I need a neck for my new 70th Ann Esquire Body

[giogolf]

Hey all,

So I didnt want another guitar, but I got a smokin deal on a LPB 70th Anniversary Fender Esquire. Fully loaded, with all the hardware and paper work.. Just missing the neck, I even have the original tuners and string tree "Round"

So I need a neck, but here is my issue.. Do I keep it spec'ed original and go with the 50's style U shaped maple neck with 7.25" radius and vintage frets or go with my preferred neck which is what comes with my AO 60's Tele and Stratocaster?

My issues/ concerns are as follows:
1. Rosewood or Maple: I really like rosewood as I hated the stickiness of the high gloss of the AO 50s Nitro neck, I couldn't bend or vibrato smoothly as I am press hard enough when fretting that the finger board causes drag ( not a problem with rosewood boards)

2. 9.5 or 7.25": I have never played 7.25, I play 9.5" 80% of the time and the other 20% is on my Gibsons 12" radius

3. Brand, All Parts (narrow nuts, I like 42mm on Fenders), Warmoth or MIM Vintera Modified or Classic necks.

Sometimes I just hate having choices.. I really do.. when I was younger, I didnt know anybetter, I picked a guitar up and if it felt right, that was all that counted.. Now, I lamment over fret size, radius, fretboard types and finish.. Nitro vs Poly.. on and on and on..

Your thoughts and opinions are always appreciated

Pic below

 

[SuprHtr]

I'd stay with a neck shape that you're already comfortable with. If you ever want to restore authenticity, maybe to increase selling price, you can always get a fat U neck later.

 

[birdawesome]

If it were me then I would prefer to have the neck that said Esquire at the top. That being said, probably doesn’t look like that’s an option here.

I actually really like 7.25” radius necks. And I feel like with a really fat neck shape they are much more natural feeling. If you’re more of a fan of the slimmer necks, then I’d go with the 9.5” because I think it pairs much better.

So, fat neck: 7.25”
Slim: 9.5”

It all comes down to your personal preference though, so do what feels better to you!

 

[LowCaster]

1 and 2 look like an easy choice for you: Rosewood and flatter radius and a neck shape that’s comfortable for you. And Warmoth or Fender or Allparts are all very good choices. But…

Do you want to make a partscaster that is comfortable for you to play, or do you want to rebuild this guitar to vintage specs?

 

[giogolf]

1 and 2 look like an easy choice for you: Rosewood and flatter radius and a neck shape that’s comfortable for you. And Warmoth or Fender or Allparts are all very good choices. But…

Do you want to make a partscaster that is comfortable for you to play, or do you want to rebuild this guitar to vintage specs?

This is my conundrum.. A large part of me just wants it like it left the factory.. I am not much of a partscaster type person.. The most Ill do is replace pickups and that has been only 3 times in 3 decades..

If I could find an Esquire neck Id be all over it.. but they are vapor wear right now.. So It looks like Ill have to match the specs with All Parts or Warmoth... All Parts are odd though as they only offer Vintage narrow 41mm nut or Wide 43mm nut.. Not the 42mm 16/8th that Fender is using on all there RI guitars..

 

[tlsmack]

I can play a 7.25 as a second guitar, but really prefer 9.5 on my main tele. My chords sound better on a 7.25 for some reason. But I struggle with leads on the vintage radius.

 

[2HBStrat]

This is my conundrum.. A large part of me just wants it like it left the factory.. I am not much of a partscaster type person....

Well, too late for that, unless you happen to find the original neck.

FWIW Sweetwater sells Fender necks.

 

[giogolf]

Well, too late for that, unless you happen to find the original neck.

FWIW Sweetwater sells Fender necks.

They have MIM Esquire necks, all the specs match except they are Vintage frets not Vintage tall and Poly not Nitro.. I could live with the Poly, but the Vintage Frets will be really annoying to get used to..

The more and more I search, the more a Warmoth custom order makes sense to just match the exact specs as the original..

 

[LowCaster]

Maybe you could buy the MIM Esquire neck, see if you like it, or what you like in it, and it should be easy to sell with minimal loss if you don’t like it. Then you will know if you want to keep searching for an original US esquire neck or buy something else.

 

[giogolf]

Maybe you could buy the MIM Esquire neck, see if you like it, or what you like in it, and it should be easy to sell with minimal loss if you don’t like it. Then you will know if you want to keep searching for an original US esquire neck or buy something else.

This is probably the best option.. Its relatively cheap experiment.. And Ill keep a look out for an original neck in the meantime..

