Tele neck on Strat body. Can I do it this way?

[dragonfly66]

I have a strat that I want to put a tele neck on. Since the tele neck is squared off and the strat neck is curved the tele neck won't fit properly in the start pocket. During my research on how to make this work I found this:

The centre point in the curve on a Strat neck heel is equal in length to a tele neck. In other words a Strat neck is like a Tele neck with the heel rounded a bit. A Strat neck will sit in a Tele pocket without changing the intonation (affecting the string length) but will have a small gap at either side. If you flatten off a Strat neck you have effectively shortened the string length and will have to move your bridge saddles back to achieve correct intonation. On the other hand, if you put a Tele neck in a Strat neck pocket you will have a gap at the end and will have effectively lengthened the string length, so would have to move your saddles forward. Curve a Tele neck heel and it will fit a Strat neck pocket and not affect the string length or intonation. I hope the way I've described all this makes sense?

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So my question is, can't I just add some mouse ears to the strat neck pocket so the squared ends of the tele neck can get all the way down in the pocket? The tele neck wouldn't be any further down in the neck pocket than the strat neck because the wood in the middle would prevent it. Here is a photo of an 2005 American strat neck pocket.

The advantages I see of solving the problem with mouse ears are:

• I will not have made any changes to the tele neck, so I would be able to use it in a tele in the furture.
• The mouse ears on the strat body will be hidden by the pickguard and they do not compromise the integrity of the body or neck pocket.
• I could go back to a strat neck without issue.

Has anyone done this before? Did it work? Any disadvantages to this method.

 

[Fred.T]

That will work just fine, but the shown Strat pocket is still not 'deep' enough. Try to fit a Tele neck into it and you'll see you still need to chisel square that pocket a bit..

 

[dsutton24]

The mouse ears would give the neck corners somewhere to go, but the pocket side of the web is still curved, so there'd still be a tiny gap. You could route the Strat neck pocket square (like a Telecaster's). The Strat neck would still fit, and the pickguard will cover the gaps anyway.

If it were me, I'd try the Telecaster neck in the Strat body without modifying anything first. The only real concern is that the nut will be a tiny fraction of an inch further from the bridge than it should be. As long as you've got that much room to move the saddles forward you won't have to change anything. If you're using a TunaMatic bridge or similar you might have trouble, but if you're using any of the usual Fender type bridges you usually have tons of adjustment room.

 

[dragonfly66]

I didn't want to have to plug and re-drill the neck, which I think I would have to do if I didn't modify the neck pocket.

 

[Bigsnaketex]

It may be easier to modify the headstock than the heel to make this work!

 

[dragonfly66]

It isn't about the headstock, it is about wanting a maple fretboard and only having tele necks available.

Making an ear at either end of the neck pocket sounds easier than reshaping a head stock. Though I would consider neck pocket modification a bit more risky.

I have absolutely no confidence that I could successfully shape/reshape the heel of a neck. That was never a thought in my mind.

 

[telex76]

It isn't about the headstock, it is about wanting a maple fretboard and only having tele necks available.

Making an ear at either end of the neck pocket sounds easier than reshaping a head stock. Though I would consider neck pocket modification a bit more risky.

I have absolutely no confidence that I could successfully shape/reshape the heel of a neck. That was never a thought in my mind.

No reason the "ears" wouldn't work as long as you can remove enough for the square Tele neck sides to fit without compromising the integrity of the body.

 

[KokoTele]

That will work just fine, but the shown Strat pocket is still not 'deep' enough. Try to fit a Tele neck into it and you'll see you still need to chisel square that pocket a bit..

It actually is deep enough to work. The center section is the only part that will make contact with the neck heel, and it may need to be trimmed just a bit so it's flat. The corners of the Tele neck are not going to hit those cutouts in the heel.

 

[Rich_S]

If it's any help, here's the neck pocket on my recent Schecter PT project. Schecter uses a Strat-shaped neck heel, so I needed to fix the pocket in order to install a MIM neck. Since I've been traveling all summer, I had a local luthier route out the pocket. He used a 1/2" top-bearing pattern follower bit, which gave me corners that match the Tele neck's 1/4" radius. No mouse ears required. You can see in the photo the bare wood where he trimmed the curve out, versus the remaining black paint in the center. The Fender neck bolted right up without re-drilling.

 

[dragonfly66]

I tried a MIM la cabronita neck on the CV strat and it fit in the pocket OK with the same holes. However, the neck is over more to one side, which I think can be remedied by making the body holes a little bigger. Right now the body holes are tight on the screws. This la cab neck has a 22nd fret on an overhang so if there is any gap I can't see it. I will check the intonation as there probably is a difference between the original neck. Hope this works out!

