Unfinished Tele necks - the GFS type

forget gfs necks...

invest and buy quality gear!

musikraft
guitarmill
Allparts for all i care

but stay away from jay's crap!

 

+1

 

Its all very well quoting more expensive manufacturers but if you cannot justify or afford it all then the cheaper people must suffice ..Some GFS stuff is good and you take yer chance He does change items that are poor I believe .If all cheap parts were crap then my SX Strats neck would be rubbish but its not ,its as good as any S style I have played and I have played quite a few Fenders in my time .You can only "invest" if the breads there in the first place.

 

I bought one of the paddle style strat necks from GFS and thought it was decent for the money. I think it was about 29.95. It definitely isn't a high end neck, but I don't think he is claiming it is. The nut was pretty cheap plastic and should probably be replaced. The only other complaint I had was that the neck had a bit of a taper and didn't have a consistent thickness. A little sanding could fix it right up. Once I got it tinted and lacquered I think it was a decent neck for the money. I think all in I had about $40 - $50 in it. It's definitely playable and depending on what you want a could project neck to work on.

 

If they're not out of your price range, I would suggest a mighty mite neck. You can get them from Jc's Guitars or Ant Hill Music on Ebay or through their websites as well as several other places. I have used MM necks for quite a while now and never had an issue. They're finished and ready to go and IMHO the best bang for the buck and excellent necks. Figure about $90, some places have free ship and some don't. If I'm not mistaken you can even have a choice of neck profile for the same amount.
If I may add, I know what it's like to work with little cash and wanting to work on a project. Don't skimp on the neck. If you have to, skimp on the body (within reason). You can most of the time fix the body, but the neck is what is going to cause you to love or hate the guitar.

 

My two cents:

Some people on this site can build an excellent neck from bare wood - start to finish. If some people can do that, then some people can take a cheap neck from China (provided that it is essentially straight, level and sound) and shape it, fret it, nut it, install markers, install tuners, finsih it and bolt it on their guitar body - homebuilt or otherwise. There is no such thing as magic.

It is possible to spend a lot of money on a brand name neck and get a dud. It is also possible to build a good neck from a low-priced import. We are builders here after all.

 

MY GFS NECK

I received my GFS unfinished maple on maple neck today. It took about 7 days to receive. paid about 34 dollars plus SH. The neck was strait, and the frets were in pretty good shape. like people said before the nut looks a lil cheap. The only real complaint that i have really is that the fret board is very light compared to the actual neck. So it kind of looks odd. The maple has a bit of a flame to it. Any tips to getting the woods to match a little bit better?