 

[Clifton C]

Great question! I like the AO 50s Tele neck so much that I replaced the neck on my paisley Tele (see my avatar) with the 50s neck. I was finding that the shape of the paisley neck was making my hand cramp up; when I switched the neck, the cramping went away.

 

[drmordo]

I guess it depends on whether you plan to play it a lot. If you want to LOVE it, I suggest you get a neck that fits your hand very well.

For me, the "60s" necks are much more comfortable than the "50s" necks. So, no matter what it came with, I'd be shopping for a 60s neck.

That said, my very favorite neck ever is the soft V Classic Player Baja neck that is on my Deluxe. I got it used here for a great price and I just love it. I'll probly end up buying a Classic Player Baja at some point so I have the same neck on a standard Tele.

 

[giogolf]

Great question! I like the AO 50s Tele neck so much that I replaced the neck on my paisley Tele (see my avatar) with the 50s neck. I was finding that the shape of the paisley neck was making my hand cramp up; when I switched the neck, the cramping went away.

According to the Fender Schematic Manual the Esquire and AO50 have identical neck shape, dimensions and contours.. Only difference is the 7.25 radius vs 9.5 on the AO50

 

[Esquire Jones]

FYI: My 70th Anniversary Esquire has a pretty full round neck. Came with Vintage tall frets.

It's rounder than my 52 Thin Skin Tele. Which is supposed to be U-shaped.
It came with 6105 frets. These feel taller than the Vintage talls.

Anyway, the Esquire is more baseball bat-ish.

That's all I got.

 

[giogolf]

FYI: My 70th Anniversary Esquire has a pretty full round neck. Came with Vintage tall frets.

It's rounder than my 52 Thin Skin Tele. Which is supposed to be U-shaped.
It came with 6105 frets. These feel taller than the Vintage talls.

Anyway, the Esquire is more baseball bat-ish.

That's all I got.

Fender is quoting .88” @ 1st fret and .99” @ 12th fret

 

[Esquire Jones]

Fender is quoting .88” @ 1st fret and .99” @ 12th fret

If I had a caliper I'd measure it for you. Sorry!

 

[giogolf]

If I had a caliper I'd measure it for you. Sorry!

I would be curious if you did because I am highly skeptical with the numbers they put down.. For example: the Esquire is supposed to have Vintage frets, not Vintage tall and my AO’s are supposed to have Vintage Tall..
However the schematics are stating that all 3 models have the same dimension frets: .83 wide by .45 tall

I just measured my AO frets and the heights are all around .48 and this is after several polishing jobs..

Here are the schematics for all of them.. I swear sometimes I feel the Fender corp is just bonkers with their accuracy and attention to detail..

 

[Esquire Jones]

When I bought my Esquire I kind of obsessed about the neck and frets.

They’re supposed to be Vintage Tall.

It’s infuriating the way they change the terminology. Honestly prevents me from trying new Fenders (buying online).

I like the 6105’s best . I think. It’s crazy.

 

[giogolf]

When I bought my Esquire I kind of obsessed about the neck and frets.

They’re supposed to be Vintage Tall.

It’s infuriating the way they change the terminology. Honestly prevents me from trying new Fenders (buying online).

I like the 6105’s best . I think. It’s crazy.

I feel exactly the same way.. I avoided so much based on their in accurate descriptions

 

[giogolf]

Update: Dec 14th

So I can find the neck that belongs to this guitar yet.. But Im sure over the years one will pop up..

I went ahead and ordered the MIM Esquire 50s replacement neck from Fender as the specs are identical minus the frets being a bit smaller.. I ordered it from reverb from an authorized seller, and glad I did, because upon arrival I was not happy at all..

I don’t know if it’s because I have been playing, working on and/or buying higher end American instruments for the last 2 decades but this was disappointing.. The finish looked so fake, as if the tint was airbrushed on, the nut had the sides covered in finish as well.. was supposed to be a bone nut but clearly was plastic.. The back of the neck was satin and the fingerboard and headstock face was high gloss.. The icing on the cake was the incredibly small frets.. I don’t know how someone can play a gloss neck with fret heights below .40”..

Anyhoo, I returned it and did what I should have done to begin with (buy something cheap from Allparts and use it until the original pops up)

So I got a smoking deal on an Allpart TMO-CR ( roasted maple) the neck orher than being maple has close to identical specs as my AO 60…

The plan is to use Tru-Oil finish.. Ill post pics of my step by step as I get a long..