 

[Buzzardeater]

Until Kirn or somebody else that knows things comes on, I'm saying gaps do not majorly affect sustain. I had a Kent Polaris body laying around and an old baritone neck, so I bolted them together. The result was gappage you could hide bus fare in, but the guitar plays fine with reasonable sustain and nice tone. The end gap is massive, too, but hidden by the fretboard extension. It still works.

 

[Ronkirn]

I'm saying gaps do not majorly affect sustain.

Correct.... with the key being to any major extent.... perhaps in an audio lab with hyper sensitive equipment, a difference could be detected.. note I said Difference, i didn't suggest what that difference would be, or if it would be good or bad...

I've seen plenty of fine guitars with gaps many would dismiss summarily ... that sounded great....

A year or so ago I assembled a collection of vintage parts Nacho had accumulated, from the mid 60's if I recall.. I pointed out that the neck pocket was 1/16 too wide, would he like me to snug 'er up... No was the reply, that was part of the "character" of those old guitars. leave it as it was..

Well The guitar came out great... so good that when he let his next door neighbor play it, he took it, wouldn't give 'er back... and he'e the Reverend..I mean, a man of the cloth??? How 'bout that. . .

Just because something looks bad, or is described using less than glowing acolytes, it does NOT mean the change resulting from the whatever, automatically means bad sound... it only means different sound... sound doesn't know if it was produced by an amazing work of art, or an ugly club bonking on a hollow log... It just starts making the air expand and compress until it gets to something that can convert it into nerve impulses that represent sound in the grey goo.

I wonder if Nacho got the guitar back yet...

rk

 

[dragonfly66]

I ended up putting in the ears to get the neck seated all the way in the pocket. I also had to square off the pickguard so it would line up over the pickguard holes. Everything isn't perfect. I went over too far on one of the ears and you can see it (visible even with the pickgaurd installed), however, if I was playing the guitar you would need to be uncomfortably close to me to see it. I also have a very small error on one side of the pickguard with the same type of visibility as the ear error.

Well I'm pleased. The neck is perfect in the pocket now. Strings all line up, intonation is dead on. It is the Burgundy Mist Classic Vibe 60's Strat and with a maple neck it looks like an easter egg -- not what I was going for. I'll likely take down the shine a bit to help with that issue. I do like the maple better than the rosewood though.

 

[telex76]

Congrats. Sometimes "good enough" really is.

 

[ItchyFingers]

I like the looks of a tele neck and always have.
The Strat necks just look like overkill and make the guitar appear unbalanced with the sheer size of the headstock.
That Strat looks great with that tele neck. A few more frets would be a groove though.

 

[brenn]

It isn't about the headstock, it is about wanting a maple fretboard and only having tele necks available.

My solution would be to buy a maple strat neck. If that was too expensive, I'd sell the available tele neck(s) to pay for it - especially considering how ugly a tele headstock looks on a strat body.

 

[telemnemonics]

My solution would be to buy a maple strat neck. If that was too expensive, I'd sell the available tele neck(s) to pay for it - especially considering how ugly a tele headstock looks on a strat body.

It's not nice to diss another mans easter egg!

I'm not sure what mistake is visible, can you cover it with a newly routed guard?
Overall, I prefer the neck end firmly butted into the neck pocket, and the screw holes not enlarged, with appearance coming in a close second.

 

[Bigsnaketex]

I have found over the years that I've come to love all Fender head shapes. . .

Like most, I went through several phases of not liking one or the other as much.

I'd rank my preferences as Tele, Vintage Strat, 70's Strat.

But I do think mixing them up (meaning putting one on a guitar that it is not normally on) is a great way to customize your own "look".

Now let's all shut up and play our guitars!!

 

[dragonfly66]

My solution would be to buy a maple strat neck. If that was too expensive, I'd sell the available tele neck(s) to pay for it - especially considering how ugly a tele headstock looks on a strat body.

LOL, you are more patient than me.

I do prefer the tele headstock, but have nothing against the strat headstock, unless it is that big monster headstock from the 70s. I only like the 70s strat headstock on Mustangs. On strats I like the "normal" sized headstock.

 

[dragonfly66]

I'm not sure what mistake is visible, can you cover it with a newly routed guard?

Cannot cover it with the pickguard. Here is a close up. On the right you can see where the ear got too big. On the left I went a bit too far on shaping the pickguard. Very small errors that I'm happy to live with.