Continuing on my journey with my first tele, I have been generally loving the sound, but not the neck I previously had. I think all of my years growing up playing Fenders with medium-jumbos just got me used to being able to dig in. Long story short, I swapped out my Musikraft roasted maple with ziricote fretboard and 6105 frets for the Fender American Channel Bound Tele neck (pics below).
Overall liking it a lot better just from the medium-jumbos and standard maple instead of the roasted maple and 6105s, and even without properly slotting the nuts or fret level, it plays 20 times better for my style. Got the action down to 4/32 overall and with less tension over the saddles using 11s than before, so I'm pretty stoked to eventually take to a tech to file the nut and do a minor amount of fret leveling so I can get it down just a bit more. Overall fretwork and finish I would say is excellent for a mass production neck. Tuner holes were perfect fit for my Schaller locking tuners and didn't need to use any force to push in. Fit right into the guitars neck pocket as well. Rolled edges are nice and comfy, obv no fret sprout on this bc channel binding. Neck was a bit dry but hopefully over time it will regain some moisture on the fingerboard.
The cons for me is that I'm not into the channel bound look (at least with this tele finish), and would rather have a normal rosewood top or a regular white/cream binding. The neck also feels a bit big and wide which is probably due to the nut being 1.685, the fatter U or D shape with the wide shoulders, and prob the compound radius, but I feel like I'll be able to adjust.
I really wish Fender offered a more American Standard neck with 21 frets,1.650 nut, medium-jumbo frets, standard C, headstock adjust, with the light amber finish (+ satin finish with rolled edges) in both maple and and rosewood fingerboards, which was basically their de facto standard for years. For some reason, they don't seem to offer that which makes no sense to me.
Anyways, here's pics:
Overall liking it a lot better just from the medium-jumbos and standard maple instead of the roasted maple and 6105s, and even without properly slotting the nuts or fret level, it plays 20 times better for my style. Got the action down to 4/32 overall and with less tension over the saddles using 11s than before, so I'm pretty stoked to eventually take to a tech to file the nut and do a minor amount of fret leveling so I can get it down just a bit more. Overall fretwork and finish I would say is excellent for a mass production neck. Tuner holes were perfect fit for my Schaller locking tuners and didn't need to use any force to push in. Fit right into the guitars neck pocket as well. Rolled edges are nice and comfy, obv no fret sprout on this bc channel binding. Neck was a bit dry but hopefully over time it will regain some moisture on the fingerboard.
The cons for me is that I'm not into the channel bound look (at least with this tele finish), and would rather have a normal rosewood top or a regular white/cream binding. The neck also feels a bit big and wide which is probably due to the nut being 1.685, the fatter U or D shape with the wide shoulders, and prob the compound radius, but I feel like I'll be able to adjust.
I really wish Fender offered a more American Standard neck with 21 frets,1.650 nut, medium-jumbo frets, standard C, headstock adjust, with the light amber finish (+ satin finish with rolled edges) in both maple and and rosewood fingerboards, which was basically their de facto standard for years. For some reason, they don't seem to offer that which makes no sense to me.
Anyways, here's pics: