Neck choice for Partscaster?

Other people have given plenty of good advice on brands. I've built many parts guitars, and am building one more - very slowly - so here's my little addition. You have got to budget for a tech to do the final work on the neck, and you won't know what it needs / if it needs anything until you get the guitar together. The frets may or may not be to your liking, but the nut will generally need some work. You just can't get a perfect nut until the guitar is bolted together and strung up. Companies like to ship guitars with higher and narrower nut slots than necessary, and I have seen many complete and expensive guitars ship with nuts that ruin their playability.

Short: Hire a good tech for a full setup and put that in the budget, or learn to do it all yourself and spend the money on tools.

 

What are those pickups? they look interesting...

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Am I missing something? I'm seeing those Allparts necks for $195. They selling somewhere else for $109?

 

They are available unfinished for $109 on ebay. Type allparts neck priced low to high.
They are better with no finish as you can roll the fretboard edge and tint them, finish them to your preference. I tint them in vintage amber with a spot of brown, then ive been using the same $8 buck bottle of tru oil to finish the last 3 necks ive done.
I also haven't liked the look of the pre finished ones ive seen listed regardless of price.

 

Please remember that by their own admission Warmoth does not dress the frets! They do not come "ready to roll" in a true completely finished sense. Don't take me wrong - they make amazing stuff - but that last finishing part can be very crucial - especially for someone with no XP dressing frets.

 

My point is that it is not necessary. They have their fret installation dialed. Unless you are some super shreddy player with 8 gauge strings tuned down a half step who plays with super low action, maybe then you could find something to complain about. I suppose there could be a piece of wood here or there that shifts before you install it which would prompt their disclaimer. It hasn't happened on any of mine, I have several of them, and the fretwork has been excellent right out of the box. I like to have the perfectly rounded tops of unfinished frets too, which becomes flatter after a crown and polish.

 

Just to add my 2¢, the only neck I've bought new was a Warmoth (baritone conversion with compound radius) and all I did was polish the frets a little because it seemed like the thing to do. I had intended to level the frets but just wasn't necessary, it's fabulous!

Good advice — for the above neck, I had a Showcase neck all picked out, but when I went to buy it, it was gone, as were all the others in my price range. So I ended up paying more for a made-to order neck, which also takes 4-5 weeks. In the end I'm completely satisfied.

That said, you'd probably be happy with any of the makers mentioned, if you figure in it might need fret finishing work.

 

ebay, Jamerson-Guitars...

https://www.ebay.com/str/jamersonguitars

 

Buy a used Squire, take it apart, strip all of the parts off of it, put it back together and set it up... By the time you do that, you'll have a grasp on what you want, and the experience to do it...

 

Necks are easier to finish than bodies I have found so don’t be afraid to go with the higher quality Musikraft necks. They do a lot of eBay auctions so you can get one quickly and often for less than custom order.

 

Of course this removes the coolest part about ordering a custom neck - getting the specs exactly as you want them, no compromises. Your specs, not someone else's.