2008 MIM Strat Neck

[Saljam]

Can you recommend a Strat with a wider and fatter neck than my 2008 MIM Strat? I have difficulty playing it after spending time on my LP and acoustic. Something around $1000. Thanks

[tele12]

Any of the "modern" (non-vintage reissue) MIA Strats will have a wider neck than your MIM. Try out an American Standard, American Special or a used Highway 1. Although then won't be much fatter if at all than your MIM.

[weatherking]

Warmoth lets you choose the neck width and fatness.

[YoGeorge]

All of the American Standard variants have slightly wider but very thin necks. I find them harder to deal with than my MIM tele necks.

Two models with wider/fatter necks are the Jimmie Vaughan and Robert Cray MIM strats; hard to find and the Cray is a hardtail. (The Cray is thicker but not quite as wide, the JV is a nice wide, fat V neck.)

I recently got an Eric Johnson strat and I bet it has the neck you are looking for but it's a lot more money... And a lot of CS models have the "10/56" neck which is also a great fat neck but you won't find one for anywhere near a grand. Your best bet might actually be Warmoth or one of the aftermarket companies---buy a fatter neck and either sell your MIM neck to recover some bucks or put it in a drawer if you ever decide to sell the guitar.

George

[Saljam]

Thank you for the responses. It's mostly my MIM neck's width that I'm having trouble with as opposed to the fatness. For example, the low and high E strings always "rolls" off the neck. If an new American Standard has a wider neck that may be the way for me to go. I also was reading about the Vintage 1962 Hot Rod. I will check them out at a shop this week. Thanks again.

[tele12]

Originally Posted by YoGeorge

.....................
Two models with wider/fatter necks are the Jimmie Vaughan .......

The JV does not have a wide neck. It has a "V" so the neck is deeper, because of the way the "V" is depending on where you rest your thumb the JV can feel bigger or smaller than average.

[YoGeorge]

Originally Posted by tele12

The JV does not have a wide neck. It has a "V" so the neck is deeper, because of the way the "V" is depending on where you rest your thumb the JV can feel bigger or smaller than average.

You are right. I looked them up and the JV and Cray strats are both 42 mm wide at the nut. I have played a JV and swore it felt wider--and I thought it was specced at 43 mm wide. In any case, I really liked that neck.

The Am Standard and its variants are 43 mm wide, which does make a difference. But I personally hate the thinness of those necks and would rather play a 42 mm neck that is beefier.

When splitting hairs on neck width--which I have done, I would also note that the bevel on the fret ends and string spacing make a difference. If the fret ends are close to "vertical"--perpendicular to the headstock/body face--it makes for a wider effective neck than if the frets are beveled at the ends (which also tends to make then walk off the edge of the neck a bit).

George

George

[tfsails]

Originally Posted by Saljam

Thank you for the responses. It's mostly my MIM neck's width that I'm having trouble with as opposed to the fatness. For example, the low and high E strings always "rolls" off the neck. If an new American Standard has a wider neck that may be the way for me to go. I also was reading about the Vintage 1962 Hot Rod. I will check them out at a shop this week. Thanks again.

Have you thought about getting a new nut carved for this neck with the E/e strings moved away from the fretboard edge? I've carved three nuts now and I goofed up the first one by putting the end strings too close to the edge. I fixed this on the next nut for this guitar and it plays just fine now. I only moved the two Es by maybe 1/64" apiece, but it made a huge difference in how the guitar played.

A new nut is a helluva lot cheaper than a new neck.