintage frets I would wear the board quite badly because of my heavy left hand and possibly excessive vibrato!
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And, I do have another thought. Anyone else wondered this? I've realised that with the frets I like using (tallish, eg the ones Fender sticks on Roadworns), I am unlikely to wear the board much at all. With vintage frets I would wear the board quite badly because of my heavy left hand and possibly excessive vibrato!
I've always thought the wear comes more from sweat/oil and other bodily secretions(!) in the fingers, rather than from actual string pressure.... when you look at old maple-board Fenders the wear patches are mostly between the strings rather than directly under them. I guess you'd still get less wear with taller frets though.
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yeah, it goes between the strings rather than underneath them. its the fingers rubbing the board that does it.
no particular scale in mind, i think i used a few reference photo's though. wear does tend to hint at peoples preferred playing style but its important to add some randomness too, which could possibly be done better on gwems. same with the wear trhoguh on the back... it should hint at certain preferred positions rather than be too uniform